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The Arts Intel Report

Les Arts Florissants: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons

Here’s a numbers game for you. The name of the illustrious French period band Les Arts Florissants, founded in 1979, has been synonymous from the start with that of its American-born founder William Christie, still flourishing at the ripe old age of 80. Yet the frontman—read: soloist and conductor—for this extensive American tour, celebrating the 300th anniversary of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, is Théotime (tay-oh-TEEM) Langlois de Swarte (lohn-GLWA duh SWAHRT), born in 1995 and the first Baroque violinist ever nominated for the New Talents honor in the French Ministry of Culture’s annual Victoires de la Musique celebration. The photogenic cover artist for the string-player’s bible The Strad (the issue of February 2022), Langlois de Swarte had fun tales to tell of his childhood in musical theater. “I always played the character roles,” he said, singling out a troll in The Two Fiddlers by Peter Maxwell Davies. “I think that part of the boy I was when I played a troll is still on stage with me now. Music is not fake expression—you feel every expression that you play. But I think the way that you appear on the stage is really important.” —Matthew Gurewitsch

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