Stabbed, poisoned, strangled, defenestrated, burnt alive…
In 4 centuries of male operas, the fate inflicted to heroines is as tragic as their arias are sublime… For the 1st time, what if we dissociated Drama and Diva? What if we reversed the roles?

Humanistic lyric project, NO(S) DAMES dare to reverse traditional roles, redistributing musical direction to the women of the Quatuor ZAÏDE, and ladies’ agonies to a man, the countertenor Théophile ALEXANDRE, to celebrate the arias of Carmen, Norma, Manon, Violetta… Beyond their gender fates.

In a sumptuous stage direction by Pierre-Emmanuel ROUSSEAU, mixing gold-leaf gildings and ghostly projections, red-blooded glove and divas’ relics, the artists question the morbid fetichism around these icons, intertwining glamour and death in the romantic patriarchal tradition.

NO(S) DAMES : a sensitive and committed show, untying the corsets from the past to project opera towards a fairer future.
Co-production I Limoges Opera & Le Volcan du Havre
Support I Régions Normandie and Grand Sud, Département Seine-Maritime and Mairie du Havre

Program:  a genderless reinvention of 23 operatic icons and their multiple massacres ; 23 stereotypes of madonas, bitches and witches, reversed and assembled in a surrealistic pastiche. In NO(S) DAMES, Manon’s farewell then blends with that of Violetta ; Norma’s burning tears echoe Amina’s nightmares ; Giulietta, Carmen and Maria become a sole temptress ; Armide’s hysteria bodes Alcina’s fall…
By connecting these women substitutes in their morbid sisterhood, NO(S) DAMES plays to the exquisite corpse, underlining the pattern of tragic destinies for these masculine heroines and drawing in undertones the portrait of a one and only idol : the Dame, as fantasized, created and imposed by men to women throughout centuries or continents.

From Cavalli to Piazzolla, NO(S) DAMES embarks the audience in a tearfull trip and make you rediscover these great tragic divas, like never seen nor heard before. Duration 1h10 – All audiences.

Created in the Volcan, national stage in Le Havre in January 22, the show NO(S) DAMES will tour during several seasons. It will stop in Paris at the Trianon the 9th of January 23 for an exceptional event, with a conference animated by the journalist Arièle Butaux on the cultural gender corsets, with the philosopher Catherine Clément, the musical conductor Laurence Equilbey and the stage director Macha Makeïeff, before a pre-show featuring the singers Juliette and Zaza Fournier, and finally the NO(S) DAMES show.

All dates and booking informations on www.theophilealexandre.com
Tour manager: Accès Concert / Contact : Fanny@accesconcert.com

Show, album and book, NO(S) DAMES is a global statement built as an artistic triptych.

THE ALBUM NO(S) DAMES offers an unheard genderless reinvention of 23 great opera’s heroines, connecting their multiple agonies without pause like a muscial thriller, on adaptations by Eric MOURET.

Out in february 22, the disc is the best selling french lyric album of the the year, cumulating more than 3 millions of streams in the world. With both public and critcal acclaim, it wars rewarded by 4 stars in the prestigious BBC Magazine, 4 diapasons in the french Diapason magazine, and is recommended by the radios France Musique, FIP, RTS, RFI…

Sound engineers: Hannelore GUITTET and Lucas JOSEPH I LABEL NoMad Music & PIAS France – Duration 77mn I Co-production UP TO THE MOON & NoMad Music I Available at all disc vendors and on all streaming platforms.

THE BOOK NO(S) DAMES extends the reflexion on the female mistreating representations in the male creations.
Series of interviews on the gender corsets of our culture, conducted by the journalist and writer Arièle BUTAUX, the book gathers testimonies of renowned female french artists : the philosopher Catherine CLÉMENT, the musical conductors Laurence EQUILBEY and Debora WALDMAN, the singers Julie FUCHS and JULIETTE, the writers Carole MARTINEZ and Pauline DELABROY-ALLARD, the musicians Astrig SIRANOSSIAN and the Quatuor ZAÏDE, the ex-director of the Paris Opera ballet Brigitte LEFÈVRE and the choreographer Maguy MARIN, the composer Camille PÉPIN and the stage director Macha MAKEÏEFF.
Together, they share their experiences of gender stereotypes with subtlety, sensitivity and humor,  while opening new ways of behaving, carrying hope for the future.
True art book, it puts in perspective the power of these women’s word, positioned as subjects, with photographies catching the fragility of a man treated like an object, dealing with the usual clichés of femininity: a serie of portraits both glamourous and morbid signed by the photographer Julien BENHAMOU.

Book sold in exclusivity on the sites nomadmusic.fr, boutique-causette.fr and presencecompositrices.com
All the book’s benefits will be reversed to the center Présence Compositrices (female composers), working to find and exhume the musical pieces of female artists forgotten by History.

Three workshops are proposed by the artists around the show, to make students discover and exchange around the themes raised by NO(S) DAMES:

Workshop NO(S) GRANDES DAMES : for secondary students, this workshop puts in perspective the greatest tragic heroines  created by men both in litterature and in the operas. Duration 1h

Workshop NO(S) PETITES DAMES : for primary students, this workshop invites children to sing and dance around the clichés of the Witches, while making them discover the woldeful music of opera – Duration 1h30

Workshop NO(S) DAMES OUBLIÉES : for students in music schools, this workshop makes them discover the pieces of forgotten female composers to the benefit of male composers – Duration 1h

ADN BAROQUE : BAROQUE SOUL UNDRESSED IN PIANO-VOICE

Bach, Haendel, Purcell, Rameau, Vivaldi… In 21 pieces, like the legend of the 21 grams of soul’s weight, the countertenor and dancer Théophile ALEXANDRE and the concertist Guillaume VINCENT dare undressing baroque music in piano-voice, coupling this  musical reinvention to a singing body set in motion by  Jean-Claude GALLOTTA : a musical and choreographic fairy tale, driving us to the heart of humankind and its emotional DNA, to reveal the perfectly imperfect humans that we all are : irregular gems, as a reference to the portuguese etymology of the word “barocco”.

Musical adaptations I Théophile ALEXANDRE & Guillaume VINCENT
Choreography I Jean-Claude GALLOTTA
Stage direction I Emmanuel GREZE-MASUREL
Stage design I Pierre-André WEITZ
Lights I Fabrice GUILBERT
Production I UP TO THE MOON – Co-production I Le Volcan du Havre – Support I Spedidam, Département Seine-Maritime, Mairie du Havre

Co-produced by Le Volcan du Havre, ADN BAROQUE cumulates more than 40 performances with two sold-out nights in the Paris Athénée Theater, conquering the heart of more that 40 000 spectators.
Timeless show, it is still on tour and 22/23 will be its fifth touring season, in parallel with the new show NO(S) DAMES.
Tour Manager: Accès Concert / Contact : Fanny@accesconcert.com

Discographic worldwide premiere : the countertenor Théophile ALEXANDRE and the concertist Guillaume VINCENT dare undressing baroque music in PIANO-VOICE. In 21 pieces, like the legend of the 21 grams of soul’s weight, it is both baroque soul and human soul that are exposed, revealing, with its minimalistic approach, unheard facets of this maximalist music and its profound understanding of human emotions. Body and soul.

PROGRAM : Bach, Haendel, Purcell, Rameau Vivaldi…
INCLUDED : 4 duets with the sopranos Chantal SANTON & Marion TASSOU

Sound engineer : Franck JAFFRÈS I Label : Klarthe and PIAS France – Duration 74mn I Production : UP TO THE MOON I Available in all disc shops and streaming platforms.

Directly n°1 of the charts when released, ADN BAROQUE has since become the best selling french lyric album of 18/19 and 19/20, cumulating more than 4 millions of streams in the world.