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Artistas

Jul 18
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Mickael Viegas

Mickael Viegas

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Mickael Viegas

He was born in Paris on the 12th March 1987. He was a young child when he comes to Portugal and at nine years old he starts studying classical guitar at the Conservatório Regional do Algarve.

While continuing his studies, he also attended several workshops, lectures and classes in the musical field both in Portugal and abroad under the supervision of the most renown interpreters and composers for guitar, namely, Master Classes with Roland Dyens, Leo Brouwer, Sergio and Odair Assad, Alberto Ponce, among   others.

In 2006 he enters in the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa where he gets the degree in Music, in the Fingering Strings Performing Variant (Guitar), finishing the course with a performance as a soloist guitar player for the Concert nr. 6 by Leo Brouwer, accompanied by a strings orchestra from the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa.

In 2009 enters in the Universidad de Extremadura and , in a protocol with this institution, he attends classes at the distinguished Luthier Paulino Barnabé’s home, in Madrid, where he gets his master’s degree in the course “Classical Guitar and Musical Interpretation”, under the supervision of the Spanish master Ricardo Gállen.

Nowadays he is a teacher at the AMEC/Metropolitana in Lisbon.

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Jul 22
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Natalia Valentin

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A native of Venezuela – and a star pupil of the country’s El Sistema musical education – Natalia Valentin’s flourishing artistic career reflects her enthusiasm and personal charisma. Among her recent successes, Natalia undertook a series of over thirty concerts in Europe and the Americas in partnership with the French Romantic Music Center in Venice, also known as the Palazzetto Bru Zane. She is a frequent international guest, both for chamber music and as a concerto soloist with orchestras around the world. She has recently performed in prestigious festivals in France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Venezuela, Mexico, the Bahamas, Brazil, and the USA.

Natalia also featured prominently in the recent Chopin Year festivities at the Paris Philharmonic (the Cité de la Musique). The concerts saw Natalia perform on the very Broadwood fortepiano that Chopin played during his final tour in England.

Natalia is an exclusive recording artist with French record label Paraty Productions. Her first album – featuring Beethoven’s Rondos and Bagatelles – was highly praised by the press, receiving numerous distinctions including 5 Diapasons, Top 5 of the Year from Fanfare Magazine in the US, and the CLIC of classiquenews.com

First and foremost, Natalia is passionate about performing on historical instruments. She seeks to convey the techniques and interpretive specificities of performance on the fortepiano, informed by historical documents and methodology dating from the Classical period. Excelling both as a performer and a pedagogue, she filters this knowledge through the lens of modern, dynamic pedagogy. Her fortepiano pedagogy is based on musicological research, the evolution of instrument manufacturing, and on the interaction between composers and their changing instruments. Her masterclasses are a fascinating journey, opening up performance possibilities that can be integrated into modern piano technique.

Natalia recently joined the faculty of Paris’s 10th arrondissement Conservatory. She is also a frequent speaker at major South American universities as well as Assistant Professor at the Accademia Europea Villa Bossi in Italy. In recent years she was tenured Professor at two conservatories in Parisian suburbs: Bobigny and Vigneux-sur-Seine.

The recipient of several First Prize distinctions, Natalia Valentin studied at the Paris Regional Conservatory (CRR) before completing her studies at the Paris National Conservatory (CNSM). Her mentors included Billy Eidi, Patrick Cohen, Pierre Cazes, and Kenneth Weiss. She went on to hone her artistry under Susan Alexander-Max and Arthur Schoonderwoerd.

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CUENCA 2014 : Natalie Valentin joue Alkan (grand reportage vidéo) from classiquenews.com on Vimeo.

Jul 13
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Nicolas Stavy

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In his native France and around the world, audiences are moved by the sensitivity of the playing of this artist who “makes the piano sing so wonderfully” (La Lettre du Musicien). Nicolas Stavy performs in prestigious international contexts such as the Festival de la Roque d’Anthéron, the Festival Piano aux Jacobins, the Chopin festivals at Nohant and Bagatelle, the Festival de l’Orangerie de Sceaux, the Piano(s) Festival of Lille, the Festival Berlioz, the Musée d’Orsay, the Salle Pleyel, the EuroArt Praha Festival, the International Granada “Fex” Festival, the Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Casals Hall (Tokyo), ), the Romanian Athenaeum (Bucharest), Victoria Hall (Geneva), the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, 92nd Street Y (New York), etc. He has performed with major orchestras such as the Suisse Romande Orchestra, the Utah Symphony, the Sinfonietta de Lausanne, the Bucharest Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de Lille, the Orchestre de la Garde Républicaine, etc.

Ever avid for discovery, Nicolas Stavy performs chamber music with such colleagues as Patrick Messina, Tatiana Vassilieva, Daniel Hope, Cédric Tiberghien, Tedi Papavrami, Karine Deshayes, the Quatuor Ebène, the Quatuor Psophos, etc. He alternated with Mikhail Rudy performing for the stage play “The Pianist” (after the book by Wladyslaw Szpilman), featuring actor Robin Renucci. He has also participated in other projects with well-known actors, including Didier Sandre, Brigitte Fossey and Eric-Emmanuel Schmidt.

After studies with Gérard Frémy and Christian Ivaldi at the Conservatoire National Supérieure de Musique in Paris, where he won 1st prizes for Piano and Chamber Music, Nicolas Stavy went on to study with Dominique Merlet at the Geneva Conservatoire (where he was awarded a 1st prize with distinction) and participated in master classes with György Sebök. He has also received guidance from Alfred Brendel. He is a prizewinner of several international competitions: the Special Prize at the Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 2000, 2nd Prize in the Geneva International Competition in 2001, 4th Prize in the Gina Bachauer Competition in the U.S. in 2002, 2nd Prize in the Young Concert Artists competition in New York in 2003, etc.

His two recent CDs published by Hortus, dedicated to Brahms and Liszt, were both greeted with an FFFF rating by France’s Télérama magazine. The Liszt CD was also rated **** by Classica magazine. This year, 2015, sees the release of two new discs: the Concertos for left hand by Britten and Korngold, with the Orchestre Nationale de Lille, conducted by Paul Polivnick (Hortus) and Boris Tishchenko’s Sonatas nos. 7 and 8, under the Bis label.

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May 05
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Octetology 8.2 (blue)

Octetology

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Octetology 8.2 (blue)

Since its creation in 2020, Octetology has won the first prize in the international competition of Castelfidardo in Italy, in the “Piazzolla Awards” category; and has received some great programming (Théâtre du Châtelet, FIP concert live Studio at 104 de Radio France, Nuits de Nacres, Nuits musicales d’Uzès, Festival Tango de Gennevilliers, Générations France musique Live…). Dedicated to Astor Piazzolla’s flamboyant and emblematic Octeto Buenos Aires, these eight musicians retrace the origins of Tango Nuevo to deliver a resolutely modern interpretation.
When he left Paris to return to Buenos Aires in 1955, Astor Piazzolla was determined to “get tango out of the monotony in which it had become mired”, by overturning its codes and traditions through the creation of new music. He surrounded himself with some of the most emblematic musicians of the genre (A. Stampone, L. Federico, E. Francini…) to create the “Octeto Buenos Aires”, a short-lived formation (1955-1958) that would profoundly influence the music of Buenos Aires and that would remain one of the composer’s most avant-garde attempts. Despite the originality of the proposal, the virtuosity of the performers and the flamboyant writing, the project did not receive the hoped-for response from the public and connoisseurs, which led Piazzolla to abandon it and destroy all the parts of this immense repertoire.

Through extensive research and rewriting, Octetology has succeeded in reconstituting this lost repertoire, never recreated since its disappearance over 60 years ago.

Octetology

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Jul 13
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Patrick Bismuth

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The continuity and diversity of his personal history are reflected in Patrick Bismuth’s art of the violin : Improvisation, folk traditions, gypsy music are as much a part of his world and artistic life as Western classical music, and particularly the Baroque violin. This rich tapestry of interests and experiences lends his playing of Classic, Romantic and Contemporary repertoire an unusual and arresting flair ; musical critics the world over laud his intensity, virtuosity and grip ping stage presence as he turns each concert into a musical voyage of cathartic expression.

Patrick Bismuth was teacher of Baroque Violin at the National Superior Conservatory of Music from 1993 to 1998. His pedagogical skills are very much in demand, and he currently teaches his instrument at the Conservatories of Paris and Versailles, he conducts his ensemble La Tempestaand often plays with organist Louis Thiry, and singers James Bowman and Gerard Lesne. He is also one of the founders of the AtlantisString Quartet on historical instruments, and composes for violin and other ensembles (“Unnuami”, 2001, Takannaaluk, a vocal and scenic piece in progress, after an genuine libretto written in Inuit language)

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Aug 09
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Pierre Lenert. Juin 2016. Photo Caroline Doutre

Pierre Lenert

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Pierre Lenert. Juin 2016. Photo Caroline Doutre

Viola Solo from the Paris National Opera Orchestra, Pierre Lenert is also laureate of the Markneukirchen International Instrumental Competition, Lionel Tertis, Maurice Vieux and the Autumn Festival of Young Interpreters.

Pierre Lenert is the only violist in Europe to have taken up the challenge to record the « 24 Caprices » of Niccolo Paganini in the viola version, since the integral made by Emmanuel Vardi in 1965 at Label Epic.

He is also Professor at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris.

Soloist and chamber musician, he is the guest of many international festivals such as BBC Proms, Schubertiades, Khumo, Gubio and the Marlboro festival.

His discography includes the complete work of Henry Vieuxtemps’s viola and piano work, as well as several recitals devoted to the music of Carl Reinecke, Niccolo Paganini and Felix Mendelssohn, Georges Enesco, Jean Françaix and Darius Milhaud.

Pierre Lenert is Artistic Director of the International Chamber Music Festival « SERENADE » as well as the Festival « LE GOUT DE LA MUSIQUE ».

By directing the Collection for Viola of Artchipel Music Publishing, as well as the Viola Music Collection of Livma Music Editions, Pierre Lenert enriches the repertoire of his instrument by discovering and rediscovering works originally written or transcribed for the viola.

Pierre Lenert plays the viola of Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume of 1865, « Comte Cheremetiev ».

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Jul 13
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Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra

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On 25 March 2009 the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra made its Parisian début at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, just weeks after its first performance in Washington DC. It was an entirely new orchestra created two years previously under the impetus of internationally-renowned conductor Lorin Maazel.  An international recruitment drive was put in place to build the orchestra from scratch. From Europe to Cairo, more than 2,000 candidates applied, of whom a hundred and one were retained to form the new orchestra. Its mission is to be a cultural ambassador, bringing Orient and Occident closer together, with a repertoire stretching from Beethoven to Ravel, composers whose works they performed during their inaugural concert in Paris. The orchestra is also a bridge between Occidental and Arab musicians, and their repertoire includes multiple premieres of contemporary works.

The orchestra is a long-term project well-tuned to Qatar’s cultural development, and works towards the education of the young through music, poetry, literature and the arts. Thus Haydn, Weber and Tchaikovsky echo through the Kingdom of Qatar, played and conducted by the finest international soloists and conductors, while the members of the orchestra also perform in chamber ensembles. Most concerts take place at the Doha Opera House, whose auditorium recalls that of Milan’s La Scala.

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May 22
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Quatuor Girard

Quatuor Girard

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Quatuor Girard

Composed of members of one large family, the Girard Quartet was born of a shared passion kindled by family performances of chamber music from a very early age.

Trained by the Ysaÿe Quartet at Paris’s Conservatoire Régional and then by Miguel da Silva at Genève’s Haute Ecole de Music, the Girard Quartet simultaneously studied with some of the greatest quartets at the European Chamber Music Academy, the Villecroze Académie musicale, Proquartet, and Aix-en-Provence’s Académie du festival, quickly making a name for themselves at several important international music competitions. Winners of the Prix Académie Maurice Ravel in 2010 at the Saint-Jean-de-Luz festival, the Quartet were also prize winners at the Concours de Genève in 2011, and followed this by winning awards from the Fondation Banque Populaire and the HSBC Académie du Festival in Aix-en-Provence.

Guests in many prestigious concert halls and festivals in France including the Musée d’Orsay Auditorium and the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Nantes’s La Folle Journée, Arles’s Soirées et Matinées musicales, the Deauville festival, and La Grange de Meslay, the Quartet are also sought after on the international scene, notably in London’s Wigmore Hall as well as in Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Morocco, Russia and Japan. The Girard Quartet perform with internationally renowned musicians such as Jean-Claude Pennetier, Henri Demarquette, Raphaël Pidoux, François Salque, Gérard Caussé, Ronald Van Spaendonck…

At present, they are quartet in residence at the Queen Elisabeth of Belgium’s Royal Chapel, where they benefit from close contact with the Artemis Quartet. They are also supported by the Singer-Polignac Foundation. Regular broadcasts on France Musique, Radio Classique and Musiq’3 allow the Quartet to share their precious musical projects with a large audience. The Quartet combine their concert activities with an ongoing drive to make their music available to all audiences. With this in mind, they have already established joint ventures with several primary schools and music schools. Their performance of Beethoven’s complete string quartets – between May 2015 and January 2018 at Caen Auditorium – was a decisive, memorable experience which will continue to shape their future.

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Aug 07
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JBM0010∏Jean-Baptiste Millot

Quatuor Manfred

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JBM0010∏Jean-Baptiste Millot

In 1986 four musicians, graduates of internationally renowned institutions (Julliard School, New York – Geneva Conservatory – National Conservatory, Paris) decided to found the Manfred Quartet. As early as 1989 the quartet won two prestigious international competitions: Banff (Canada), becoming the first European string quartet to win first prize there, and Evian (France), which made the Manfred the leading prize-winning French quartet of its generation.

Thus the Manfred Quartet has been invited to play with a large number of well-known musicians: Mstislav Rostropovich, Yuri Bashmet, Tatiana Nikolaieva, Bruno Canino, Anne Queffélec, Jean-Claude Pennetier, Claire Désert, Nicolas Bône, Raphaël Oleg, Florent Héau, Pascal Moraguès, Paul Meyer, Romain Guyot, Raphaël Pidoux, Marc Coppey, Manuel Fischer-Dieskau, Xavier Phillips, Jean-Paul Fouchécourt, Pierre-Yves Pruvot…

For 30 years, the Manfred Quartet has shared its passion and its performances with audience not only in France but also in Germany, the Netherlands, England, Italy, Spain, the United States, China, Indonesia, Singapore and Chile.

The Manfred Quartet’s discography reflects its attachment to the romantic repertoire and to early 20th century composers. Its recordings of Berg (ffff Télérama), Schoenberg, Janacek, Smetana and Prokofiev met with great critical acclaim, as did those of Schumann, Mozart (5 Diapasons) and Chausson (4 Diapasons, 4 stars Classica).

Since 1986, the Manfred Quartet is in residence in Dijon where it has created its own season. After having played the complete works for string quartet of Haydn, Schubert and Beethoven, the Manfred Quartet is now presenting all the Mozart and Jadin string quartets. Its partnership with Palazzetto Bru Zane – the French romantic music Centre, in Venice – leads the Manfred Quartet to play works of little-known composers such as T. Gouvy, G. Onslow, G. Samazeuilh, much appreciated by a keen to discover other repertories.

The desire to broaden its musical horizons has led the Quartet to develop projects with jazzman Raphael Imbert and his group Nine Spirit resulting in two recordings: Bach-Coltrane (Zig-Zag Territoires 2008) and Heavens, (Mozart and Duke Ellington – Harmonia Mundi 2013).

Also, with the singer Marion Rampal, the Quartet has created a programme of 1930’s music – cabaret and film (Bye Bye Berlin! at the Grand Théâtre, Dijon Opera, in January 2015). A new recording of this repertory is due in November 2016 adding another element to the Quartet’s already considerable discography.

In order to continue sharing its enthusiasm for chamber music, the Manfred Quartet founded in 1994 « Musiques » en Voûtes », an itinerant festival in the four provinces of the Burgundy region, which combines national heritage and chamber music. Thus the Quartet, often with prestigious guest artists, gives concerts under the romanesque arches of churches or chapels in small villages and reaches out to a new public.

It has always been important for the Manfred Quartet to work with young musicians. The « Musiques en Voûtes » festival has for many years included a chamber music workshop and improvisation sessions with the jazz saxophonist Raphaël Imbert. Then in 2014 the Quartet created a season « Hors les murs » in partnership with music schools in the Côte-d’or province of Burgundy, combining teaching sessions with very young musicians and concerts. These events, but also numerous masterclasses in France and abroad, give the Manfred Quartet the possibility to pass on to the next generation of musicians not only what they learnt from their teachers but also from their own experience over the years.

The Manfred Quartet receives support from the Ministry of Culture and Communication through the Regional Council of Burgundy.

 

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Jan 20
5
Q Puccini

Quatuor Puccini

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Q Puccini

Quatuor Puccini

Laurence Ketels-Dufour et Frédérique Lonca, violons

Natalia Tolstaïa, alto et Alice Carrière-Bourgoin, violoncelle

Le Quatuor Puccini a été fondé en 1997 par des musiciennes de l’orchestre de l’Opéra de Lyon séduites par l’immense répertoire et la richesse expressive du quatuor à cordes. Conseillées à leurs débuts par Roger Germser, Serge Collot et le Quatuor Debussy, leur répertoire s’étend de Haydn jusqu’au XXe sicèle avec une affinité particulière pour la période fin XIXe début XXe et les collaborations artistiques avec d’autres instrumentistes tels que les pianistes, harpistes, violoncellistes ou clarinettistes. L’ensemble s’est rapidement fait connaître (notamment aux Européennes de Musique de chambre d’Illzach) et est invité depuis dans de nombreux festivals sur tout le territoire français : festivals d’Aubusson, Pierre de Bresse, Bourg-les-Valence, la Société de concerts de Roubaix, le festival de Labeaune, « Fugue en Aude Romane » par exemple. Il participe également aux concerts de musique de chambre donnés à l’Opéra de Lyon. Le Quatuor a donné un concert autour de Mozart, Schubert et Debussy le 8 juillet 2018 à la  salle des boiseries de Paray-le-Monial.

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