Vivaldi’s masterpiece reimagined in dance

Il Cimento dell'Armonia e dell'Inventione

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Radouan Mriziga / Rosas, A7LA5

Amandine Beyer & Gli Incogniti

Celebrated choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and Radouan Mriziga's lauded take on Vivaldi’s Four Seasons comes to Bergen in a live version with Amandine Beyer, the violinist who inspired it. 

300 years ago in Venice, Antonio Vivaldi wrote one of history’s most iconic pieces of music. His set of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons was one of the first musical works to attempt to describe phenomena with which humans are all familiar – the changes in climate through the course of a year. 

Over three centuries, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons has inspired countless artists, musicians and listeners. But violinist Amandine Beyer’s acclaimed recording of the work had a particular effect on Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, the radical dancer-choreographer known for her exactingly rhythmical work. 

Together, De Keersmaeker and choreographer Radouan Mriziga created Il Cimento dell'Armonia e dell'Inventione – a danced response to Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, taking its name from the title of the composer’s original publication. 

Premiered in 2024, the piece was described by the Financial Times as ‘90 minutes of carefully constructed dance geometry, at once nonchalant and cerebral.’ For this version, the dancers of De Keersmaeker’s company Rosas will move to a live performance of Vivaldi’s seasons from Beyer and her ensemble Gli Incogniti, whose recording of the music made such an impact. 

Il Cimento dell'Armonia e dell'Inventione promises to reawaken our engagement with a masterpiece of the baroque and offer a deeply human, physical response to the power of Vivaldi’s music – all in an age when climate change threatens the very idea of four seasons itself.

Video on top: Il Cimento dell'Armonia e dell'Inventione, 2024. Video: Ruben Desiere & Olivia Rochette

Supported by

Contributors

• Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Radouan Mriziga choreography

• Boštjan Antončič, Nassim Baddag, Lav Crnčević, José Paulo dos Santos dance

• Amandine Beyer musical analysis

• Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Radouan Mriziga set and light design

• Aouatif Boulaich costume design

• Eleni Ellada Damianou rehearsal director

• Gli Incogniti ensemble:

• Yoko Kawakubo, Alba Roca violin

• Ottavia Rausa viola

• Marco Ceccato cello

• Elias Conrad theorbo

• Baldomero Barciela violone

• Anna Fontana harpsichord

Music by

• Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)

A collaboration between

Bergen International Festival and Bergen Internasjonale Teater.