The amateur choir of a quiet, ordinary small town has lost its modest choirmaster. To replace him at short notice, the authorities invite a world-famous conductor with ambiguous intentions. Under her baton, a gallery of characters with diverse social backgrounds learn — seemingly effortlessly, with varying degrees of goodwill or resistance — the compulsory virtues of identity music and glorious patriotic songs.
The desires for order, authority and power, for grandeur and (old) new greatness when everyday life grows impoverished. Gabriel Sparti's piece interrogates with wit and derision the aesthetic manipulations (here: music and song) that have always prepared, accompanied and even galvanised nationalist and fascist surges. Runtime: 2 hours. Post-show meeting on 20 May. Audiodescription accessible performance on 21 May. Coproduction — Dispositif Seconde!