Author Archives: Laurent Bouis

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 ensemble Pérotin le Grand 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 spread out 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. The singers explore all forms of music that have maintained a link with Gregorian chant over time, additionnally promoting contemporary creation by commissioning young composers.

Variable in size, the ensemble performs a cappella or accompanied by specialized instruments.
It strives to enhance the venues in which it performs, integrating their spatial, historical and acoustic dimensions.

Since its creation, the ensemble has performed at various festivals, and in autumn 2021 recorded its first CD based on polyphony at Notre-Dame de Paris.

Les Cuivres De la Neustrie

Founded in 1984, the Neustrie brass ensemble comprises eight instrumentalists divided into two sections: four trumpets and four trombones.

This ensemble is complemented by another instrument, the organ, with which the brass instruments naturally interact. It has been played by Danièle Jeansonnie since the ensemble was founded.

The Brass Soloists are often called upon to take part in outdoor events in surroundings such as the Parc National du Domaine de Saint-Cloud. For more than thirty years, the brass ensemble has been a constant source of musical activity, performing in numerous concerts at prestigious venues such as Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, the chapel of the Château de Versailles, Chartres Cathedral and numerous other buildings such as the beautiful Abbaye de Conques.

The ensemble’s aim is to promote the rich repertoire of brass instruments spanning several centuries of music, their sonorities flourishing under the vaults of cathedrals.

Ensemble Qu4tre à 4, trombone quartet

Originally from Pas de Calais in northern France, where they pursued their musical careers, these four musicians now teach at national conservatories.

The program offered by the “Qu4tre à 4” ensemble is deliberately eclectic, reflecting the repertoire for four trombones. From transcriptions to original pieces, the four trombonists allow you to you discover the richness of their instrument through through the artists’ musical sensibilities.

As certified teachers, they enjoy incorporating an educational component into their activities, including school presentations, master classes, and the production of musical tales specifically created for their ensemble.

As worthy representatives of the French School of Trombone, they perpetuate the characteristic qualities of this school, through their performances and especially at major international festivals (Paris, Valencia, Lausanne, New York, Los Angeles, SliderAsia in Hong Kong).

Concerts été 2023

This summer, while the great organ of Chartres Cathedral is being rebuilt, we are delighted to announce that our 49th Festival and Soirées estivales will feature several instrumental and vocal ensembles.
We warmly invite you to join us, and enjoy an original and refined program of remarkable quality!
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to experience unforgettable musical moments!

Festival Sundays at 4:30 pm: July 9 to August 20 (https://www.orgues-chartres.org/festival-2023/).

Soirées Estivales Thursdays at 9:00 pm: July 13 and 20, and August 10 to 24 (https://www.orgues-chartres.org/soirees-estivales-2023/).

The program is now available on the website: download our flyer

Décès du facteur d’orgue Jean-Marc Cicchero

© P. Cicchero

Vendredi 17 mars le Maître facteur d’orgue Jean-Marc Cicchero nous a quittés. Il a longtemps entretenu les orgues de la cathédrale de Chartres, et effectué le relevage du grand orgue en 1996. C’était un plaisir de le retrouver durant les finales de nos concours, pour lesquels il assurait une veille technique. Au-delà d’un grand professionnel, passionné et passionnant, c’est aussi un ami qui disparaît. À son fils Philippe, à sa famille, nous adressons toutes nos condoléances.

Neveu des harmonistes Maurice Gobin et Charles Meslé, Jean-Marc Cicchero a fait ses débuts à l’âge de 14 ans sous la houlette de son oncle Maurice Gobin qui était harmoniste chez Gonzalez. Il effectua son apprentissage dans la Maison EA. Roethinger à Strasbourg et a travaillé de 1961 à 1977 pour la Maison Danion-Gonzalez en temps qu’harmoniste. Il crée sa propre entreprise en 1978 à Gentilly. Pendant une vingtaine d’années, il assure l’entretien de quelques 150 instruments, effectue des relevages et des restaurations comme les orgues des cathédrales de Nouméa et de Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon. Président du GPFO (Groupement Professionnel des Facteurs d’Orgue français) pendant 14 ans, membre de la Commission des Monuments-Historiques pour les orgues, il est nommé Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres en 2017. Après avoir effectué une carrière remarquable, il a pris sa retraite en 2003.
Grand passionné de l’histoire de la facture d’orgue française, Jean-Marc Cicchero s’est alors consacré à la publication d’ouvrages valorisant l’histoire et le patrimoine que constitue la facture d’orgues française. Parmi les remarquables ouvrages qu’il a publiés aux éditions OBCD visuel, on peut citer les livres «Hommage à une Passion»(2018) et « Cavaillé-Coll, mode d’emploi » (2014).

Biographie extraite du site https://orguesdeparis.fr/

Information on the reconstruction of the great organ

Expected for many years, the reconstruction of the great organ of Chartres Cathedral began in mid-September 2022.

Owned by the State, the great organ of Chartres was at the end of its rope, and had been on a drip for years in order to maintain its religious and cultural activities.
The Association des grandes orgues de Chartres, and in particular its president Philippe Lefebvre, has been working hard for several decades to achieve this result, which is the result of an unprecedented effort by the State, which provides 75% of the financing, with the support of the local authorities (City of Chartres, Région Centre and Département d’Eure-et-Loir) and the assistance of the Chartres Sanctuary of the World Association.

Following a call for tenders launched in 2021 by the Direction des affaires culturelles du Centre, a jury composed of internationally renowned organists and qualified personalities selected the project presented by a group of three French organ builders who joined forces for this large-scale project: the Muhleisen organ builders in Strasbourg, the Atelier Chevron in Corrèze, and the harmonist Bertrand Cattiaux.

An operation in several stages:
– installation of the scaffolding,
– dismantling of the case and the organ in a few weeks,
– restoration of the organ case, classified as a historical monument, in the workshop,
– construction of the new organ in the organbuilders’ workshops,
– reassembly of the case and installation of the new instrumental part,
– harmonization of the pipes.

The project proposed by the group of companies consists of the construction of a large organ with four manuals and about fifty stops adapted to the historical case and to the acoustics of the cathedral. This project takes into account the different uses of the instrument: religious (more than 200 services per year with the organ) and cultural (concerts, international festival, summer evenings) and the Chartres International Organ Competition which has been welcoming young organists from all over the world for 50 years.

Following the proposals presented to the State by the Association des Grands Orgues de Chartres, the project aims to provide the cathedral with an instrument representative of the art of French organ building, offering musical possibilities for repertoires from different periods but also open to creation and improvisation.

The instrument will combine the age-old and proven techniques of organ building (mechanical transmission, use of traditional materials such as oak and tin) and will offer new possibilities thanks to the digital technologies that organ building has integrated for several years. Heritage and modernity: this is the challenge of this operation, which will be carried out under the supervision of the state-approved technical consultant Thierry Semenoux.

The reconstruction work began in September 2022 with the dismantling of the entire instrumental part and the restoration of the case.

The new instrument is expected to sound by the end of 2025.

Follow the progress of the work at the cathedral

Concours 2020 – postponed in 2026

2016-photo-buffet-chartresThe  27th international organ competition ‘Grand Prix de Chartres’, dedicated to improvisation ,is postponed to 2021, because of the international health news.

A new date will be announced later.

Adam TAŃSKI

Adam Tański is a graduate of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw in the organ class of Prof. Magdalena Czajka and Prof. Jarosław Wróblewski. He also graduated with honours from the Hochschule für Musik in Mainz in the organ class of Prof. Gerhard Gnann and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris in the organ class of Prof. Michel Bouvard and Prof. Olivier Latry. In 2015-2017, Adam Tański was a pedagogue at the Grażyna and Kiejstut Bacewicz Academy of Music in Łódź; currently he lectures the art of organ playing and improvisation at the Diocesan Institute of Church Music in Łomża.

He is a laureate of a special prize at the 5th Feliks Nowowiejski International Organ Competition in Poznań (2015) and the 1st prize at the International Organ Competition “European Baroque Organs” in Katowice (2014). He was also a semi-finalist of the following international organ competitions: Mikael Tariverdiev in Kaliningrad (2013), Leoš Janaček in Brno (2012), J.S. Bach in Wiesbaden (2009).

Adam Tański was a scholarship holder of the Lions Club Warsaw NIKE (2014, 2015), French foundations Meyer and Brieux Ustarizt (2013-2015), Rector of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music (2010, 2011) and the Polish Prime Minister (2006, 2007). He gives concerts at festivals in Poland and abroad; he has performed at the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, recitals and organ concerts in Germany, France and Great Britain. In 2017, he received a scholarship of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage for research work on the historical organ of the Łomża Diocese, whereas in 2018 he carried out an educational project for children focused on the historical organs of the capital city as part of the artistic scholarship of the City of Warsaw.



In addition, Adam Tański is a co-founder and artistic director of the festival Etnosakralia Kurpiowskie, combining organ music with traditional and improvised music; he is also an active composer. His works have been performed in Poland and Germany and in 2018 his first monographic publication containing five pieces for keyboard instruments was released in the publishing series “Biblioteczka Kurpiowska”.

William FIELDING

William Fielding will continue his studies with Oliver Latry and Thomas Ospital at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris from September this year.

William spent three years at St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh, then two years with David Graham and Kathron Sturrock at the Royal College of Music (organ and piano), was organist at the Chapel Royal of the Queen of England, Hampton Court Palace, and worked extensively as a collaborative pianist – highlights with his colleagues including a two-piano concert tour to Marbella, Spain, with concert pianist Łukasz Krupinski, and a tour of the Czech Republic with violinist Joel Munday.

William decided in 2020 to immerse himself in the French organ tradition by moving to study with Michel Bouvard (titular organist of the St Sernin Basilica) in Toulouse, and then with Yoann Tardivel, at the Toulouse Conservatoire.
William has enjoyed the opportunities offered to him in Toulouse, in particular a close collaboration with Mark Opstad and the Maîtrise of the Toulouse conservatoire, with whom he has recorded a CD including Maurice Duruflé’s requiem.

William is the choir organist at the Basilica of St Sernin, Toulouse.