Formerly known as the Salle Patiño, La Cité Bleue is a concert hall located in an octagonal 1960s building within the Cité Universitaire in Champel. Recently renovated, it features high-tech acoustics and has a seating capacity of 300. The venue aims to promote performances that bring together leading artists from music, theater, dance, visual arts, and circus arts.
Celebrating thirty years, the vocal ensemble Canticum Novum presents Kósmos!, a meditative concert tracing the musical roots of the Mediterranean and Near East. At its heart lies the Song of Songs, interpreted through a tapestry of Latin, Sephardic and oriental repertoires that mingle sacred chant, ancient timbres and popular rhythms. Original compositions by Khaled Aljaramani and Landy Andriamboavonjy sit alongside traditional wedding and dance music, delivered by a rich vocal and instrumental palette that bridges cultures and eras.
Mermoz Melchior, a dancer of the Batsheva Dance Company, leads a Gaga dance workshop introducing Ohad Naharin’s movement language. The session explores body listening, sensation, imagination and the pleasure of moving, inviting participants of all levels to investigate mobility, energy, presence and spatial relationships. In resonance with the pulses and rhythms of the Kósmos! programme, the workshop offers a direct, intuitive way to inhabit Mediterranean and Near Eastern musical material through inner impulse and corporeal vibration.
In French.
Christmas on Broadway brings the glittering world of American musical theatre to life through a programme of carols and Broadway standards. Sung by three solo voices with piano, the concert balances intimate seasonal songs and vibrant musical-comedy numbers, exploring works by Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein and Cole Porter. The singing ranges from warm, nostalgic ballads to virtuosic ensemble moments. The evening ends with a participatory Christmas karaoke that invites the audience to join the performers.
Combining harpsichord and contemporary flamenco, this intimate programme pairs harpsichordist Benjamin Alard with choreographer-dancer Israel Galván and the soloists of the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève. Central is de Falla’s Concierto para clavicémbalo, its rhythmic bite and incisive clarity mirrored by José María Sánchez‑Verdú’s Las ínsulas extrañas and repertory from Victoria, Bach and Scarlatti. Galván’s choreography becomes a true partner to the harpsichord, unfolding angles, rhythmic nuances and concentrated theatrical intensity.
Stravaganza! explores hidden jewels of Italian baroque through a programme alternating sacred and secular repertoire, from madrigal to oratorio. Soprano Maud Bessard-Morandas leads Ensemble O Tempora under the artistic direction of Quentin Guérillot, who also plays theorbo and harpsichord. On period instruments the group draws intimate, luminous colours; violinists Laure Massoni and Simon Lefebvre and cellist Daniel de Morais contribute close ensemble phrasing. Laureate of the Prix Ponticello 2024, O Tempora embodies a fresh generation of baroque interpreters.
Leonardo García-Alarcón presents an in-depth lecture on Spanish Baroque and its wide influence beyond Europe. He explores its roots in 16th-century polyphony linked to the Roman tradition and traces how it transformed during the conquest of the Americas. The talk examines the development of a distinctive, hybrid musical language born from encounters between European forms and local traditions, addressing adaptation to vernaculars, cross-cultural exchanges and new practices. It reveals how inherited forms were reshaped in dynamic, often tension-filled contexts.
Culture, curated weekly.
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