For the first time, French Baroque opera at Helsinki Early Music Festival! Charpentier's miniature opera Les arts florissants will be performed alongside new music by Heta Aho (with lyrics by Edith Södergran). Jani Sunnarborg is the director and choreographer of the work. The performance is approximately one hour long.

Les arts florissants, "The Flourishing Arts," was composed in the 1680s, a period when Paris enjoyed a peaceful idyll and the arts could flourish with the generous support of Louis XIV. However, this peace is more of an illusion and a temporary one—perhaps even a travesty—as outside the city, religious wars rage, the world is a cold and muddy chaos, and people fall like hay. Discord (La Discorde) can raise its head from the ground at any moment.

In an evening of two works, Heta Aho's new piece for vocal ensemble and baroque ensemble is intertwined with Marc-Antoine Charpentier's chamber opera Les Arts florissants (1685). The mini-opera praises the Sun King, under whose "righteous autocracy" the arts and sciences flourish. But what hidden worries and desires simmer beneath the glittering, curled surface of the court? Aho's sections, set to the timeless texts of Edith Södergran, reveal the hidden "moon side" of Charpentier's music, like a restless, strange reflection of Louis XIV's brilliance.

Music journalist Risto Nordell will give a pre-concert talk at 6:00 PM, which will include an interview with violinist Anthony Marini and composer Heta Aho.