This is a lyrical engaged. blessed be they , David Bobée and Corinne Meyniel, offers a selection of the most beautiful arias from the works of Handel, in a striking scene, mixing circus and dance. Designed in the framework of the festival of Spring, which, for its 10th edition, to honor the feminine creation in the contemporary circus, the show was the first show presented at the former chapel of the jesuit Corneille of Rouen, which became the Auditorium of Normandy.

For the director David Bobée, it is the memory of the years of internship and getaways with friends in this chapel which fell into ruin. blessed be they marks the beginning of a music programming outside the norm in this unique place, created by the Opera of Rouen. If Handel was in his time rather in the entertainment, David Bobée revamps this legacy implementation of strong, sometimes violent, where it juxtaposes the woman’s medieval long dress and the modern woman in john, who says. The soprano Yun Jung Choi and mezzo Aude Extrémo interpret superbly these jewels of Handel, accompanied by twenty members of the Orchestra of the Opera of Rouen, and on stage by a circus and two dancers.

This unusual approach takes all its dimension in the decoration of this chapel, of which the platter rotates on itself, in the center of the spectators sitting in the nave and in the transept. This representation resonates as a cry on the situation of women whose roles at the opera were at that time sung by men. A way of breaking down female stereotypes in the emancipating of the “discourse of secular”. In short, a spectacle more subversive than it seems.

Festival Spring in Normandy, until 5 April. Leased to be-they in Rouen, france, on 19 and 20 march.