First word of the performance

"Sù!", heard three times first, then repeated endlessly, is the first word sung in this performance. In the context of Monteverdi's balletto that it introduces, "Sù" meant "forward," in the sense of "go!" Today, "Sù" can be translated as "up."

Concept of elevation

Momentum, movement, and flight, in sum, as a starting point. The performance explores the dynamics of shared artistic concerns, curiosity, and impatience to see complicity appear on stage. What first brought the collaborators together was the multiple presence of dance in Monteverdi's music, as a source of inspiration for an imaginary ballet.

Musical and theatrical coexistence

Sacred and secular, theater and contemplation, solo singing and polyphony, vocal and instrumental virtuosity coexist. The idea is not to dance to this music, but for the music itself to dance, and the space around it. The performance aims to stage the concert, stripping the music of everything that is not itself.

Light and stage design

In a light almost entirely manipulated by the performers themselves, a light that does not only show but subtracts, blurs, and sheds what visually burdens listening, and a minimal set without scenery. Bodies, on the other hand; those of seven singers and instrumentalists (bowed and plucked strings, organ), two stage technicians, and the three creators. 14 bodies in suspension, levitation, weightlessness.

Physical and musical concepts

For we are indeed concerned with elevation. With elevation and its corollaries: the fall, balance and imbalance, weight... These physical concepts also belong to the lexical field of music. The dramatic material of this performance gradually emerged from a network of questions articulated around these affinities.

Stage mechanics and questions

Can music literally transport us? Can music conceived to elevate the soul also elevate the body? Does light music have less weight? Does the time that follows music where time is suspended fall? Is silence empty or full? Does floating music give dizziness? Does a musical impulse affect its speed? How to restore music that is lifted? Can one carry the voice by letting go?

Performance structure and symbolism

To transpose these questions to the stage and show the music in its naked form, a system of ropes, hooks, links, both symbolic and concrete, allows weaving between the performers combinations of horizontal, vertical, and oblique, like the mesh of musical counterpoint. With subtle systems of weight and counterweight, of complementary forces, the performers, like the harmonics of a single sound, are interdependent and autonomous, solidarity and singular.

Performance details and creators

The creators dream of a performance of grandiose minimalism and discreet sensationalism, which pays homage to Monteverdi's music, and testifies to the impulse that drives them to make the stage a space that plays with gravity. Geoffroy Jourdain, Camille Boitel and Sève Bernard.

Performance title and collaborators

Sù! musicale Geoffroy Jourdain Conception and mise en scène Camille Boitel and Sève Bernard Création lumières Camille Boitel Construction de la scénographie et du dispositif Vincent Gadras

Performers and musicians

Interprétation Adèle Carlier, Amandine Trenc, sopranos Clotilde Cantau, Myriam Jarmache, mezzo-sopranos, Safir Behloul, Constantin Goubet, ténors Renaud Brès, baryton-basse Yuki Koike, violon et alto, Pauline Chiama, Alice Trocellier, violes de gambes, François Cardey, cornets et flûtes Evolène Kiener, flûtes et doulciane Romain Falik, théorbe et guitare Geoffroy Jourdain, direction musicale

Technical team

Régie générale Nicolas Julliand Régie plateau Audrey Carrot Régie son Camille Frachet / Anaïs Georgel

Production and dates

Production déléguée Les Cris de Paris en association avec l’Immédiat Coproduction – en cours – Le Théâtre du Beauvaisis, La Philharmonie de Paris, Cité musicale-Metz, Points communs, scène nationale du Val d’Oise, Le Théâtre de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Avec le soutien de la Fondation Orange et de King’s Fountain 15 novembre 2026 Cité Musicale de Metz 20 novembre Théâtre de Saint-Quentin en Yvelines 24 novembre Philharmonie de Paris 26 novembre Théâtre des Louvrais, Cergy Pontoise