Camille Claudel, Le Chant des Mains

Laure Baert, soprano, theatrical performance & concept
Pascal Amoyel, piano

Anne Rotenberg, literary adaptation & direction
Philippe Seon, lighting
Silver Sentimenti, costume consultant

"For me, Camille Claudel is much more than a historical figure: she is an intimate presence, almost an inner one.
I ‘met’ her at the age of eleven, through a film that was a true revelation. At that age, when one senses the world without yet understanding it, her fate deeply moved me.

In it, I discovered an artist of immense freedom and audacity, a woman whose absolute sincerity shines through in her works. Since that day, Camille has never left me. She accompanies and inspires my artistic journey like a silent voice, constantly reminding me of the demand for truth that all creation entails.

The creation of this show stemmed from a simple yet profound desire: to give Camille Claudel a voice once more. Not to the legend, nor to the tragic myth that history has often retained, but to the woman herself. Her letters reveal a vibrant, lucid, passionate personality, driven by a love of art and a vital need for recognition. Her writings are of overwhelming power: they reveal an artist at work, as well as a strong yet fragile woman, loving and torn, endowed with great intelligence and a free spirit.

In this production, these letters become a true theatrical medium. Her words are spoken, embodied and breathed, as if Camille were confiding her thoughts to us. The music then acts as a second voice, like an intimate breath, a space where the unspeakable can emerge.

The works of Claude Debussy, Gabriel Fauré, Nadia Boulanger, Maurice Ravel, Rita Strohl, Frédéric Chopin, Mel Bonis, Franz Liszt and Léo Ferré engage in a dialogue with her soul and prolong its emotion. This performance also offers an opportunity to highlight a vital chapter in art history: that of female creativity. Women creators have always been numerous, daring and inventive — yet their voices have often been silenced.

Camille Claudel embodies both this creative power and the injustice of her era, the setting for one of the greatest artistic tragedies of the 20th century. Beyond any biographical dimension, this production seeks above all to touch upon what is universal in her fate: the artist’s solitude and fragility, her quest for legitimacy, and that mysterious force that drives her to create, despite everything. It is not about recounting a tragedy. It is about making a voice heard. A fragile, burning, indomitable voice. And, for the duration of the performance, to allow Camille Claudel to emerge from the silence in which history has confined her."

- Laure Baert