Sublimation: Songs and dances from 18th-century Scandinavia The Curious Bards & Ilektra Platiopoulou

• Anonymous:
• 1 Anonymous: Pollonese No. 74 02:54
• Anonymous:
• 2 Anonymous: Bruredansen / Paalsdans / Polsdans 04:13
• Anonymous:
• 3 Anonymous: Spelaren 02:53
• Anders Larsson
• 4 Larsson: Polonesse 04:38
• Erik Gustaf Geijer (1783 - 1847):
• 5 Geijer: Konung Eric och Spåkvinnan 02:49
• Anonymous:
• 6 Anonymous: Madame Trifes Liri e Dans 02:59
• Anonymous:
• 7 Anonymous: 2 Springedans 03:20
• Anonymous:
• 8 Anonymous: Huldra å 'en Elland 05:33
• Anonymous:
• 9 Anonymous: Polsdans 01:46
• Anonymous:
• 10 Anonymous: Frieras a Ongkar'n te Gjente / Norsk Dands 03:15
• Anonymous:
• 11 Anonymous: 2 Polsdans 02:53
• Anonymous:
• 12 Anonymous: Pol. 02:45
• Anonymous:
• 13 Anonymous: 2 March 03:11
• Anonymous:
• 14 Anonymous: Necken 04:52
• Anonymous:
• 15 Anonymous: Englis No. 2 / 2 Riil 03:25
• Anonymous:
• 16 Anonymous: Signe Lita 02:51
• Anonymous:
• 17 Anonymous: Vals 02:59
• Anonymous:
• 18 Anonymous: Pollonoise No. 9 / Polonesse 03:24
• Carl Michael Bellman (1740 - 1795):
• 19 Bellman: Grannas Lasse! Klang på lyran / Engels 03:36
• Total Runtime 01:04:16

Info for Sublimation: Songs and dances from 18th-century Scandinavia

After two albums devoted to Ireland and Scotland, Alix Boivert and The Curious Bards cross the North Sea to Sweden and Norway. Rejecting the artificial distinction between ‘art’ and ‘folk’ music, they give us a chance to hear the colourful and varied world of eighteenth-century Scandinavian songs and dances.

Ilektra Platiopoulou, mezzo-soprano
The Curious Bards

Ilektra Platiopoulou
Born in Thessaloniki (Greece), Ilektra began her singing studies at the Neo V. Tsampali Conservatory in Thessaloniki. In 2004, she was admitted to the Schola Cantorum in Basel alongside Rosa Dominguez and Andreas Scholl. She received her early music master’s degree in 2009. In the following year she joined the class of Marcel Boone at the Music Academy of Basel to deepen her technical skills and vocal repertoire. In same year, she was also a semifinalist in the Cesti competition in Innsbruck (Austria).

With the support of the opera academy network ENOA, she took part at the Academy of the National Opera of Poland (Warsaw)in May 2014. In October of the same year she performed at the Rossini residence of the Gulbenkian Foundation Lisbon. She sang the part of Virtu in L’incoronazione di Poppea by Claudio Monteverdi at the National Opera of Athens (Athens Festival in 2011, Head : Mr. Chryssikos , directed by A. Papadamaki).

She also sang Elvida in the opera by Alessandro Scarlatti, Penelope la Casta (Head : A. Marcon , directed by Manfred Weiss). In 2013, she gave a recital of Spanish Songs by Manuel De Falla, with the National Orchestra of Basel and then performed a one-month tour in Japan as a soloist.

The year 2014 was very important for her career, with notably her first title role (L’enfant) in L’enfant et les sortilèges of Ravel at the National Opera of Basel. That same year she was also selected for the role of Lucilla (La Scala di Seta of Gioacchino Rossini) as part of the Rossini Residence of the prestigious Academy of Lyric Art Festival of Aix en Provence.

In 2015, she sang Marianne in Il Signor Bruschino of Rossini (Gulbenkian Foundation Lisbon, Head: Yi-Chen Lin, directed by Claudio Desderi). That same year, she was selected to participate in the workshop Il viaggio a Reims of Rossini with director Stephan Grögler in the Royaumont Foundation. Very interested in the links between traditional music and art music, she explores these relationships in the Greek repertoire of composers such as Theodorakis and Hadjidakis, and in ancient Gaelic music with the Curious Bards.

The Curious Bards
Since 2015, The Curious Bards has brought together five musicians passionate about the popular music of Northern Europe in the 18th century, but with a unique approach: a fusion of in-depth musicological research and overflowing energy. Trained at the conservatories of Lyon, Paris, and Basel, they have immersed themselves fully in the world of Irish, Scottish, English, Swedish, and Norwegian music, striving to rediscover and reinterpret ancient repertoires while infusing them with their own modern and creative touch.

The group is much more than just a band of musicians: they are a bunch of slightly mad researchers embarking on sonic explorations, deciphering forgotten instrumental techniques, and reviving old pieces with a refreshing vibrancy. Their sound? A perfect blend of authenticity, research, and raw energy that both makes you dance and makes you think. Each concert is a journey where tradition and innovation intersect and embrace, and where music becomes a living, thrilling adventure.

The Curious Bards has been supported from the outset by the Cité de la Voix in Vézelay, then joined the EEEmerging program at the Ambronay Festival in 2016, and since 2020 has been sponsored by Caisse des Dépôts as its main patron.

With over 250 concerts and three albums released on Harmonia Mundi (Extradition, 2017, Indiscretion, 2023, and Sublimation, 2025), they embody their dual approach: a masterful blend of serious musicological research and boundless creativity. It’s tradition, but reimagined with a touch of madness, resulting in something both profound and completely joyful!

Booklet for Sublimation: Songs and dances from 18th-century Scandinavia