Vanitas

Choreography by Antoine Jully

Withering flowers and leaves, overripe fruit, hourglasses, skulls or an extinguished candle symbolize the passing of time and transience in the visual arts: vanitas.
The Italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino set this to music in 1981, scored for mezzo-soprano, cello and piano. He composed to texts from the 16th to 18th centuries about nature, transition and death with tentative sounds, repeated great silences, but also suddenly loud and almost shrill tones.
Antoine Jully found a choreographic language for this with a mixture of extreme delicacy as well as full power and energy. The BallettCompagnie is reviving this special evening, which has only been performed five times so far.