•
Foundation: 1986 by Guy Laurent.
• Main
objective:
Rediscovering and diffusion of the musical heritage
of the baroque
provence.
• Musical
constellations: The ensemble consists
of different vocal or instrumental soloists, a big
choir with 35 members and a baroque orchestra. According
to the specific musical formation, the ensemble recruits
musicians from the department Bouches-du-Rhône
and outside of it.
• Espace Musical: Created in 1998 at the Ste-Catherine-chapel,
the Espace Musical hosts about 50 musical spectacles
per year. At the moment the Ste-Catherine-chapel is closed and the Espace
Musical has been relocated
to different sites in Aix-en-Provence.
• Regular
Activities at the Espace Musical :
1. Concerts: different formations of the ensemble
Les Festes d’Orphée,
as well as groups being hosted.
2. Musical Tuesdays : Cultural initiative to stimulate exchange
and musical activity in Aix-en-Provence and its surroundings.
3. Festivals: « Semaine-Sainte Musicale en Aix », during Holy Week,
and «Aix-en-Baroque » in July.
• Musicological
Research: The Ensemble consecrates
itself to the rediscovering and recreation of oeuvres
from local composers such as Guillame Poitevin, André Campra,
Jean Gilles, Laurent Belissen, Claude-Mathieu Pellegrin,
Archimbaud, Charles Desmazures, Pierre Gautier, Gabriel
Véran Bonnaud, etc…. Thanks to the musicological
research, which contains among others the restoration
of “fac simile” (copy of the original scores),
it was possible to recreate in total 16
Grand
Motets as well as 40 other works of the musical repertoire
of Provence. Apart from this, there are oeuvres being
presented from the French, European and South-American
repertoires.
• Diskographie ::
1. « Les Maîtres Baroques de Provence » (Volumes
I, II, III)
2. « Un Noël en Provence » (Volumes
I, II)
3. Publication early 2007 : « Jean Gilles : Grands & Petits
Motets »
In coproduction with the label K617 in 2003 it has
been released the CD « Grands
Motets en Provence – Laurent Belissen ».
• Concerts
outside of the Espace Musical:
1. Region : Aix-en-Provence, Marseille, Avignon,
Nice, Les Mées, Sisteron, Cavalaire, etc…
2. National Festivals : Festival International de
Sarrebourg, Festival de Callas, Festival de Musique
Sacrée
d’Antibes, Mois National du Baroque Latino-américaine,
Musiques Sacrées en Avignon, etc...
•
International Concerts: Tübingen
(Germany), Cuneo, Savigliano, Genoa (Italy) ; Stockholm,
Huddinge (Sweden) ; Miami
and Orlando (USA).
