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Jul 13
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Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra

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The Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar (Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra) is a Venezuelan orchestra.

The economist José Antionio Abreu established the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar on 12 February 1975. Gustavo Dudamel has been the orchestra’s artistic director since 1999. The orchestra has worked with many famous conductors including Claudio Abbado and Simon Rattle.

 

Rameau in Caracas

The Soloists of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela invited Bruno Procopio to conduct a programme dedicated entirely to Jean-Philippe Rameau. Discovering French Baroque music was an astonishing adventure for the Venezuelan musicians, and it marks their first foray into 18th century French classical music. This recording is also a foretaste of the celebration to come in 2014: the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death.

Above all, I wanted to spark the curiosity of the orchestra’s musicians for a kind of music which they never would have discovered on their own. I also wanted to work with an orchestra that had no experience of French Baroque music, in order to build a musical identity from scratch. This allowed me to search for my own vision of this music. To my delight, I found fertile ground.

During the break at one of the rehearsals, a musician came up to me and whispered: “Maestro, this is the best music I’ve ever played!” I could not have received a better reward. B.P

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Jun 05
13
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Sophie Lacaze

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After graduating in engineering, Sophie Lacaze turned to music. A graduate of the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, she went on to study composition at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana di Siena (Italy) with Franco Donatoni and Ennio Morricone, attended Pierre Boulez’s classes at the Collège de France and took up musical theatre with Georges Aperghis at the Centre Acanthes. In 2002, she was invited to take up a residency at the Electronic Music Unit at the University of Adelaide (Australia).

In 2023, her catalogue includes over 80 works, ranging from solo pieces to orchestral works, including two operas and mixed works, which are regularly performed in France and abroad.
Performers include the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (dir. Pierre-André Valade), the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire (dir. Aziz Shokhakimov), the Orchestre National d’Auvergne (dir. Baldur Brönnimann), the Orchestre de Perpignan Méditerranée (dir. Daniel Tosi), the BBC Symphony Orchestra (dir. Sakari Oramo), I Solisti Veneti (dir. Claudio Scimone), the Orchestra Națională Radio România (conductor Horia Andreescu), the Orchestra Filarmonica Mihail Jora di Bacau (conductor Ovidiu Balan), the Orchestre de Flûtes Français (conductor Pierre-Alain Biget), the Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain (conductor Bruno Mantovani), the Chœur Calliope (conductor Régine Théodoresco), the Mora Vocis ensemble, …

A winner of several international competitions, Sophie Lacaze has also been awarded the Grand Prix Lycéen des Compositeurs (2009) and the SACEM’s Claude Arrieu Prize (2010).

Sophie Lacaze does not belong to any particular school or musical movement, but has forged a personal and original aesthetic that seeks to restore to music its original vocations, such as ritual, incantation and dance, and its links with nature, and in which timbre plays a central role. It was during her first trip to Australia in 1996 that she discovered the culture of the Aborigines. Since then, it has been essential for her to return to the very essence of the art of music, to its fundamental purity.

A committed artist, she has been defending contemporary music for over 15 years, directing festivals such as Turbulences Sonores in Montpellier and Musiques Démesurées in Clermont-Ferrand, and giving lectures. She is also the founder of the French association of women composers Plurielles 34.

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Jul 18
4
SpiriTango Quartet

SpiriTango Quartet

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SpiriTango Quartet

Closeness, friendship, enthusiasm and creativity: these four words sum up the SpiriTango Quartet.

In their first five years, their rich and varied repertoire has covered a mixture of traditional tango, nuevo tango, contemporary music and original compositions.

After studying at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, under Ami Flammer and Jean-Noël Crocq, they released their first album, Rage, in 2003, which was dedicated to the music of Astor Piazzolla then in March 2015 their second album Chin Chin, opening their world to other composers. They studied further under Richard Galliano, Hervé Sellin, Juan José Mosalini as well as the Quatuor Ebène.

They performed on the national and international stages: Les Invalides & La Sorbonne in Paris, the opera house (amphitheatre) in Lyon, the Royal Conservatory of Brussels… They were invited to perform at many festivals, including Festival Radio France Montpellier, Pianos Folies Touquet, Piano Campus, les Pianissimes, Le Printemps des Alizés (Morocco), Jeunes Talents, Concerts de Poche… Their music is regularly broadcast on France Musique , France Inter, RFI , FIP , Radio Classique.

Their artistic project hinges around very personal interpretations at the crossroads of tango and classical music, each world enriching the other. On the other hand, in selecting the repertoire for this ensemble, they endeavour to create and promote new works from contemporary composers, particularly showcasing the new generation. They have worked with Graciane Finzi, Mathieu Stefanelli, Alexandre Fontaines —among others— and plan to collaborate with Etienne Kippelen, Olivier Calmel and Andrea Marsili.

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Jul 18
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Stefanie Troffaes

Stefanie Troffaes & Julien Wolfs

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Stefanie Troffaes

Stefanie Troffaes – Flute

Stefanie Troffaes was born in Bruges, Belgium, in 1980, where she attended flute lessons with Patrick Beuckels and recorder lessons with Tomma Wessel. Stefanie continued her studies at the Brussels Royal Conservatory with Marc Hantaï, Barthold Kuijken and Frank Theuns for the flute and with Bart Coen for the recorder. Besides her Master’s degree which she concluded with magnum cum laude, she also received the prestigious Köberle Prize there. She has followed master classes with Daniël Brüggen, Karl Keiser and Wilbert Hazelzet.

In 2002, Stefanie was finalist at the International Soloist Competition Musica Antiqua Brugge, and in 2015, she was nominated for the Klara Audience Prize Jonge Belofte 2014 for her promising career.

She has performed freelance with numerous internationally renowned ensembles, including Les Talens Lyriques, B’Rock, Le Concert d’Astrée, Collegium Vocale, Les Muffatti, Insula Orchestra and Bach Concentus.

Stefanie has assisted in recordings for the labels Alpha, Musica Ficta, Naïve, Archiv Productions, Aparté, Challenge, Opus Arte, Palazzetto Bru Zane and Virgin.

 

Julien Wolfs – Harpsichord

Julien Wolfs was born in Jodoigne, Belgium, in 1983, where he received his first harpsichord lessons from his mother Marie-Anne Dachy. He studied at the Amsterdam Conservatory and obtained his Master’s degree under Menno Van Delft.  At the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Lyon, he continued his studies with Françoise Lengellé and Dirk Börner, where he earned a Master’s degree in chamber music. At the IMEP in Namur, he also gained a Master’s degree in pedagogy.

In 2007, Julien Wolfs was first laureate at the international contest for harpsichord at Musica Antiqua Brugge. Besides a shared second prize, he also scooped the Audience Award and the Editions Minkoff Prize.

Julien is founding member of the ensemble Les Timbres. In 2009, the ensemble won first prize at the contest Musica Antiqua Brugge, along with the special prize for the best performance of a contemporary creation.  Their first CD Les Pièces de Clavecin en Concerts of Jean-Philippe Rameau was awarded a Diapason d’Or in 2014.

Julien was a guest at prestigious festivals in Europa and Japan, both as a soloist and in chamber music. He can be heard in the following ensembles and alongside the following artists: Les Timbres, Ricercar Consort Philippe Pierlot, Lingua Franca, Benoît Laurent and For two to play. He has taken part in several recordings for the labels Ricercar, Ligia Digital, Flora and Mirare.

Translation: Kristien Temperville

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Mar 26
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Stéphane de Carvalho

Stéphane de Carvalho

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Stéphane de Carvalho

The guitarist Stéphane de Carvalho likes interpreting the repertoire which covers the periods of the Renaissance to the present day.

He also enjoys combining the guitar with the cello of Alain Meunier, the voice of the soprane Omo Bello and tenor Serge Goubioud, the harpsichord of Cédric Burgelin or the poetry told by Jean Jacques Epron.

Winning the First prize of the CNSM of Paris in the class of Alexandre Lagoya and Alberto Ponce, it is with Roberto Aussel at the Musikhochschule of Cologne that he affirmed his interpretative dimension, as well as in the class of chamber music cellist Alain Meunier and pianist Zhu Xiao Mei.

Aficionado of flamenco, he regularly goes to Granada, Seville, Jerez de la Frontera or Madrid to receive the teachings of the great masters and is currently dedicates himself to accompany the singing and flamenco dance on stage with his wife Tomomi Akao, a flamenco dancer.

He travels regularly to Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Colombia, Chile, Bolivia, Mexico and has been awarded the Perez Nieto Prize at the M. M. Ponce of Mexico.

His first solo CD “Con Fuoco” featuring sonatas from the baroque Scarlatti to contemporary Ginastera has received great reviews from the public and the specialised press.

This second solo opus, “Cathedrals”, also released under the label Paraty, invites you to a trip to the South American continent where it highlights the union between the popular and the scholar …

 

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Aug 09
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Stéphane Orlando

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Since his first piano lessons at the age of 7, Stéphane Orlando has been composing and improvising music. He began studying at the Royal Conservatory of Mons (Conservatoire Royal de Mons) at the age of 15. After having studied piano, music writing and analysis, he won first prizes in counterpoint and then fugue at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels (Koninklijk Conservatorium van Brussel). During this period, he also studied musicology at the Free University of Brussels (Université Libre de Bruxelles).

In November of 2001, he became an improviser at the Royal Film Archive of Belgium (Cinematek), providing accompaniment for over 500 silent films.

Former President of the Belgian Society for Musical Analysis and President of the Belgian Composers Forum, he is also one of the creators of the BSCG, the Belgian Screen Composers Guild.

Stéphane Orlando divides his time between music composition, his improvised concerts, and the teaching of composition, improvisation, piano, music history and computer music.

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Nov 16
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Stéphanie Paulet & Elisabeth Geiger

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Stéphanie Paulet, violon

Après trois 1ers prix du CNSM de Paris, et plusieurs prix de concours internationaux en musique de chambre, Stéphanie Paulet a été le 1er violon de nombreux ensembles baroques parisiens, comme les Talens Lyriques, Il Seminario Musicale, le Concert d’Astrée. Elle est aujourd’hui le violon solo d’Insula Orchestra dirigé par Laurence Equilbey, orchestre créé en 2012 pour le répertoire classique et romantique. Titulaire du CA de violon, elle est professeur au CRR de Saint-Maur, et a enseigné le violon baroque à la Hochschule de Bremen pendant cinq ans. Attachée à une démarche historiquement éclairée, elle écrit pour son ensemble Aliquando créé en 2012, des spectacles mêlant textes et musiques. Aliquando a également réalisé deux disques: « Amusements » (2012) et «Minoritenkonvent» (2015), tous deux chaleureusement récompensés par la presse. «Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres» depuis 2014, Stéphanie Paulet aime partager sur scène avec le public, seule ou accompagnée, la beauté et l’évidence des musiques du passé. Elle a participé à une trentaine d’enregistrements discographiques sur instruments historiques.

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Elisabeth Geiger, orgue

Après sa formation au Conservatoire National de Région de Strasbourg dans les classes de clavecin, basse continue, musique de chambre et orgue, Elisabeth Geiger poursuit son parcours à l’occasion de stages auprès de Laurent Stewart, Yvon Repérant et Freddy Eichelberger. Attirée par la musique vocale, elle se dirige vers la Fondation Royaumont où elle rencontre Gérard Lesne, Jean-Claude Malgoire. Puis elle collabore régulièrement avec Doulce Mémoire, l’Ensemble Clément Janequin, les Ambassadeurs, le Concert Spirituel ou le Concert d’Astrée avec lesquels elle assume fréquemment les fonctions de chef de chant pour des productions d’opéras et cultive avec éclectisme les croisements avec d’autres expressions artistiques: musiques improvisées, danse contemporaine, projet « Love I Obey » avec la chanteuse Rosemary Standley.. Son intérêt tout particulier pour la musique de chambre à deux clavecins lui a permis de se perfectionner en ré-écriture, transcription, arrangement et improvisation, en lien avec le répertoire ancien. Outre le clavecin, l’épinette, la régale ou le virginal, elle approfondit sa pratique de l’orgue et a rejoint les organistes du Foyer de l’Âme. Assidue des fonds de musique baroque des bibliothèques parisiennes et européennes, elle montre une égale prédilection pour la facture instrumentale, et garde une curiosité pour les projets en devenir, mêlant pratiques et divers parcours…

 

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Jul 13
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Suzana Bartal

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Suzana Bartal is one of the upcoming piano talents of the young generation. Recent performances have taken her to prestigious venues such as the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, Salle Pleyel and Radio France in Paris, Merkin Hall in New York as well as Milton Court in London.  Her appearances have been captured by France Musique. Other highlights of the past months include a Germany tour with violist Mariko Hara as part of the series “Best of NRW”. Their duo has been hailed as “brilliant, facettenreich und virtuos” and was recorded by the West Deutscher Rundfunk. Suzana’s playing has been described as having a “pearly touch and of absolute precision” by the Bonner Anzeiger.

In January 2015, Suzana made her triumphal debut with the Orchestre Avignon-Province in the Grieg Concerto under the baton of Wolfgang Doerner, as she stepped in very last minute for pianist Marie-Josèphe Jude. Her performance has received critical acclaim: “As soon as she lays her hands on the keyboard, the artist sets up a strongly marked personality. Her touch is sure, she shows perfect technique and plays with absolute simplicity pages of great complexity. Her sound is powerful and luminous (…)” – Le Marseillais.

Suzana Bartal has become the winner of the New York Concert Artists Concerto Competition in 2013 and has made her NYC debut with orchestra in 2014. She was also the winner of the 2012 Woolsey Concerto Competition allowing her to perform under the baton of Peter Oundjian.

A recipient of the prestigious scholarship from the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe, Suzana has also been supported by the Fondation Nadia et Lili Boulanger, the ADAMI and the Williamson Foundation.

Suzana’s wide range of repertoire reaches from solo works and concertos to chamber music works, all of which she actively and passionately performs. She has given concerts all around the world: in Germany, Holland, Italy, Hungary, UK, Belgium, France and Romania as well as the US and China. Her performances have  been  captured  by  French,  German,  Hungarian  and  Romanian  radio  and  television  channels.

Suzana is also an enthusiastic advocate of contemporary music and has worked with some of the most significant composers of our day, such as Thomas Adès and Eric Tanguy.

Extremely active as a chamber musician, Suzana has performed with violinists Alexandra Soumm, Deborah Nemtanu, Guillaume Sutre and Hildegarde Fesneau, soprano Karen Vourc’h, cellist Yan Levionnois, clarinetist Pierre Génisson and musicians from the Philharmonique de Radio France orchestra (David Haroutunian and Pauline Bartissol) and the Orchestre de Paris (Anne-Sophie Le Rol and Eric Picard), among others.

Born in 1986 in Timişoara (Romania) into a Hungarian family, pianist Suzana Bartal started her musical education in her hometown. Only three years later she became a winner of national and international competitions and gave her first solo recital at the age of 12 and had her first concerto apparition at the age of 13. In 2005 she decided to move to France where she studied with Denis Pascal, Pierre Pontier and Florent Boffard in Paris and in Lyon at the CNSMD. Between 2011 and 2014, Suzana has perfected her skills at the Yale School of Music under the guidance of Peter Frankl. She is currently a candidate for a Doctorate of Musical Arts from Yale and has received the Harriet Gibbs Memorial Prize for excellency in studies from Yale. In 2013 – 2014 Suzana has been at Teaching Fellow at the Yale College.

Many distinguished artists have influenced Suzana’s musical and artistic development, such as: András Schiff, Leon Fleisher, Paul Lewis, Menahem Pressler, Jean-Claude Pennetier or Matti Raekallio, as well as the Ysaÿe Quartet, the Tokyo String Quartet or the Emerson Quartet. She has been invited to take part in the very selective International Musician’s Seminar in Prussia Cove (UK).

Her first album, an all-Schumann CD, was released by Paraty (Harmonia Mundi distribution) in March 2016.

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Mar 16
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Tomás Bordalejo

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Tomás Bordalejo

A self-taught composer and guitarist, Tomás Bordalejo arrived in Paris in 2005 after three years of jazz studies at the Institute of Contemporary Music in his native Buenos Aires.
He joined the conservatory of Gennevilliers, then the CRR of Paris and the Pôle supérieur de Création Paris- Boulogne-Billancourt. His meeting with the composer Bernard Cavanna at the Académie de Villecroze was decisive for his development, for his career. Peter Eötvös, Pascal Dusapin, Yan Maresz and Philippe Hersant also encouraged him to consolidate his own language marked by an original aesthetic.
Far removed from musical academism, Tomás Bordalejo draws on the worlds of sound he encounters as well as on exchanges with musicians to construct a music that is as abstract as it is lively and personal. His work is part of a real compositional research marked by a constant dialogue with other artistic disciplines such as architecture, urbanism or philosophy.
Each piece illustrates a staging of the sound material and a new reflection on the modes of play. Tomás Bordalejo has collaborated with the Ensembles 2e2m, TM+, Court Circuit, L’Instant Donné, Aleph, les Voix animées, l’Itinéraire, the THReNSeMBle (budapest) and the Geneva Chamber Orchestra; as well as with performers such as David Kadouch, Nöemi Schindler, Eric-Maria Couturier, Paul Meyer, Marianne Piketty, Jean Deroyer, Anthony Millet, Pierre Roullier, Nahuel Di Pierro, Alphonse Cemin, Vincent Lhermet, Gérard Caussé, Michel Portal…
Tomás Bordalejo’s music has been performed at the Colon Theatre in Buenos Aires, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Sorbonne University, the Lille Opera, the Théâtre de Gennevilliers, the Cartoucherie, the Athénée Louis Jouvet, the Théâtre du Châtelet, the Maison de la Musique in Nanterre, the Vichy Opera, the Abbaye du Thoronet, the Musée d’Art Moderne in Toulon…
Tomás Bordalejo is a laureate of the Fondation Banque Populaire and won the 2019 prize of the Tribune de Compositeurs.trices de l’Argentine (TRINAC). He is president of the ensembles 2e2m and Nomos.

 

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Sep 09
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Trio Antara

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The flute, viola, and harp ensemble first appeared in 1915 through the work of Claude Debussy. Emmanuelle Ophèle, Odile Auboin, and Ghislaine Petit-Volta continue the journey begun by the Second Sonata with the Trio Antara, founded in 2005.

While these three accomplished musicians maintain close relationships with contemporary composers, Antara – with its desire to take the audience on a journey through all musical eras – offers a varied and fascinating repertoire, ranging from Jean-Philippe Rameau to Peter Eötvös, occasionally using transcriptions. Designed to spark curiosity and foster dialogue between the audience and the performers, these programs allow masterpieces from music history to coexist harmoniously.

These unique combinations are not merely ambitious musical challenges; they represent another way of experiencing music, as proposed by Antara. Each Trio concert is thus an invitation to suspend time, to listen, feel, share, and to restore the place of pleasure and poetry.

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