PROGRAMME

LA BELLE ÉVEILLÉE

JANE VIEU (1871-1955)
Aladin
La Belle au Bois dormant

“Aladin et la Belle éveillée” was premiered on February 10th, 2024 at the Cité de la musique, in co-production with the Orchestre de chambre de Paris and in collaboration with Elles women composers, as part of the “Nouveaux récits” series initiated by the Philharmonie de Paris.

RITA STROHL (1865-1941)
Septuor

Join us for a drink at the end of the concert to celebrate the opening of the Festival!

DISTRIBUTION

MARIE OPPERT (resident of the Comédie Française), narrator and soprano
PIERRE CRÉAC’H, drawings
SHUICHI OKADA, violin
ALEXANDRE PASCAL, violin
LÉA HENNINO, viola
CLAUDINE LEGRAS, viola
HÉLOÏSE LUZZATI, cello
ULYSSE VIGREUX, double bass
CÉLIA ONETO BENSAID, piano

MARIE OPPERT 

After her highly acclaimed debut in the lead role in Les Parapluies de Cherbourg at the Théâtre du Châtelet alongside Natalie Dessay and Michel Legrand, Marie Oppert went on to study musical theatre at Marymount Manhattan College in New York with a Fulbright scholarship from the Franco-American Commission. On her return to France, she trained in opera singing with Chantal Mathias and joined Nathalie Bécue’s drama class at the Conservatoire Darius Milhaud in Paris. In 2017, she won the interpretation prize at the Marseille International Singing Competition (operetta category), as well as the Special Award and Trustee Award in 2020 at the Kurt Weill Foundation’s Lotte Lenya Competition. In 2021, Marie was named “Révélation artiste lyrique” at the Victoires de la Musique Classique awards. She has performed the title role in Peau d’Âne, Maria in West Side Story and Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. Regularly invited to sing in concert in prestigious venues, she has also lent her voice to the title roles in the musical tales Georgia, tous mes rêves chantent by Timothée de Fombelle and Siam, au fil de l’eau with the Ensemble Contraste. Under contract to Warner Classics, her first album, Enchantée, recorded with the Orchestre National de Lille (conductor Nicholas Skilbeck), was released in September 2020. In 2022, she made her film debut in Claude Zidi Jr’s feature film Ténor. Marie Oppert joins the Troupe de la Comédie-Française as a resident in April 2022.

PIERRE CRÉAC’H

Author-illustrator-composer Pierre Créac’h is a versatile artist. He combines his talents to write illustrated musical tales for young and old. He not only writes and draws them, but also composes and produces the soundtracks. Classical music and drawing have always been his loves. Passionate about voice and fiction, he uses a variety of means to take his audience into a narrative world filled with poetry, mystery and tenderness. After graduating from the Montpellier Conservatory of Music in piano and composition, he went on to study at the highly reputed Penninghen School of Graphic Art, where he has taught academic drawing and illustration for the past fifteen years. This dual course of study has steered his career towards an ever-changing plurality between sound and image.

SHUICHI OKADA

Born in 1995 in Bordeaux, Shuichi Okada studied at the CNSM in Paris, at the Barenboim Said Academy in Berlin and at the Queen Elisabeth Chapel. He won the 1st prize at the Ginette Neveu International Competition. He has performed with orchestras such as the Orchestre Symphonique de Nancy, the Baden-Baden Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre de Normandie, the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Toulon, the Orchestre Pasdeloup… He is regularly invited to take part in festivals such as the Festival de la Roque d’Anthéron, the Folles Journées de Nantes and Tokyo or the Festival de Radio-France Occitanie-Montpellier, where he performs with artists such as Raphaël Pidoux, Philippe Jaroussky, Antoine Tamestit, Claire Désert, Gérard Caussé, Pierre Fouchenneret, Augustin Dumay, Gary Hoffman… He has also had the opportunity to play in large concert halls as a soloist or in chamber music groups: Salle Pleyel, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, Vienna Konzerthaus, Philharmonie de Paris, Bozar in Brussels… Shuichi Okada is a member of the Arnold Trio, residents of  the Singer-Polignac Foundation, whose first CD, released by Mirare, was awarded a Diapason d’or. He has also released a Brahms/Schumann CD with pianist Clément Lefebvre on the Mirare label, and is participating in the complete chamber music of Brahms for the B-records label, and the complete chamber music of Franck for the Fuga Libéra label. For the Alpha label, he recorded French melodies with the singer Veronique Gens – a recording that was awarded a Choc de Classica and a Diapason d’or. He has received the support of the Safran, Or du Rhin and Banque Populaire Foundations. He plays on a 1710 violin by Carlo Tononi, on loan from the Belgian royal family and the Queen Elisabeth Chapel.

ALEXANDRE PASCAL 

Born in Paris into a family of musicians, the young violinist Alexandre Pascal studied violin with Suzanne Gessner at the CRR de Paris and then with Olivier Charlier at the CNSMDP, where he brilliantly obtained his master’s degree with the unanimous approval of the jury. Alexandre Pascal is an active soloist and chamber musician. He has performed at prestigious international festivals such as the Berlioz Festival in La Côte Saint-André, Musique à l’Emperi, Schiermonnikoog in the Netherlands, Saint-Yrieix, the Flâneries de Reims, the Festival de La Prée, L’Epau, the Festival de Cordes-sur-ciel, the Festival Tons Voisins in Albi, the Tanglewood Music Festival in the United States, and also in prestigious venues such as the Salle Gaveau in Paris, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées accompanied by the Orchestre de chambre de Paris, the Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Grand Théâtre in Aix-en-Provence, the Seine Musicale in Paris, the Nouveaux Siècles in Lille, NCPA in Mumbai and the Philharmonie de Paris. He shares the stage with prestigious soloists such as Daishin Kashimoto, Eric Le sage, Emmanuel Pahud, Paul Meyer, Zvi Plesser, Romain Descharmes, Hortense Cartier-Bresson, Pierre Fouchenneret, Marie Chilemme, Lise Berthaud, Lorenzo Gatto, Victor Julien-Laferrière, and of course Aurélien Pascal, Denis Pascal and Marie-Paule Milone. Alexandre has a degree in musicology and studied conducting at the CNSMDP. He has also participated in the Seiji Ozawa Academy for several years. Nominated Adami Classical Revelation 2018, Alexandre plays on a Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume violin from 1852.

LÉA HENNINO

Born in 1991, Léa Hennino obtained her DEM with honours in Carole Dauphin’s class in 2008. A prizewinner in 2013 at the CNSMD in Paris, where she studied with Sabine Toutain and Christophe Gaugué, Léa also spent a year working with Japanese violist Nobuko Imai in Geneva. She spent two years perfecting her skills with the English violist Lawrence Power in Zurich. Recognised as one of the most promising violists of her generation, Léa Hennino has performed on major international stages alongside such renowned artists as Renaud Capucon, Alina Ibragimova, Hanna Weinmeister, Gérard Caussé and Clemens Hagen. Léa is a regular guest with ensembles such as Les Dissonnances, I Giardini and the Aurora Orchestra in England. As a soloist, she has performed Martinü’s Concerto with the Hradec Kralové Philharmonic Orchestra in the Czech Republic and Mozart’s Symphonie concertante with the Toulouse Chamber Orchestra. Selected to take part in international academies in Poland, Germany, the USA, Switzerland, England, Sweden and Spain, she performs in various ensembles in concerts and master classes with great masters. Léa has won numerous prizes in national and international competitions and is a laureate of several foundations.

CLAUDINE LEGRAS

After studying at the CRR in Dijon and then at the CRR in Paris with Laurent Verney, Claudine Legras entered the CNSM in Paris in Sabine Toutain’s class, graduating with first class honours in 2008. She went on to study for a Master’s degree in David Gaillard’s class, graduating unanimously with first class honours in 2011. She perfected her skills in masterclasses with Yuri Bashmet, Nobuko Imai, Bruno Pasquier and Pamela Frank. As a chamber musician, she has performed alongside Nicolas Dautricourt, Xavier Phillips, Svetlin Roussev and François Salque at various festivals. Her various orchestral experiences as solo viola and tutor have enabled her to be conducted by such great conductors as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Ricardo Muti, Bernard Haitink, Kurt Masur, Valery Gergiev, Daniele Gatti, Klaus Mäkelä, etc. She has been a member of David Grimal’s ensemble Les Dissonances since 2008.

HÉLOÏSE LUZZATI

A committed figure, Héloïse Luzzati has been involved for several years in the discovery and recognition of musical heritage. In 2020 she founded Elles Women Composers. The project is based on research into manuscripts and scores, which are the subject of daily readings. She is also the founder of the Festival Un Temps pour Elles and La Boîte à Pépites, for which she works closely with designer Lorène Gaydon, director Alexis Lardilleux and sound engineer Mireille Faure. She is also the author of most of the documentaries produced for Boîte à Pépites. With Elles Women Composers, Héloïse Luzzati works with a number of cultural organisations, including the Orchestre National Avignon Provence, the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France, the Abbaye de Royaumont, the Abbaye de Maubuisson and the Palazzetto Bru Zane, and hopes to disseminate the collective’s research and readings as widely as possible. A keen chamber music player, Héloïse Luzzati graduated from the CNSMDP in the class of Roland Pidoux and Xavier Phillips. During her studies, she also benefited from the advice of Philippe Muller, Marc Coppey, Hatto Beyerle, Alain Planès and members of the Quatuor Ysaÿe. She has performed alongside such artists as Xavier Phillips, Célia Oneto Bensaid, Dana Ciocarlie, Marie-Josèphe Jude, Léa Hennino and Alexandre Pascal….

ULYSSE VIGREUX

CÉLIA ONETO-BENSAID

ABBAYE DE MAUBUISSON