L'Arsenal a Musique Today and tomorrow, 8pm Sai Wan Ho Civic Centre
Reggi Ettore and Lorena Corradi, two Milan Conservatory graduates, founded L'Arsenal ? Musique in 1978 to introduce 'erudite musical compositions performed by professional musicians' to a wide audience.
But music is not the only weapon the Canadian multimedia theatre troupe uses in The Ark, a textless production conceived for audiences of all ages. 'For many years, we have produced interdisciplinary shows that allow us to combine music with other disciplines,' says Ettore, the artistic director.
'Contemporary music is often associated with elitist or experimental music intended for a specialist audience. We wanted to break down those boundaries by finding new ways of presenting this type of music to a broader public.'
The show features a juggler (Emile Carey), acrobat (Jean-Francois Faber), contortionist and aerial silk performer (Julie Choquette), equilibrist (Valerie Cote), roue cyr performer (Andy Giroux, above) and comedian (Mirko Trierenberg), who share the stage with percussionist Merlin Ettore.
'The Ark is conceived as a musical innovation, a work starring one soloist on stage ... The composer, Denis Gougeon, worked in close collaboration with Merlin Ettore to write a powerful musical piece for drums and MIDI drum controllers,' says Reggi Ettore. 'The Ark [also] reflects on the difficult relationship between man and nature. We have, therefore, worked with circus performers whose flexible bodies evoke animals in motion.'
