Priscille Lachat-Sarrete studied at the Paris VI Conservatoire with Isabelle Lesage. She continued her violin studies with Catherine Courtois at the Regional Conservatory (CRR) in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, where she won a gold medal, then at the CRR in Rueil-Malmaison, marked “excellent”. She spent two years perfecting her technique with Géza Kapás, professor at the Franz Liszt Conservatory in Budapest, then with Pavel Vernikov at the Santa Cecilia Academy in Portogruaro (Italy).

At the same time, she obtained a certificate in music history from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, as well as a prize for musical culture in Brigitte François-Sappey’s class. She is also defending a doctoral thesis in musicology at the Paris-Sorbonne University under the supervision of Jean-Pierre Bartoli.

Priscille Lachat-Sarrete performs chamber music in Paris and the Paris region. Her repertoire ranges from Baroque music – with solo violin recitals devoted to Bach, Locatelli, and Telemann – to contemporary music – with Takemitsu, Tanguy or Finzi, via the vast field of classical and romantic sonatas. She has also played with the Orchestre de Bretagne and the Orchestre des Pays de Loire.

A violin teacher at the Chartres departmental Conservatory, and the Francis Poulenc Conservatory in Paris 16, she is also a lecturer at Paris-Sorbonne University.

Priscille Lachat-Sarrete has recorded two CDs: “Le cercle Schumann” in 2006, and a solo violin recital at Chartres Cathedral in 2010, “Flammes baroques”.

Didier Seutin began his musical studies at the Montreal Children’s Choir in Quebec. Following this training, he continued his organ studies, obtaining the Premier Prix from the Conservatoire de Montréal. After receiving merit scholarships from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ministère des Affaires culturelles du Québec, he moved to France to further his studies with André Isoir and with Odile Bailleux in early music. These studies were crowned by First Prizes from the Boulogne-Billancourt and Bourg-la-Reine conservatories.

He went on to study choral and orchestral conducting, later obtaining the Diplôme d’Etat de Direction d’ensembles vocaux. As a choral singing teacher at the Conservatoire du Centre de Paris, he set up a course to teach the basics of choral singing, as well as various workshops to deepen and enrich the initial experience.

Artistic director of the Paris Ladie’s Choir from 1995 to 2009, he took part in the Paris premiere of Jacques Castérède’s Cantique de la Création. As choral director of the Saint-Eustache Choral Society, he has also given a number of concerts featuring works such as Bach’s Magnificat and St. Matthew Passion in F. Mendelssohn’s version, as well as Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de Confessore.

He produces a large number of arrangements and transcriptions for the ensembles he conducts.

In 2009, Kaija Saariaho entrusted him with the musical arrangement of one of her compositions: Horloge, tais-toi!

In 2012, he was appointed assistant organist at Notre-Dame church in Boulogne-Billancourt. He has given numerous concerts in Quebec, France, and the United States.

The cellist Aurélie Allexandre d’Albronn belongs to a generation of musicians who no longer oppose styles or repertoires. She enjoys finding herself at the crossroads of different forms, from solo repertoire to chamber music, and maintains a special relationship with the orchestra, which remains the place for an extraordinary collective adventure, collaborating notably with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Les Dissonances.

She studied with Marc Coppey at the National Conservatory of Music and Dance in Paris (CNSMDP), with Peter Bruns at the Hochschule für Musik in Leipzig, as well as in the class of the Trio Wanderer at the Regional Conservatory in Paris. Interested in all musical aesthetics, she received instruction from Bruno Cocset in baroque cello (CNSMDP). She also had the opportunity to refine her skills with Philippe Hersant, Tôn-Thât Tiêt, Gustav Rivinius, Gary Hoffman, Anne Gastinel, Philippe Muller, Roland Pidoux, Valentin Erben, and members of the Ysaÿe and Debussy quartets.

She has had the opportunity to perform in the most prestigious French venues, as well as at the NCPA Beijing, Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, National Library of China, Shanghai Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Center Hall, Wiener Konzerthaus, Smetana Hall in Prague, Liszt Academy in Budapest, Reduta Bratislava Concert Hall, etc. Her chamber music partners include clarinetist Raphaël Sévère, pianist Clément Lefebvre, violinist Eva Zavaro, violist Léa Hennino, and the Hermès Quartet.

In 2023, she recorded and performed Pierre Boulez’s Messagesquisse at the invitation of Clément Rochefort on his show Génération France Musique, created a lyrical work for three cellos and soprano by Benjamin Attahir at the Institut du Monde Arabe, and published her first book with Editions Al Manar.

Since 2021, she has been the artistic director of the variable geometry ensemble Les Illuminations, which develops significant activity focused on heritage and creation repertoires, not forgetting outreach to all audiences.

The Ensemble PÉROTIN LE GRAND

Founded in 2020 under the impetus of a group of Notre-Dame singers who had benefited from Sylvain Dieudonné’s teaching, the Pérotin le Grand ensemble is dedicated above all to rediscovering and promoting the musical heritage associated with Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, from the Middle Ages to the present day.
Under the direction of Sylvain Dieudonné, the ensemble’s vocation is to take this heritage beyond the cathedral walls.

With a predilection for Gregorian chant and the repertoire of the École de Notre-Dame (12th-13th centuries), Pérotin le Grand also performs other forms of medieval music, both sacred and secular. In particular, it explores all forms of music that have maintained a link with Gregorian chant over time, and promotes contemporary creation.

Variable in size, the ensemble performs a cappella or accompanied by specialized instruments.

Sylvain Dieudonné – artistic director and medieval bowed fiddle
Sylvain Dieudonné has won numerous prizes at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, and specializes in the study of Gregorian chant and medieval music.

Much of his research work is devoted to studying and restoring the musical heritage of Notre-Dame de Paris.

His activities as choirmaster and teacher at the Maîtrise de la Cathédrale (1994-2019) have enabled him to forge partnerships with numerous artists and specialized ensembles. In 2020, he became musical director of the Pérotin le Grand ensemble. In September 2022, he was appointed Professor of Gregorian Chant at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris.

Marthe Davost – soprano
As a child, Marthe Davost discovered her particular interest in the voice at the Maîtrise de Bretagne (directed by Jean-Michel Noël).

She continued her training with the adult choir of the Maîtrise Notre-Dame de Paris (director Lionel Sow), then at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris from 2012 to 2017. Since 2018, she has been a laureate of the Fondation Royaumont.

Marthe Davost performs in a variety of roles and repertoires, including L’Enfant (L’enfant et les sortilèges), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Drusilla (l’Incoronazione di Poppea), Eurydice (Orphée aux enfers), Bastienne (Bastien et Bastienne) and since January 2022 she has been touring with the Unité Scénique de la Fondation Royaumont as Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande).

She enjoys early and medieval music, as well as polyphonic work. She is in demand with several ensembles, including Ensemble Pérotin Le Grand (conductor Sylvain Dieudonné), Poème Harmonique (conductor Vincent Dumestre), Ensemble Marguerite Louise (conductor Gaétan Jarry) and Ensemble Arborescence (conductor David Chappuis).

Jean-Charles Gandrille trained at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, where he won prizes in orchestration, harmony, counterpoint, fugue and forms, analysis, and organ improvisation with Thierry Escaich and Philippe Lefebvre.

At the same time, he took up the violin and cello. He also studied at the Conservatoire à rayonnement régional de Paris with Marie-Louise Langlais and Sylvie Mallet, and at the Conservatoire à rayonnement régional de Saint-Maur-des-Fossés with Éric Lebrun.
Between the ages of 18 and 20, he was a grand prizewinner in the Chartres (2000), Saarbrücken (2001) and Nüremberg (2002) international improvisation competitions. He also studied and worked with composer Jean-Louis Florentz in Nice in 2001 and 2002.

He has won several international Grand Premiers Prix for his compositions: Valentino Bucchi in Rome in 2001, Orchestre Français de Flûtes in Paris in 2002, and Composition pour Orgue in St-Bertrand de Comminges in 2006. More recently, he was awarded the Fernando Rielo Prize in Madrid in November 2023, and the Special Prize at the Mansurian Competition in Armenia in June 2024.
He has received commissions from the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra (released on CD by Paraty in 2015), and from Notre-Dame de Paris for his Magnificat, premiered in 2016 in this cathedral (released in 2020 on CD by Warner Classics).

His Oratorio de Noël, commissioned by Trio K/D/M, was premiered in December 2021 by the children’s choirs of the Paris and Lyon cathedrals, then revived in December 2022 at Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège and in December 2023 at Fontevraud Abbey. His Stabat Mater was the last polyphony sung before the fire at Notre-Dame de Paris. His Livre pour violoncelle, written for Gautier Capuçon’s 40th birthday, was published in April by Billaudot. In June 2024, he will release his new CD “Gandrille Piano Trios”.

Jean-Charles Gandrille is organist at the famous Notre-Dame de l’Assomption church in Auvers-sur-Oise, and takes part every year in the no less famous International Music Festival.

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Winner of the Bordeaux Lions International Competition, Angelo Cavarra trained at the Vincenzo Bellini Conservatory in Catania. He continued his clarinet and chamber music studies at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, the Claude Debussy Conservatory, and obtained a master’s degree at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels.
Angelo Cavarra studied with internationally renowned clarinetists such as Guy Deplus, Ronald van Spaendonck and Calogero Palermo. He went on to perfect his skills with Philippe Cuper, Alessandro Carbonare, Antony Pay, Aurelien Popav, Patrick Messina and Dominique Vidal.

In parallel with his classical and contemporary training, this curious and versatile musician practices improvisation, and does not hesitate to confront himself with traditional music such as flamenco, tango and klezmer.
He has appeared as soloist under the baton of Jan Cober, Deborah Waldaman, Ronald Van-Spaendonck, François Weigel and Andrea Gasperin, performing masterpieces from the repertoire for clarinet and orchestra, as well as the world premiere of “Concert Ensorcelé”, dedicated to him by Italian composer Joe Schittino.
His solo and chamber music career has taken him to the Philarmonie de Paris, Salle Cortot, Salle Pleyel and the Grande Salle de la Régence at the Brussels Conservatoire.
He collaborates with several ensembles, including the European Youth Wind Orchestra, the Calefax Reed Quintet, Orchestre Divertimento and Symphonie de Poche.
In 2009, he recorded the CD “Sonates Italiennes de fin de siècle” under the artistic direction of composer Gian Paolo Luppi.
He premiered the work “A San Michele Archangelo” for harp and clarinet, composed for this recording and released by IMusician Digital.

Angelo Cavarra writes and directs two poetic and sonorous shows entitled “Sonates Italiennes de fin de siècles” (Maison de la Légion d’honneur de Saint-Denis in 2009) and “Éloge de la Lumière” produced by the Alliance Artistique Européenne. His latest dance-theater piece, “La Liseuse de rêves” (The Dream Reader), produced in collaboration with flamenco dancer Ruben Molina, has won rave reviews.
Angelo Cavarra won a civil service competitive examination and teaches clarinet and chamber music at the Franconville and Eaubonne dance and drama conservatories.

Co-founder and artistic director of the Offensiva Culturale festival in Belpasso (Italy), Angelo Cavarra researches and works in favor of pedagogical transmission and inter-cultural artistic exchanges.

Pascal Bezard (bass-baritone)
Éric Gervais (tenor)
Samuel Guibal (bass-baritone)
Jean-Philippe Poujoulat (tenor)

Since its creation in the early Carolingian period, the Gregorian repertoire has been interpreted in a wide variety of ways. As the official song of the Roman Church, it is the prayer and office song of monasteries, as well as the music of the great papal and imperial chapels, where it is performed by professional singers in the service of the Church of Princes.

The Magnus Liber ensemble’s concert presentation of this great corpus of Western music, with its wide range of emotions and original spirituality, is based on the idea of regular work on the repertoire by a group of professional singers.

Trying to approximate the idea of the great chapels of the High Middle Ages, Magnus Liber performs as a male choir of two to seven singers, depending on program and venue.

The ensemble works under the dual musical direction of Éric Gervais and Pascal Bezard, each bringing his or her own skills, experience, desires and personality.
Avoiding both musicological cataloguing and para-liturgy, the programs are built around the great themes that irrigate the texts of Gregorian chant. For each concert, the Magnus Liber ensemble proposes a theme to explore the diversity of musical forms, from the simplest to the most ornate, with the vocal cast varying to best serve each piece (choir, soloist, dialogue between soloists or between soloists and choir, etc.).

The Magnus Liber ensemble’s repertoire thus explores music from the time of Charlemagne, but also through polyphony, its survival at the time of the first Capetians to the immense flowering of the École Notre-Dame at the time of the construction of the Gothic cathedral, as well as masterpieces from the repertoire of the great composers of the late Middle Ages, such as Guillaume de Machaut in the 14th century.

Antoine Cambruzzi (Clarinet)
Alexis Peyraud (Oboe)
Audrey Crouzet (English horn)
Félix Bacik (Trombone)
Émilien Courait (Tuba)

The Quintette Phénix is an unheard-of ensemble with a novel orchestration, combining the playful virtuosity of the clarinet, the racy charm of the oboe and English horn, the sonic versatility of the trombone and the round, deep bass of the tuba. This musical utopia was born in 2016 at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris, when 5 young musicians set themselves the goal of decompartmentalizing and refreshing the practice of chamber music. The role of 21st-century musicians is to open up to new genres, new audiences and new music. This is why they have decided to form an innovative group of musicians, free from the divisions between noble or popular instruments, woodwinds and brass, original or transcribed repertoires, learned, traditional or contemporary music… Crossbreeding is the key word here.

The ensemble’s musicians combine talent and curiosity: between them have won a large number of international prizes. The Quintette Phénix is resolutely turned towards the future; it is already the dedicatee of a number of works and collaborates with the composers of our time. Its repertoire also includes masterpieces of past centuries, boldly arranged, and a fresh look at the possibilities of the instruments that make it up. Phénix can play anything, and doesn’t hold back.

Quintette Phénix recently played at the Philharmonie de Paris and the Seine Musicale, and is regularly invited to perform as part of the “Jeunes Talents” festival, notably at the Petit Palais and the Archives Nationales.

Aurore Blaise – soprano
Aurore Blaise, s’est d’abord consacrée à l’apprentissage du piano, avant d’intégrer en 2007 parallèlement à ses études d’Histoire, l’Orchestre et Chœur des Universités de Paris (OCUP), sous la direction de Guillaume Connesson, puis en 2010 le Chœur Vittoria d’Île-de-France de Michel Piquemal.
En 2013, elle recentre sa pratique musicale autour du répertoire baroque, son répertoire de prédilection, au sein de la Camerata Saint-Louis de Paris de Georges Guillard et, depuis 2015, du Bach Collegium Paris sous la direction de Patrizia Metzler.
Dans les différents ensembles dont elle fait ou a fait partie, elle est conduite à chanter régulièrement en soliste, notamment dans l’œuvre de Bach (cantates, Passions). En 2014, elle est sollicitée par Georges Guillard pour l’enregistrement de la Messe Modale en septuor de Jehan Alain. On a pu l’entendre à l’Oratoire du Louvre dans le Laudate Dominum de J-N. Lefebvre, avec la Camerata Saint-Louis de Paris, et dans des programmes de cantates de Bach et de musique anglaise avec le Bach Collegium Paris.

Éric Gervais – ténor
Après avoir commencé l’étude du chant avec Monique Moigneteau à Nantes et en étant membre de l’ensemble vocal de Nantes dirigé par Paul Colléaux, Éric Gervais a intégré la Maîtrise de Notre-Dame de Paris où il a suivi un cycle de trois ans de formation professionnelle. Il a complété ensuite sa formation dans la classe de Blandine de Saint-Sauveur au conservatoire de Pantin où il a obtenu son Diplôme d’Études Musicales.
Parallèlement, d’abord à Notre-Dame de Paris puis au Centre de musique médiévale de Paris, il étudie et se perfectionne sous la direction de Brigitte Lesne pour le chant grégorien et la musique médiévale.
De la musique ancienne à la création contemporaine, il a chanté avec de nombreux ensembles dont Akademia Champagne-Ardennes, le chœur de Radio-France , Les Éléments à Toulouse mais aussi A Sei Voci (musique Renaissance) et Venance Fortunat (musique médiévale).
Comme soliste, outre les interventions en musique ancienne et en récital, il s’est produit en oratorio, Schütz, Bach, Mozart, Haydn… et aussi parfois sur scène notamment dans L’enfant et les sortilèges de Ravel sous la direction de Cyril Diederich.

Pascal Bezard – baryton-basse
Chef de chœur, chanteur professionnel, musicologue et pédagogue, Pascal Bezard aime aborder toutes les composantes de la musique ayant pour dénominateur commun « la voix ». Il explore et étudie tous les répertoires et toutes les époques, aussi bien par curiosité personnelle que par passion et souci du partage avec ses choristes et élèves.
Pascal Bezard est titulaire d’une Maîtrise de Musicologie à la Sorbonne et d’un Prix de Direction de Chœur au conservatoire national de région de Boulogne-Billancourt dans la classe de Pierre Calmelet.
Après l’étude du chant avec Pali Marinov, puis au Conservatoire du Centre de Paris, il s’est produit comme chanteur dans de nombreux ensembles professionnels (Ensemble Vocal Michel Piquemal, Le Concert Spirituel, Accentus, Jacques Moderne, les Éléments, …), au sein desquels il aborda un large répertoire sous la direction de chefs aux personnalités variées (M. Minkowski, H. Niquet, J.-C. Malgoire, M. Corboz, L. Equilbey, Ph. Herreweghe, J. Suhubiette, …).
Il chante régulièrement les parties de baryton-basse soliste du répertoire d’oratorios (Charpentier, Purcell, Gilles, Bach, Mozart, Fauré, Duruflé, …).
Enseignant la formation musicale durant sept ans, Pascal Bezard s’est ensuite consacré à l’histoire de la musique dont il fut chargé de cours à l’Université d’Évry Val d’Essonne pendant trois années ; il est maintenant régulièrement invité à donner des conférences sur l’histoire de la musique et la voix (physiologie, pathologie, technique vocale). Il a collaboré pendant près de 10 ans aux recherches sur la voix au sein du LAM (Laboratoire d’Acoustique Musicale).
Sa vocation de chef de chœur l’amène à diriger plusieurs chœurs et ensembles vocaux à Paris (Ensemble Vocal “Quid novi ?”) et sa région (Ensemble “O Musica” du Vésinet) ; il anime ponctuellement des stages thématiques (chant grégorien, musiques médiévales, baroque français,…) dont un atelier aux Choralies de Vaison-la-Romaine en 2010 et 2013.
Après deux ans passés comme soliste à Notre-Dame de Paris, il fonde en 1999 avec d’autres chanteurs issus de la cathédrale, l’ensemble professionnel à voix d’hommes “Magnus Liber” spécialisé dans le chant grégorien, les polyphonies médiévales et le plain-chant baroque.
Pascal Bezard est maître de chapelle de l’église Saint-Pierre de Chaillot (XVIe arr.) et fut maître de chapelle responsable des grandes cérémonies à la cathédrale Saint-Louis des Invalides (VIIe arr.) pendant plus de 10 ans. Il est également chantre de l’église luthérienne des Billettes depuis 1991.

Olivier Willemin – orgue
Après avoir été organiste à la collégiale de Montmorency, Olivier Willemin est depuis 1995 titulaire en l’église Sainte Rosalie à Paris. Il a été plusieurs fois l’invité des festivals d’orgue de Nice, Masevaux et Saint-Malo.
Compositeur, il a publié un Psautier triennal des dimanches et fêtes (studio SM, 2002), divers chants du répertoire de Saint-Séverin (Voix Nouvelles, 2023) ainsi que deux messes liturgiques (Atelier du Fresne, 2009 et 2012). Ses œuvres pour orgue demeurent inédites. Improvisateur, il a enregistré une suite française dans le cadre d’un disque consacrée aux orgues de la vallée de la Doller (Ligia Digital).
Ses activités de continuiste l’ont amené à accompagner la Camerata Saint-Séverin, le chœur Jean Sourisse et, à présent, le violoniste Igor Ramos notamment dans des œuvres de Bach et de Vivaldi. Olivier Willemin fait en outre partie du Trio Gallican, voué à la musique traditionnelle française.
Enfin, il est l’auteur d’un article sur la Genèse du psaume et son évolution musicale à travers les âges, et d’une Histoire de la chanson française des origines à la Révolution.

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