Christophe Rousset, the French critically-acclaimed conductor and founder of Les Talens Lyriques, vigorously upholds the idea of the need for culture in our life, today more than…
Christophe Rousset, the French critically-acclaimed conductor and founder of Les Talens Lyriques, vigorously upholds the idea of the need for culture in our life, today more than ever.
“I believe the contemporary man is in the process of returning to a beastly state. It is therefore necessary to appeal to the “world of the Muses”, which is the spiritual world, something that dates back to the origins of humankind: at the time Man was already capable of singing, and playing music with pieces of wood and stones, and dancing, and expressing himself poetically. One therefore has to keep it up and not give up; one has to not accept what the mass media offer us… to not be knocked out and turned into an amoeba by the tv news flow.
“Without betraying oneself, one has to be demanding as to one’s human nature, and ask oneself: ‘What do I want to know? What stimulates my imagination and my intelligence?’ Because we’re all gifted… we all share the gift of intelligence, and intelligence means, literally, ‘to read through’. So, ‘what is going to make me a better person? More intelligent, more sensitive and considerate to the Other – with a capital letter -, to the world around me?’”
“This is why I think that going to a show, an opera or a concert, and seeing how an orchestra and its conductor can make music so powerful… mind you, it must be live, not recorded music… One should GO to the opera, which is a strong act that will keep our art alive. It’s also about understanding the mis-en-scene, using one’s intelligence… which means that you’ll probably feel a little more intelligent when you leave the theatre. I find it extremely important to stir all that up inside us, us as human beings, who have all the chance to approach the world of the Muses.”
