Our Precious Planet
Celebrating NatureGrégoire Pont’s exquisite live animations celebrate the beauty and wonder of Nature, accompanying a full symphony orchestra in music by modern composers, inspiring young audiences to engage in protecting the environment.
- Grégoire Pont uses a unique technique for drawing animations to the music in real time, combining innovative technology with age-old draughtsman’s skills
- His illustrations come to life alongside powerful music of our time in a choreography of sound and colour
- First performance at Barbican Centre on 28 January 2023 with BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dalia Stasevska
- Designed for 7–11 year olds, focusing on the beauty of nature and a positive message about protecting its future
- Music includes:
Olivier Messiaen – Extract from Les offrandes oubliées
Einojuhani Rautavaara – ‘Swans migrating’ from Cantus Arcticus: Concerto For Birds and Orchestra
Kaija Saariaho – ‘Terrestre l’oiseau dansant’ from L’Aile du songe
Dani Howard – Argentum
Anna Meredith – Nautilus
John Adams – ‘Panic’ from Doctor Atomic Symphony
Benjamin Britten – ‘Storm’ from Four Sea Interludes
Alberto Ginastera – ‘Danza del trigo’ from Estancia - Performance lasts approximately 70 minutes without interval
- Can be streamed live to enable hybrid performances
- Commissioned by Barbican Centre and Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne
- Follows Grégoire Pont’s successful Cinesthetics series, visualising classical music through live animations
‘Our Precious Planet is a poem about the Earth. For me, the Earth is a delicate flower lost in a meadow of stars. My live animations show the wonders of creation – from chaos to beauty – as well as the dangerous ride of human progress that leads back to chaos. It is an opportunity for children to take a thrilling ride through the natural world they know and love while experiencing a live orchestra possibly for the first time. And in the end the message is one of hope. There is always a chance for mankind to do better for Our Precious Planet.’
‘Grégoire Pont's animations are not simply ornamental. Deeply imbedded in the music, the wizardry artist knows exactly when to emphasise a drum or cymbal blow with an image, as if the instruments were creating the music in real-time! The Fire comes to life in a coat of flames that itself turns into a character in its own right, the wretched Arithmetic figure spits out numbers, the Frog Pond blows bubbles turning themselves into musical notes or insects that suddenly invade the entire auditorium. . . and the audience loves it! The animated pictures never overpower the shimmering palette of Ravel's masterpiece; on the contrary they enrich it’
