Lettres ouvertes

This dialogue is brought to life by members of the choir, who embody the two voices through readings of texts imagined by writer Francine Gautier-Cheney. The result is a living conversation, in which ideas and emotions flow in equal measure.

As the dialogue unfolds, the songs become powerful statements, giving voice to social struggles, fraternity and sorority, freedom, relations between women and men, poetry as a form of resistance, and the difficulty of living in this world. While their works find common ground in their deep humanity, there are also divergences. Rather than trying to erase them, the concert embraces these, seeing them as the very substance of a lively, respectful, and fertile exchange.

 For this programme, ten composers have created new a cappella choral transcriptions of the artists’ songs. These polyphonic arrangements cast a new light on these iconic texts, revealing their full poetic and dramatic power, as if they had always been intended for a choir.

Guided by the voices of Aedes, the audience is invited to listen to two minds in dialogue, to embrace both their harmonies and their dissonances, and to dream that it is still possible – through poetry – to restore a heart to a heartless world.