The Hindu Business Line : Back to Baroque

THE stage is almost bare, with none of the usual paraphernalia of a music concert. Just three straight-backed chairs in a loose semi-circle, a couple of music stands and a rather powerful spotlight blazing down. The feeling that there's something missing lingers, even as the `Trio Thierry Gregoire' takes to the stage.

Suddenly it sinks in — there are no microphones on the stage. But all thoughts of missing microphones disappear as the performance begins and Gregoire's powerful voice fills the auditorium with evocative songs of love won and love lost, songs of pain and songs of joy.

An internationally famous counter tenor — a male singer who sings using his developed falsetto — Gregoire's repertoire draws extensively from the Baroque genre of music exemplified by musicians such as Johann Sebastian Bach and Handel. The reason for this fascination with Baroque music is because his "type of voice" is suited only to this genre, Gregoire explains. Over the past few years there has been a revival of interest in Baroque music, especially in Europe, he adds.

On a tour of India organised by Alliance Francaise, the Embassy of France in India and Air France, Gregoire is accompanied by Ronaldo Correia de Lima Lopes on the theorbo and Emily Audouin on the viol.

The trio has already performed in several Indian cities, including New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram and Bangalore, with more performances scheduled for Mumbai and Pune.

Indian audiences have been so responsive that Gregoire hopes to be back for another tour next year. "It's been a great pleasure to perform in India," he adds. "People here are very interested in music," says Lopes. Both musicians, however, point out that ringing mobile phones have proved to be the dampener during their performances in India. "It disturbs the artist and the audience," says Gregoire.