The exceptional soprano Bruno de Sa sets the Abbey Church alight with Vivaldi and Pergolesi

This weekend is the first of four in the festival dedicated this year to the voice in all its forms, from soloist to opera, including the grand choir and the madrigall.

The Ambronay festival has set the course by choosing the theme of this 45th edition with a nice formula: “The voice is free”. The spotlight is therefore given throughout the four weekends of the festival, until October 6, to singing and the human voice. The opening night of the festival, Friday September 13, respected the contract by highlighting a most original voice, that of the Brazilian Bruno de Sa, in a program including the Stabat Mater by Pergolesi, a reference opus of the Neapolitan baroque repertoire.

Bruno de Sa is a soprano: an adult singer with a soprano voice. A rare voice among men. Clearly distinct from that of countertenors (like Philippe Jaroussky or Franco Fagioli), it is the voice with the highest range. Bruno de Sa defines himself as a lyrical-light soprano, with extreme flexibility in his high notes. A pearl.

The singer is not unknown to Ambronay. The Ain festival has already programmed him twice, giving him a welcome from the first one that he remembers: “I know the demands of the festival, the level of the invited artists” he told us. “But I was frankly not very well known. It was a gloomy and rainy Saturday afternoon, you had to want to go. The Abbey was full! I said to myself: but what is going on here? And the audience, how hot! It was a real shock, not to mention the rather brilliant acoustics that I was able to take advantage of.”.

This year, the soprano is a star at the festival. Preceded by a work by Scarlatti, the Concerto Grosso No. 5carried with rigor and energy by the violinist and conductor Martyna Pastuszka (much appreciated) and her ensemble Oh! Orkiestra from Poland (a novelty for Ambronay but not for long), Bruno de Sa marks his territory from the outset. Dark but flamboyant costume, decorated with feathers on the shoulder, he makes short work of the opening of Vivaldi’s piece In fury.

All the anger of God in the face of the sins of humanity is contained in high notes projected with surgical precision, coupled with vocalizations of troubling beauty. The Abbey is in shock. Especially since the contrast is striking with the measures that follow: the infinite delicacy of the “O sweetest Jesus” (“O very sweet Jesus”), prayer of the “languid sinner”. In the air after, and in particular in these verses “Make me cry, my dear Jesus”the soprano’s notes are held as if his life depended on it. The artist is of a confounding expressiveness and agility. Martyna Pastuszka’s complicit violin does the rest.

The other star of the opening night is a play, the Stabat Mater by Pergolesi, a masterpiece of sacred music that is always eagerly awaited and constantly flirts with opera. A radical change of atmosphere. But the work also touches the sensitive chords of Bruno de Sa, for whom it is almost a signature dish. “It’s probably the piece I’ve performed the most. Last year, I sang it twelve times.”. THE Stabat Mater is Pergolesi’s last work, composed just before his death in 1736, at the age of 26. It is the setting to music of a text that describes the Virgin’s pain before the cross.

“I am a Christian, and I grew up hearing the story of the crucifixion.”. But for the soprano, it goes beyond that.”This is a mother who speaks of her pain at seeing her son die. And there is nothing she can do to prevent it. It happened to my mother with a younger sister who died when she was still a baby. It was the greatest pain she has ever experienced.”.

Bruno de Sa says he is more attached to this human dimension than to its sacred aspect. Without forgetting its musical translation, “long, painful lines of song.” “It’s a marathon to sing the Stabat Mater!”admits Bruno de Sa.

For the Stabat, he shares the stage this time with a young countertenor, Rémy Brès Feuillet, a new gem offered by the festival. The two voices – one airy and light, the other very contrasting, warm and low – respond to each other in a duet from the poignant first movement Stabat Mater Dolorsa, then merge into the third, Oh, who is sad and afflicted. Of the simple words of great depth: “how sad she was, how devastated, the woman blessed among all others”.

The climax is the famous air See you on the sweet nature (She saw the beloved child) which confronts the Virgin with the death of Jesus. A suspended moment in the Abbey when Bruno de Sa holds his low note for a long time. The rest is a supplication, a prayer addressed to Mary in order to share her torments. The soprano and the countertenor, always accompanied by the Oh! Orkiestra ensemble, surpass themselves with these words in particular: “For me your son wanted to die / So give me to suffer / A part of his torments”. Emotion is everywhere in this room which applauds the artists.