Les Arts Florissants & Amala Dianor Company Gesualdo Passione Angers (France) / Glasgow (UK)

Credit Jérome Bonnet

Amala Dianor, a self-taught hip hop dancer, trained at the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine d’Angers, graduating in 2002. For a decade, he performed across various styles before founding his company in 2012 after winning two prizes at the 2011 Reconnaissance competition for his debut choreography, Crossroad.

Known for his elegant and fluid style, Dianor blends different movement techniques, stripping them of spectacle to focus on raw expression. His work fosters dialogue between art forms, collaborating with musicians, visual artists, actors and writers. Since 2014, he has worked closely with electro-soul composer Awir Leon.

In 2021, he co-created CinéDanse, a collection of short dance films, and in 2022, he was selected by the Big Pulse Dance Alliance. That year, he also presented Siguifin, showcasing West African artists, and choreographed for South Africa’s Via Katlehong. His 2023 works include Love You, Drink Water, a filmed dance concert, and DUB, a large-scale piece for 11 dancers.

With 21 works and six short films in his repertoire, his company tours internationally. Honoured with the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2019 and promoted to Officer in 2024, Dianor remains a prolific force in contemporary dance.

Credit William Beaucardet

British tenor and conductor Paul Agnew is internationally renowned as both a performer and teacher. A specialist in 17th- and 18th-century music, he is the leading interpreter of high-tenor roles in the French Baroque repertoire. After studying at Magdalen College, Oxford, he met William Christie in 1992, becoming a close collaborator with Les Arts Florissants while also working with conductors such as Marc Minkowski, Ton Koopman, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Emmanuelle Haïm.

In 2007, Agnew began conducting for Les Arts Florissants, leading a complete cycle of Monteverdi’s madrigals (2011–2015), which earned a Gramophone Award in 2016. He has since directed productions including Rameau’s Platée (Opéra Comique, Lincoln Center) and Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo. Artistic director of the Festival de Printemps – Les Arts Florissants since 2017, he also co-directs Le Jardin des Voix, mentoring young singers.

As a guest conductor, Agnew has led ensembles including the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony and Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. Recent projects include Bach, A Life in Music, Messiah and The Fairy Queen. In the 2024–25 season, he will conduct Jephte and Resurrezione, continuing his work in Baroque masterworks.