Artists
L'Orgue du Sultan
Amel Brahim-Djelloul
Soprano
Soprano Amel Brahim-Djelloul continues her luminous and singular path, rich in her two cultures. The 2023/2024 season bears witness to this, with concerts once again featuring her on the CD « Les chemins qui montent », a program based on songs from Kabylia and compositions by Thomas Keck, as well as with the Orchestre Pasdeloup, the ensembles Les Paladins and C Barré, guitarist Thomas Keck and pianist Nicolas Jouve.
A graduate of the CNSMD in Paris, as well as of William Christie's "Jardin des Voix" and nominated in the "Most promising lyrical artist" category of the Victoires de la Musique classique 2007, she quickly sang many roles of the repertoire: Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro) at Angers-Nantes Opéra and at the Opéra de Lausanne, Despina (Così fan tutte) at the Opéra de Nice, Servilia (La clemenza di Tito) at the Opéra de Paris and the Festival d'Aix en Provence, but also The Princess (L'Enfant et les sortilèges), Ninette (L'amour des trois oranges) and Suor Genovieffa (Suor Angelica) at the Opéra de Paris, the title role of Messager's Véronique at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Gabrielle (La Vie Parisienne) at Angers-Nantes Opera, Nanetta (Falstaff) at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Adina (L'Elisir d'Amore) and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) at the Opéra d'Avignon, Andreloun (Mireille) at the Chorégies d'Orange, Hébé, Fatime and Phani (Les Indes Galantes) at the Opéra national de Bordeaux and the Concertgebouw in Bruges, or Drusilla, Amore and Valletto in various productions of L'Incoronazione di Poppea (Opéra de Paris, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Berlin Staatsoper, Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Opéras de Lille and Dijon), to name a few.
Regularly invited by many orchestras (Orchestre national de France, National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestre des concerts Pasdeloup, Orchestre Symphonique National Algérien, Orchestre national d'Ile-de-France, Orchestre Philharmonique du Maroc...) and ensembles (Les Arts Florissants, Le Poème Harmonique, Les Paladins, Il Caravaggio, 2E2M, Mezwej, Les Talens Lyriques, Quatuor Debussy...), Amel Brahim-Djelloul broadens each season her range of personal projects which often link East and West, such as the programs "L'Orgue du Sultan" (with Achéron and Sultan Veld), "Les 1001 Lunes de la Princesse Boudour" (with Aymeric Lecerf and Nicolas Jouve), the "Populaires" recital (with Nicolas Jouve), "Canciones" (with C Barré) as well as her Mediterranean programs with the Amedyez Ensemble.
Her discography includes numerous opuses, like recitals with pianists Anne Le Bozec ("Les 1001 nuits") and Nicolas Jouve ("Populaires"), as well as a program of works from the Arab-Andalusian heritage ("Amel chante la Méditerranée") adapted by her brother, violinist and musicologist Rachid Brahim-Djelloul, and performed with the Amedyez Ensemble.
Amel Brahim-Djelloul is the artistic director of the association Nour with whom she sets up various projects ranging from teaching to the production of new shows and recordings.
She has been represented by RSB Artists since 2010.
Ensemble L'Achéron
In Greek mythology, Acheron is the river crossed by Orpheus to rescue Eurydice from the Underworld. As its name suggests, L'Achéron aims to open a path between two seemingly opposing worlds: that of the living and the dead, the past and the present, the ideal and reality.
Founded in 2009 by François Joubert-Caillet, L'Achéron is made up of a young generation of musicians from a variety of backgrounds who have trained at the leading early music schools (the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, the Conservatoires Nationaux Supérieurs de Lyon and Paris, the Royal Conservatoires of Brussels and The Hague, etc.). Some of its musicians have other artistic backgrounds: theatre, stage direction, ancient or contemporary dance, writing, improvisation, puppetry, instrument making or sound recording make up the range of passions that intersect in the ensemble.
L'Achéron aims to strengthen the links between musicians and audiences by making early music accessible without distorting it, but rather by immersing itself in the many musical practices of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. L'Achéron's journey is both temporal and sensitive, and the flavours of other times are intensely cultivated.
La formation première de L’Achéron est le consort de violes de gambe : depuis 2013 le luthier Arnaud Giral accompagne l’ensemble en construisant un consort typiquement anglais. Cinq instruments ont d’ores et déjà vu le jour, donnant à ce consort une homogénéité, une profondeur et une richesse harmonique uniques. Un virginal et un orgue britanniques vont prochainement les rejoindre…
L'Achéron regularly works with artists from a wide range of backgrounds: its L'Orgue du Sultan project has seen it collaborate with the Sultan Veled ensemble in an encounter between Elizabethan and Ottoman music, and the Lachrimæ Lyræ with Greek lyra master Sokratis Sinopoulos; it will also be taking part in an album of electronic music with DJ Marc Romboy and Tamar Halperin...
L'Achéron has been invited to perform at various festivals and music seasons in Europe, including those in Saintes, Sablé, Royaumont, Auditorium du Louvre, Tage Alter Musik Regensburg, Lausanne Bach Festival, Bruges Concertgebouw, Oude Muziek in Utrecht, Warsaw Philharmonic, etc.
L'Achéron records for the Ricercar - Outhere label. It has released The Fruit of Love devoted to Anthony Holborne, Samuel Scheidt's Ludi Musici (Diapason d'Or), Johann Caspar Kerll's Requiem with the Vox Luminis ensemble, Johann Bernhard Bach's Overtures (Echo Klassik), and Pièces favorites de Marin Marais, whose complete Viola Pieces have been recorded by François Joubert-Caillet (the 1st Book received a Diapason d'Or and a Choc de Classica).
Latest release in autumn 2017: Fancies for the viols by Orlando Gibbons which was used as the soundtrack to William Shakespeare's The Tempest at the Comédie Française directed by Robert Carsen
Ensemble Sultan Veled
The Sultan Veled Ensemble is the fruit of the association of five musicians wishing to participate in the preservation of Ottoman Sufi music. It pays tribute to the son of Mevlâna Celaleddîn Rûmi: Behaeddîn Veled (1226 - 1312), better known as Sultan Veled (the Sultan of mystics), who established the mevlev order (brotherhood of whirling dervishes) and laid the foundations for the ritual.
Seeking to revive the ambience of the tekke (dervish convents) of the former Ottoman Empire, the Sultan Veled Ensemble has developed a repertoire of Sufi songs (ilahiler) and instrumental compositions (peşrevler) to accompany the rituals of the whirling dervishes (sema) and the ceremonies of invocation of divine names (zikr).
The musicians of this ensemble have benefited from rigorous, in-depth training on their instruments and had the opportunity to work alongside great exponents of the Sufi tradition. Each plays his or her instrument at a professional level and had the opportunity to perform in prestigious venues such as the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, the Cairo Opera House, the Granada Festival of Art and Dance, the Baku International Mugham Festival and the Istanbul International Music Festival (Uluslararası İstanbul Muzik Festivali ).
In 2007, Adrien Espinouze, musical director of the Ensemble Sultan Veled, was invited by the municipality of Istanbul to take part in the international meeting of ney players (Uluslararası Neyzenler Buluşması ) organised by Suleyman Erguner to mark the eight hundredth anniversary of the birth of Mevlâna Celaleddîn Rûmi.