Nouvelles Vagues: From Godard to Audiard

Traffic Quintet performs Nouvelles Vagues: From Godard to Audiard, with video by Ange Leccia.

With lush arrangements by Golden Globe-winning film composer Alexandre Desplat (The Queen, Syriana), the boundary-bashing Traffic Quintet performs fifteen evocative scores from the French New Wave (Nouvelle Vague). Radically condensed and detached from their original films, these scores are paired with new films for an evening of seductive sounds and unlikely combinations.

The spirit of the "Nouvelle Vague" is imminent. At once lyrical and disorienting, strings wind their way around Ange Leccia’s abstract studies in cinematic contrast for experiences both familiar and new.

Traffic Quintet takes it’s name from the Jacques Tati film, Traffic, and includes its founder violinist Dominique Lemonnier who is a member of several different orchestras including the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the California Chamber Symphony and the European Camerata; Anne Villette, violinist in the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France; Estelle Villotte, a violist in the Orchestre de Paris; and Raphaël Perraud, principal cello of the Orchestre National de France and concert soloist under the baton of Kurt Masur; and Philippe Noharet, a double bass player who divides his time between the Orchestra of the Paris Opéra, film music and contemporary works. Their CD, Nouvelles Vagues: de Godard à Audiard, was released in France in 2006 on the Naïve Classique label.

Paris-based video artist Ange Leccia has shown his work extensively in Europe at the Centre George Pompidou, Paris; Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome; Documenta, Kessel; and here in New York at the Guggenheim and PS 1.

The New York premiere of Nouvelles Vagues: From Godard to Audiard is presented as part of Crossing the Line: FIAF Fall Festival a multidisciplinary program of theater, dance, music, visual arts and film celebrating cross cultural artistic exchange between France and New York City.