Musiques de scène - Christophe Sturzenegger

The Hummingbird

The Hummingbird is originally the result of a four-handed collaboration between composer Christophe Sturzenegger and writer Elisa Shua Dusapin.

Intended for concert performance as well as the theater, the piece has taken on many forms, including that of a book (published by Éditions La Joie de Lire), where text, illustration, and music meet, intertwine, and pursue one another.

Commissioned by the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Théâtre Am Stram Gram, this work presents musical excerpts in the form of a symphonic suite, inspired by the story and in turn inspiring it: a fragment from the lives of two teenagers, Lotte and Célestin, neighbors for just a few weeks. Between love and friendship, solitude and the need for others, the loss of loved ones and the fading illusions of childhood, The Hummingbird is a tale of fault lines and bonds woven to give meaning to the unspeakable—and to let wings unfold.

The audiobook received the Swiss Youth Prize in 2023.

The Snow Queen

The first collaboration between Joan Mompart and Christophe Sturzenegger, The Snow Queen made a strong impression in 2010—just two years before the Disney tidal wave.

Commissioned in 2009 by the Compagnie du Rossignol (musicians from the OSR conducted by Antoine Marguier) and its administrator Catherine Borer, the piece was initially created to expand the repertoire for the Soldier’s Tale – Stravinsky ensemble format. After a brief but successful run, the concert version quickly evolved into a piece of musical theater, marking Joan Mompart’s directorial debut at Théâtre Am Stram Gram (which he would go on to lead ten years later). The Snow Queen then toured throughout Switzerland and France, with over a hundred performances and glowing reviews (Top 10 best Swiss shows of 2010, according to Le Temps newspaper).

Far from the commercial animated film, this version returns to the roots of Andersen’s original tale (adapted by Joan Mompart), following the adventure of Gerda, a brave young girl in search of her best friend Kay, who has been taken by the mysterious Snow Queen.

"Christophe Sturzenegger’s spellbinding music accompanies this journey of initiation, where strings, brass, and percussion pulse with the rhythm of the action and echo invisible worlds... An ancestral tale, bewitching and moving, far from what you think you know."
— Le Temps, 2011

Musique et direction - Christophe Sturzenegger

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

Textes
Elisa Shua Dusapin (Le Colibri)
Joan Mompart (La Reine des Neiges)