Requiem pour L., a very moving work by Fabrizio Cassol and Alain Platel
Montreal, November 21, 2019 – In 2015 tauberbach was awarded the Grand Prix de la danse de Montréal. The Belgian choreographer Alain Platel and his celebrated ballets C de la B will be back this spring 2020 with Requiem pour L., a not-to-be-missed, striking piece presented from May 26 to 28, as part of the 14th edition of the Festival TransAmériques, which will take place from May 20 to June 3, 2020.
What if the end of life is something to be celebrated? Resurrecting the power of Mozart’s uncompleted and mythical opus Requiem, the dynamic duo consisting of composer Fabrizio Cassol and choreographer Alain Platel forces us to look death in the face. Fourteen musicians and singers from every continent invite the audience to a Mass where meditation and exaltation join together in a divine embrace.
Both a release and a rush of emotions, the piece crystallizes the final moments of a woman’s life, sublimating them in a sacred ode dedicated to all the living of this earth. Opera, jazz and African rhythms accompany L. as she takes her last breath in a memorial that resonates with the fervent footsteps of pulsing gumboots. By means of rituals far removed from Western funeral rites, and augmented by the vivid intensity of voices and bodies, Requiem pour L. becomes a deeply moving work that rejuvenates our conception of death. It is not adieu, but a call to life.
