Ensemble Sequentiae celebrates its 10th anniversary with the work that marked its first decade: Dvořák's Stabat Mater.10 years of programming, close to 200 concerts, first in Paris, then in the Centre region, then nationally and internationally: Paris, Chartres, Lyon, Marseille, Béziers, Brussels, Amsterdam, Rome, Dubai Opera...
Created in 2014 by Mathieu Bonnin and initially made up of an amateur choir and a professional orchestra, Ensemble Sequentiae is now a professional ensemble, providing a framework for amateur practice through the foundation of an academy based in Béziers. Specializing in symphonic sacred music, the Ensemble stands out for the musical unity formed by its choir and symphony orchestra.
The composition of the Stabat Mater is closely linked to the family tragedy affecting Anton Dvořák. On September 21, 1875, his newborn daughter Josefa died. In reaction to this bereavement, Dvořák composed a first version of the work between February 19 and May 7, 1876. This version features four soloists, a chorus and piano. Dvořák sets the work aside without tackling the orchestration. Dvořák subsequently loses his two other children within a few weeks of each other, his daughter Růžena on August 13 and his eldest son Otakar on September 8, 1877. It was then that he returned to the manuscript he had abandoned the previous year. He added three movements (numbers 5, 6 and 7) and orchestrated the entire work between October and November 1877. The composer had overcome his own suffering to produce a work imbued with gushing, spontaneous emotion.
Performers
Anne-Laure Hulin - Soprano
Anouk Defontenay - Mezzo-Soprano
Léo Muscat, Cyril Ceccaldi - Tenors
Thomas le Colleter, Alexandre Artemenko - Baritones
Sequentiae Choir and Orchestra, Sequentiae Academy
Mathieu Bonnin - Direction
Biographies:
Mathieu Bonnin trained at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and the Birmingham Conservatoire. He was appointed conductor of the Chartres Cathedral choir, with whom he performed in various concerts and on France Culture, TF1 and France 2 television programs. At the same time, he is studying singing with Emmanuel Mendès, a member of the Paris Opéra choir. In September 2017, Mathieu Bonnin became choirmaster at Puy du Fou. In 2019, he obtains a master's degree in orchestral conducting with distinction from the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles, in Robin Engelen's class. In the same year, he was assistant conductor at the Théâtre National de Bruxelles and the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in John Adams' production "I was looking at the ceiling, then I saw the sky". In 2020, Mathieu Bonnin is appointed conductor of the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Départemental de Béziers. In 2021, he obtained his Diplôme d'Etat de professeur de direction d'ensembles vocaux and his Certificat d'Aptitude.
The same year, he was appointed conductor of the Orchestre Symphonique Béziers Méditerranée, and conducted in 2024 at the Théâtre des Champs Élysées.
Anne-Laure began studying the flute at the age of 6, under the guidance of her mother, also a flautist. However, it was singing that caught her interest and curiosity, and in 2004 she joined the prestigious Radio France Maîtrise.
Anne-Laure recently graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP) with a Master's degree in opera singing, with honors, in the class of Élène Golgevit, Charlotte Bonneu and Frédéric Rubay.
Anne-Laure has sung as a soloist with orchestras such as the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Orchestre National de France, as well as the Orchestre de Paris, conducted by Daniele Gatti, François-Xavier Roth, Paavo Järvi and Daniel Harding.
Anne-Laure won first prize in the 2019 Hector Berlioz competition, as well as first prize in the Les Clés d'Or competition. She is also a laureate of the Williamson Foundation at the Académie de Musique du Festival des Arcs.
Anne-Laure made her operatic debut as Papagena, then Pamina, (The Magic Flute, Mozart). In 2021, she takes her first steps as Adina (L'Elisir d'Amore, Donizetti) conducted by Laure Deval in several major venues in the Ile de France region. She also sang the role of Eurydice in Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice, directed by Benjamin Fau, and Rosita in Offenbach's Un Mari à la Porte at the CNSMDP. She is Le Feu, Le Rossignol and the Pastourelle in the Philharmonie de Paris and CNSMDP co-production of Ravel's L'Enfant et Les Sortilèges.
Always in love with choral music, she now sings with the prestigious Ensemble Pygmalion (Dir. Raphaël Pichon), as well as the Ensemble AEDES (Dir. Mathieu Romano), the ensemble Correspondances (Dir. Sébastien Daucé), the ensemble Les Métaboles (Dir. Léo Warynski) and Le Concert d'Astrée (Dir. Emmanuelle Haïm). (Dir. Léo Warynski) and Le Concert d'Astrée (Dir. Emmanuelle Haïm).
Since 2021, Anne-Laure has been working regularly for the Tournesol-Artistes à l'Hôpital association, thanks to which she performs in hospital settings, singing at patients' bedsides or for fixed concerts.
Anouk trained with the Maîtrise de Notre-Dame de Paris adult choir and the Pôle Lyrique d'Excellence Cécile de Boever. In 2023, she won the first Tremplin organized by the Fonds Tutti at the Amphithéâtre de l'Opéra Bastille, as well as the Fondation Royaumont, where she was heard in the role of the 3rd Lady in W.A. Mozart's The Magic Flute.
She works regularly with Ensemble Pygmalion (dir. Raphaël Pichon), Poème Harmonique (dir. Vincent Dumestre), Les Paladins (dir. Jérôme Correas) and Ensemble Aïgal. She has appeared on stage in a variety of roles, including L'Enfant (L'Enfant et les sortilèges, Ravel), Juditha (Juditha Triumphans, Vivaldi), la Nymphe et la Bergère (Armide, Lully), Mère Jeanne (Dialogues des Carmélites, Poulenc), as well as solos in Duruflé's Requiem, Bach's St John Passion, Pergolesi's Stabat Mater and Monteverdi's Salve Morale. She will soon be appearing with a quartet in J.S. Bach's cantata BWV 48 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the viola part in J.S. Bach's Mass in B, and in quintet concerts at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.
Thomas studied lyric singing at the CRR de Boulogne-Billancourt, then his taste for Baroque music led him to perfect his skills with Julie Hassler, Michel Laplénie, Andreas Scholl and Gérard Lesne. Between 2017 and 2023, he sang regularly with the Amsterdam Baroque Choir under the direction of Ton Koopman, which led him to sing all over the world (Vienna Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Madrid Auditorio Nacional, Shanghai Symphony Hall, Beijing Forbidden City...). He performs as soloist and chorister with various ensembles (Sagittarius, Bach Collegium Paris, Le Concert Spirituel, Ensemble Sequentiæ, Poséidon...).
Thomas joined the advanced department for young singers at the CRR de Paris, where he studied under Florence Guignolet. Choir training at the JCP has enabled him to work under conductors such as Laurence Equilbey, Geoffroy Jourdain, John Nelson, Philippe Herreweghe and René Jacobs. He is currently working with Christine Schweitzer.
His repertoire ranges from oratorios such as Mendelssohn's Elias and Handel's Messiah, to operatic roles such as Papageno, Escamillo, Don Giovanni, the Count from The Marriage of Figaro and Guglielmo from Cosi Fan Tutte. He recently performed the role of Roderick Usher from Claude Debussy's unfinished opera The Fall of the House of Usher. This season, he will sing the role of Schaunard from Puccini's La Bohême.
Cyril discovered singing through the Petits Chanteurs de Saint Dominique. After passing his Baccalauréat, he decided to train as a singer and joined the lyric singing class at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Versailles. Driven by his passion for choral singing, he co-founded the Octavoces ensemble with friends, an octet dedicated to exploring collective and individual vocal practices at different levels.
At the same time, in 2022, he joined the Ensemble Sequentiae academy to develop in a professional environment. Performing Dvořák's Stabat Mater as a soloist at the age of 19 will be a milestone in his young professional career.
After graduating from the Lycée Fénelon with a scientific baccalaureate and a literary preparatory class, Léo Muscat immersed himself in university studies dedicated to the performing arts, while perfecting his operatic singing skills at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, under the invaluable guidance of Daniel Ottevaere, François Le Roux and Mireille Larroche.
His artistic path opens up in the theater as assistant director to Olivier Py, for Prométhée Enchaîné by Aeschylus and La Jeune Fille, le Diable et le Moulin, a rewriting of a tale by the Brothers Grimm by Olivier Py. He also acts and sings in several of his shows (Mathis der Mahler, Alceste and La Jeune Fille, le Diable et le Moulin). Lyric singing then became his main activity, as he merged his passions for music, literature and theater.
He took his first steps on the stage of the Opéra de Reims with Jérôme Corréas' ensemble Les Paladins, in the landmark role of Testo in Monteverdi's Le Combat de Tancrède et de Clorinde. His vast and eclectic repertoire ranges from operetta to bouffes and serious operatic roles, as well as sacred music, Lied and a cappella chamber music. More recently, he has had the privilege of performing the demanding solos in Rossini's Stabat Mater, Mozart's Requiem, Handel's Messiah, and Bach's St John Passion under the inspired direction of Mathieu Bonnin and the ensemble Sequentiae.
Dates and Opening Time
On April 3, 2025
Starts at 08:00 p.m.
Location
Salle Gaveau
45 Rue la Boetie
75008 Paris 8
Access
Miromesnil metro station
Prices
€15 - €59
Instagram page
@ensemble_sequentiae
Booking
sallegaveau.com
More information
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