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Gretry: L'Amant jaloux on CD

With L'Amant jaloux, premiered in Versailles in 1778, Andre-Ernest-Modeste Gretry delivers one of the most refined masterpieces of French opera-comique. At the intersection of theater and music, this 'comedy interspersed with arias' elegantly explores the universal themes of jealousy, pretense, and arranged marriages, in a plot where misunderstandings and emotions unfold with remarkable fluidity.

Carried by luminous and expressive musical writing, the work attests to Gretry's dramatic genius as a master of the art of creating a dialogue between music and speech. His colorful and agile orchestration follows the prosody of the text and brings to life deeply human characters, by turns touching and comical. Considered a model of it's genre from the moment of it's premiere, L'Amant jaloux was performed over 150 times before remaining in the repertoire until the mid-19th century.

This new production features the Arion Baroque Orchestra under the baton of Mathieu Lussier, a leading figure in the revival of early music in Canada. Surrounded by an exceptional cast, including sopranos Magali Simard-Galdes, Helene Guilmette, and Guylaine Girard; tenors Pierre Derhet and Artavazd Sargsyan; and baritone Matthieu Lecroart, the ensemble restores all the vitality and modernity to this work, where humor, tenderness, and dramatic tension coexist with finesse. Produced in co-production with the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles, this project is part of an effort to bring the French operatic heritage of the 17th and 18th centuries to today's audiences.