Category Archives: Formations invitées

Brass Quintet Bacchus

Inspired by the legacy of illustrious french brass musicians such as Maurice André or Michel Becquet, the Quintet Bacchus is one of the new ambassadors of playing “à la française”. Offering eclectic programs, combining classical, jazz and popular music, the Quintette Bacchus has never ceased to amaze and seduce audiences, in France and abroad.

All five musicians of the Quintet, winners of numerous international competitions, decided in 2014 to form a brass quintet to highlight the most beautiful lines of the original repertoire but also develop a new repertoire, symphonic and pianistic, through personal arrangements. Bacchus has performed at numerous concerts and festivals (Les Invalides (Paris), Festival de Pontlevoy, Eurocuivres, Vox Musica festival, Jeudis Musicaux de Royan, Bergerac Organ Festival… It has also recently appeared on the Radio France Musique for Gaëlle Le Gallic’s broadcast “Génération Jeunes Interprètes”.

The Quintet also builds artistic partnerships with other musicians. They have developed a close link with the organist Louis Jullien with whom they created a program Brass Quintet and Organ around Mussorgsky’s «Pictures at an Exhibition» (on tour). During several occasions, Bacchus Quintet has also been accompanied by the french military band La Musique des Gardiens de la Paix in a concerto for brass quintet and concert band. With this experience and a constant desire for artistic encounter, the Quintet now offers concerts across France and abroad moments of musical sharing through joint concerts.

Ensemble Vox Cantoris

Since its creation in 2000 in the Alpes-Maritimes region, the Vox Cantoris ensemble has focused its work on researching and implementing repertoires from virtually unexplored musical collections. In partnership with numerous musicologists, it aims to anthropologically study sacred music from the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, rediscovering the now-forgotten expertise of the singers from those eras (direct reading from the original notation, singing from the lectern, ornamentation, collection of still-existing oral traditions, etc.).

The ensemble’s discography includes around fifteen works, all praised by critics (5 diapasons, 2 Clefs de Resmusica, 4 stars from Monde de la Musique, 3 nominations for the ICMA, etc.).
In 2022, the Vox Cantoris ensemble was a finalist for the REMA Awards in the category of extra-European musical programs.

Vox Cantoris is supported by the DRAC Nouvelle-Aquitaine, the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region, the Gironde Department, the French Institute, the Patrimonio Musical de la Nueva España association, as well as by the SPEDIDAM and ADAMI.

Accordion duet – Marie-Andrée Joerger & Teja Udovič Kovačič

Marie-Andrée Joerger is a French concert artist and teacher. She is part of a new generation of musicians with a most singular career path.

An accordionist who graduated with the highest honors from the Musikhochschule in Freiburg, Germany (class of Teodoro Anzellotti) and Basel, Switzerland (specialized master’s degree in contemporary music), Marie-Andrée Joerger performs around the world as a soloist, with orchestras or ensembles, at festivals such as the Zelt-Musik-Festival in Freiburg (Germany), Musique en scène in Lyon, ÖGZM in Vienna (Austria), Upol festival in Nova Gorica (Slovenia), Festival international de musique de Colmar, Festival Folia in Montreal (Canada), Festival Musica et Arsmondo in Strasbourg, Festival Manifeste in Paris, Les Musicales de Normandie, Akordeono Festival Vilnius (Lithuania), with the orchestras of Freiburg (Germany), Nancy, Strasbourg, or the Russian National Philharmonic Orchestra.

She performs in such prestigious venues as Berlin’s Konzerthaus and Philharmonie, Zurich’s Tonhalle, Lyon’s Opéra, Frankfurt’s Alte Oper, Bucharest’s Théâtre Romana and Paris’s Philharmonie, alongside such renowned soloists as Armand Angster, Marc Coppey, Françoise Kubler, Daishin Kashimoto and Pierre Strauch.

Active in contemporary creation, Marie-Andrée Joerger has premiered numerous works, including Thierry Escaich’s first solo piece for accordion at the Berlin Philharmonic. The first accordion concerto by Annette Schlünz, as well as works by other composers such as Bernard Cavanna, Daniel D’Adamo, Beat Furer, Martin Matalon, Misato Mochizuki and Alberto Posadas.

April 2021 saw the release of her first solo album, Bach en Miroir on the Klarthe label, to widespread critical acclaim (“favorite album” Le Monde 2021, France Musique, Mediapart, Pizzicato, Classic News, France Inter, Rai3….).

Artistic director of the ensemble Les musiciens de Strasbourg (string quintet and accordion), Marie Andrée also performs as a duo with Vincent Dubois (organist, principal organist at Notre-Dame de Paris). She is a member of La Philharmonie de Poche, the contemporary ensemble Linea, and is a regular guest of Strasbourg’s Accroche Note ensemble.

For the past thirteen years, she has organized the annual Académie internationale and Festival Agora in Adelboden, Switzerland, with Vincent Lhermet and Sylvain Tissot.

Marie-Andrée Joerger founded the accordion class at the Strasbourg Conservatory and has been teaching there since 2014, as well as at the Strasbourg Higher Music Academy – Haute école des arts du Rhin.

She is regularly invited to give master-classes at conservatories throughout Europe (Italy, Lithuania, Slovenia, Poland, Netherlands…), and also serves as a jury member at international competitions (Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Switzerland…).

 

Teja Udovič Kovačič is a Slovenian accordionist and winner of several international accordion competitions, including the Castelfidardo International Accordion Prize, the Pula International Accordion Competition, the SVIREL International Music Competition and the “TEMSIG” Competition for Young Slovenian Musicians and Ballet Dancers.

She is an accordion Master’s student and winner of the Prešeren Prize at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana (Slovenia), in Borut Zagoranski’s class. She also studied with Marie-Andrée Joerger at the Académie supérieure de musique de Strasbourg.

As a soloist and chamber musician, Teja Udovič Kovačič performs regularly in national and international concert cycles such as Festival Ljubljana, Jeunesses musicales de Slovénie, Biennale internationale de musique contemporaine de Koper, Solo e da camera de l’Académie de musique de Ljubljana, Klasika u Portu (Croatia) and ADG Sommerkonzerte (Germany). In 2021, she took part in a program on Slovenian national television.

She premiered a piece by Corrado Rojac as soloist with the NOVA Filharmonija symphony orchestra and recorded a CD with them. She has also appeared as soloist with the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, the Strasbourg Conservatory String Ensemble, the Vladimir Lovec Symphony Orchestra, the Obala Chamber Orchestra, and the accordion orchestras of the Ljubljana Academy of Music, the Maribor Conservatory of Music and Accordiona.

She collaborated with the Vocal Academy Ljubljana and conductor Stojan Kuret on the opening concert of the European Grand Prix of Choral Singing in Tolosa (Spain), as well as a concert tour of Spain, Italy and Slovenia.

Ensemble Oriscus

Oriscus is a young ensemble that brings together musicians and singers from diverse backgrounds: classical, early, traditional and sacred music… It is particularly committed to the discovery or rediscovery of the sacred vocal repertoire and instruments of the medieval period.

In some manuscripts, the shape of the neume called “oriscus” adopts the symbol of infinity; in others, it looks like a tiny bird in flight… Like its enigmatic, polymorphous design, the precise realization of this ornamental neume remains to be discovered.

The Latin etymology of “oriscus” evokes “ors”, the mouth, and also “auris”, meaning the ear. For it was indeed by word of mouth that this ancestral song was transmitted, lost and then found again, with the help of manuscripts, leaving our imaginations, guided by science, free to recreate it. It is this freedom that the ensemble emphasizes. The programs it offers naturally include improvisations and dialogue with works from other eras inspired by this music.

Following its formation at the Rocamadour Festival in August 2021, the ensemble released a recording, dedicated to Hildegard von Bingen and entitled “Stella Maris” under the Rocamadour label in 2022. Since then, the ensemble has taken part in the Festival de Musique Sacrée de Perpignan and the Visitation concerts in Le Mans. This year, after their performance at the Chartres Cathedral Festival, Oriscus’ members will return to the Rocamadour Festival.

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).

Children’s Chorus of Washington & Musyca (United States) – Soirées Estivales 2015

Soirées Estivales – July 2, 2015

Musyca Youth Choir

 

Children’s Chorus of Washington

Duo flute & brush (France)

Festival International – July 5, 2015

Duo flûte & pinceau