Skip to main content

Our Composers Conductors Orchestras & choirs Musicians Soloist singers Actors Dancers Stage directors Scenographers Choreographers Costume designers Light designers

Nos Composers Conductors Orchestras & choirs Musicians Soloist singers Actors Dancers Stage directors Scenographers Choreographers Costume designers Light designers

Composer

Tarik Benouarka

Composer . Author and Creator of shows & operas, Director and Musician         

 

“Embrace of classical music and arabic poetry”

Born in 1966 in Hussein Dey, Algiers, of Arabic and French culture, he began learning music at the age of 4 under the influence of his pianist mother who introduced him to the great composers of the West and East before continuing his musical training in France. He studied at the Conservatoire National d’Evry where he obtained a gold medal before entering the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique CNSM in writing and composition class.

An accomplished musician, he began his professional career at the age of 16, still a student, by signing his first contract as an artist with the major international record company EMI for which he worked in the studio and on stage collaborating with many artists such as the singer Gérard Mancé, the Marquis de Sade Group, Etienne Daho etc …

Recognized for the many successful creations in which he participates, Tarik is passionate about all forms of music, forging his style over the many artistic encounters, achievements, and prestigious collaborations, as much through the composition of classical music, jazz as pop, before approaching the art of the Opera in which he finds the ideal dimension to express all his sources of inspiration: symphonic writing, drama, lyrical art and all the performing arts.

His artistic and musical career is marked by his double culture that he fully expresses in his various creations. He collaborates with artists of international dimension, such as Peter Gabriel, Beyonce for whom he writes two Grammy-winning titles, Lady Gaga, Thomas Dutronc, AIM, MC Solar, Jacques Higelin, Arthur H, Nina Morato, Etienne Daho, France Gall, Jacno, Lio, Helena Noguera, Françoise Hardy, Les Wailers, Alain Bashung, Cirque du Soleil, Lido but also Thierry Mugler with whom he regularly collaborates for the creation of major music hall shows in the United States, in Europe and Asia.

After many years of research and creation around the themes of the Arabic language, the cultures of the Maghreb and the East, the study of ancient languages and lyrical and symphonic art, he has created an important repertoire rare in the world of opera and music.

Examples of achievements

El Nafas (The Breath) – Opera in Arabic – Algiers Opera 2013
Sindbad le Fils du vent – Children’s Opera – Written for the children’s orchestra Les Petites Mains Symphoniques
The Wild – Musical by Thierry Mugler – Friedrichstadt-Palast Berlin 2014
The Days and Nights of the Heart Tree – Opera Ballet – Cairo Opera * Salle Gaveau Paris 2015
Silencio – Concerto for Oboe Solo and Orchestra – Prague Opera 2017
Issue – Ballet music by Eugénie Andrin – Anthéa Antipolis Théâtre d’Antibes 2017
The Cantata for three Voices by Paul Claudel – Musical theater – Cartoucherie de Vincennes 2018
The Legend of Nere – Oratorio for organ, choir and soloists in Arabic and Latin – Church of Saint Eustache  2019
Arabic Philharmonic Recital – Symphonic Show – Riyadh Saudi Arabia – March 2022
Terhal Musical Show by Dragone – Riyadh Saudi Arabia – March 2023
In the Name of the Father – Mass in aramaic – Saint Eustache Church Paris – June 2023

Works in preparation

Qays and Leyla – Opera in two Acts
Djamila – Opera in two Acts
Shazâ – Children’s Show

 

More information on   www.tarikbenouarka.com

Conductor

Conductor

Pierre Dumoussaud

Conductor in El Nafas by Tarik Benouarka in Algiers Opera - 2013

First prize of the “Talent Conductors” of ADAMI, Pierre Dumoussaud is musical director of the Ensemble Furians he founded in 2010, at the age of 20 years. Its activity is already a great scope for a young conductor, ranging from the opera to the concert through creation, CD and ballet.

After conducting at the Bordeaux National Opera Don Carlo, Le Tour d’Ecrou et Les Tréteaux de Maître Pierre, he started out in 2017-2018 with Lucia di Lammermoor. Very invested in creation, he also worked with l’Ensemble Court-Circuit in Lille Opera and in Opera Comique in La princesse Légère by Violeta Cruz. We will see him finally for the first time as conductor for Orchestre National des Pays de Loire in Angers-Nantes Opéra for the resurrection and recording for the Palazzetto Bru Zane of P’ p’tites Michu by Messager.

Attracted to dance, Pierre Dumoussaud already led great classical ballets such as Romeo and Juliet or Giselle in the choreographs of Charles Jude at the Opera National de Bordeaux. He also collaborated with Jean-Claude Gallotta for L’Amour Sorcier- L’Histoire du Soldat and accompanied many choreographic creations: Festin de l’Araignée de Roussel ou Folksongs de Beric. 

His repertoire developed from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century alongside the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, le Real Filharmonia Galicia, the Janacek Philharmonic, the Budapest Opera and the Symphony Orchestra of North Hungary as well as with the great french orchestras: the Orchestra National of the Capitole of Toulouse, the Lille National Orchestra, the Orchestra of Auvergne, the National Orchestra of Lorraine, the Opera Orchestra National de Montpellier, the National Opera of Lorraine, the Regional Orchestra of Normandy, the Orchestra of Pau Pays de  Béarn, the Orchestra of Cannes PACA, the Orchestra Colonne and the Pasdeloup Orchestra at the Philharmonie de Paris. Having met a great public and critical success by repeatedly replacing Alain Lombard offhand, he continues to maintain a special relationship with National Bordeaux Aquitaine Orchestra of which he was chief assistant from 2014 to 2016.

Testifying to a can-do attitude in the field of cultural action, he imagined and directed many shows for the young public before creating and recording with the Paris Chamber Orchestra two tales of Roald Dahl set to music by Isabelle Aboulker and read by François Morel.

Great voices, instrumental soloists and composers already staked his career, including Mireille Delunsch, Tassis Christoyannis, Elza van den Heever, Chiara Skerath, Nicholas Angelich, Renaud Capuçon, Henri Demarquette, Yuval Gotlibovich, Ophélie Gaillard, Emile Naoumoff, François Sarhan, Denis Dufour and Guillaume Connesson. He also made a great complicity with the French young generation with Florian Sempey, Thomas Dolié, Thibaut Garcia, Guillaume Vincent and Thomas Enhco that he created the first piano concerto.

Pierre Dumoussaud has forged solid experience by assisting Marc Minkowski, Paul Daniel, Patrick Davin, John Fiore, Karen Kamensek, and Pierre Cao. They allowed him to work with directors Dimitri Tcherniakov, Olivier Py, Christopher Alden, Ivan Alexandre and Vincent Huguet on productions of La Bohème, Tristan and Isolde, Simon Boccanegra, Norma, the Damnation of Faust, the King of Ys, Il Turco in Italia, Semiramide, Don Giovanni, the Nozze di Figaro and Alceste. He did so his arms in large lyrical institutions : Festival of Aix-en-Provence, Opéra National de Paris, Theater of the castle of Drottningholm and Royal Opera of Versailles Castle Theatre.

Pierre Dumoussaud was trained in conducting by Alain Altinoglu in the CNSMDP and Nicolas Brochot in PSPBB. He co-conducted with Peter Eötvös the Symphony No. 4 by Ives in the Festival of Lucerne and benefited from the advices of David Zinman, Michel Tabachnik, Susanna Mälkki, David Stern, Jean Deroyer, and Frieder Bernius. 

As first bassoonist, he played in formations such as the Paris Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Luxembourg, the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, the Schleswig Holstein Festival Orchestra and was co-soloist in the Pasdeloup symphonic orchestra.

Conductor

Amine Kouider

Conductor in Narâm Legend by Tarik Benouarka - St Eustache Church Paris - 2019

Amine KOUIDER is a conductor with an international career of great musical and artistic richness. His personality is expressed in an energetic, committed, fiery direction that has earned him great success in many renowned formations he has led in France and abroad.

His meeting with Valéry GERGIEV at the Saint Petersburg Opera, of which he was the assistant conductor for three years, allowed him to become the heir of a great musical tradition and to evolve in an international artistic environment of very high level.

A conductor with an international career

Amine KOUIDER is regularly invited to conduct many renowned formations: the National  Orchestra of Capitole in Toulouse, the Strasbourg  Philharmonic orchestra, the Mulhouse Symphonic orchestra, the Nice Philharmonic orchestra, the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic orchestra, the Marseille Philharmonic Orchestra, the Toulon Opera Orchestra, the Lamoureux Orchestra.

He has also conducted: the Kirov Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Opera, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Cappella Orchestra, the St. Petersburg State Orchestra, the Bucharest National Opera Orchestra, the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, the Tunisian Symphony Orchestra, the Reykjavík Chamber Orchestra, the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra and the Cuban National Orchestra.

A charismatic artistic director

From 1998 to 2004, he was music director of the Orchestre International de Paris with which he made several concerts and recordings noticed in the musical revue “Classica”. From 2001 to 2008 and from 2014 to 2016 he was artistic director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Algeria with which he performed notably in the context of the event “Algiers, Capital of Arab Culture 2007” and “Constantine Capital of Arab Culture 2015” and the “Algiers International Festival of Symphonic Music” from 2014 to 2018.

From 2012 to 2014 he was artistic director of the Orchestre Symphonique Algérie-France with which he gave several concerts. At the same time, he was also advisor for music to the Minister of Culture in Algeria and project manager of the new Opera of Algiers, of which he also provided the opening concert.

Since 2016, Amine KOUIDER has been artistic director of the new Algiers Opera and principal conductor of the Algiers Opera Symphony Orchestra. In this capacity, he has conducted nearly a hundred concerts in several symphonic works, operas and ballets including the Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Barber of Seville, La Traviata, Rigoletto, Carmen, Madame Butterfly, The Nutcracker and Swan Lake.

Also artistic director of the International Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra of Paris that he founded in 1997, he builds an ensemble rich in its diversity and shares with its choristers and musicians its passion for music, the requirement of quality and its humanist dreams.

It is with this training in residence at UNESCO that he regularly gives concerts as part of the cultural and humanitarian campaigns of the famous organization in a repertoire of oratorios such as Verdi’s Requiem, Brahms’ Requiem, Dvorak’s Requiem, Mozart’s Great Mass in C and “Operas in concerts” such as Boris Godunov, Faust, La Belle Helene , La Vie Parisienne, Aida, Trouvère and Cavalleria Rusticana. Rich in his dual culture, he is interested in music from other cultural areas and becomes a tireless ambassador for the rapprochement between cultures. It is at the head of this ensemble that he was named “UNESCO Artist for Peace”

A solid formation

Born in Algiers in 1967, this young violin virtuoso, passionate about music discovers at 17 years old the direction of orchestra  and decides to make it his profession. He studied at the Algiers Conservatory, studied choir conducting and conducting at the Marseille and Paris  Conservatories, then Copenhagen with Michel TABACHNIK.

He perfected his skills with Manuel ROSENTHAL, Ilya MUSIN and Daniel BAREMBOIM. At the same time, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in musicology in Algiers and a master’s degree in musicology at the Sorbonne, Paris IV.

He participates in advanced courses as a conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kirov Opera in St. Petersburg, the Berlin National Opera, the Paris Opera, the Geneva Orchestra and the Santa Cecillia Orchestra in Rome.

The richness of Amine KOUIDER’s artistic career has allowed him to have a wide repertoire including many symphonic works, oratorios, ballets and nearly 30 operas.

Conductor

Olivier Holt

Recording of "Days and Nights of the Heart Tree" - Studios Davout 2014

Born in Paris in 1960, Olivier Holt followed studies of direction with Jean Fournet, Franco Ferrara, Léonard Bernstein and Charles Mackerras at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna where he obtained the diploma of “Wiener Meisterkurs”.

After starting his career at the Theatre of Châtelet, he conducted various performances at the Opéra Comique, the Theatre of Paris, the Nancy Opera, the Lille Opera, the Opera of Marseilles; with famous soloists such as Natalie Dessay, Felicity Lott, Gabriel met, José Van Dam, Alain Fondary.

In symphonic performances, he was invited by orchestras such as the National Orchestra of Lille, the Picardy Orchestra, the Philharmonic of Lorraine, the Symphony Orchestra of Mulhouse, the Central Region Symphony Orchestra and the Sofia Radio Orchestra.

Olivier Holt has recorded several CDs: a classic compilation for the label Philips Classics with Natalie Dessay, Françoise Pollet, Olivier Charlier, Nicolas Rivencq. For the K617 company, the Cantata Egill and the Stabat Mater of Théodore Gouvy with the Philharmonie de Lorraine, then the premiere of  the opera ” Maximilian Kolbe ” by Dominique Probst and Eugène Ionesco, whose recording has received “the Golden Orpheus” of the lyric disc national Academy.

As a teacher, he is in charge of the Montreuil ENMD orchestras and is the guest conductor for the Conservatory of Levallois. 

He has also composed various pieces: chamber music, songs and music for the theatre.

In 2002, Olivier Holt started at the international level: in the USA with the Florida Philharmonic, in Italy with the Orchestra of the Teatro Massimo, in Australia at the Melbourne Festival and in 2003 as part of the International Festival in Bergen in the Symphony fantastic with the Bergen Philharmonic.

Olivier Holt is the host of the Toulon Opera in symphonic and lyric, of the CNR Superieur de Paris orchestra, of the National Orchestra des Pays de Loire and of the Opera Comique. After the Tivoli Festival in Copenhagen & Carmen this summer, he conducted Cosi fan tutte and was the guest of the Picardy Orchestra & the Sofia Music Weeks 2008 festival. He conducted many concerts at the Picardy Orchestra in 2009 and 2010 and also at the Opera of Dijon, Marseille, Toulon orchestras.

Conductor

Christopher Gibert

Premiere of " In the Name of the Father", mass in aramaic by Tarik Benouarka - St Eustache Church - June 2023

A native of the Lot region, Christopher Gibert divides his life as a musician between choral conducting and composition. He studied at the Conservatories of Toulouse and Boulogne-Billancourt and obtained two First Prizes with honors unanimously in choral conducting and musical analysis. In parallel, he validated a Master’s degree in musicology at the University Paris IV Sorbonne on the religious work of Marc-Antoine Charpentier.

It was then at the Pôle Supérieur in Rennes that he perfected his teaching skills in the class of Régine Théodoresco. He benefits from the advice of prestigious conductors such as Pierre Cao, Valérie Fayet, Nicole Corti, Gildas Pungier, Nicolas André etc … It validates the State Diploma of Music Teacher and the Higher National Diploma of the Musician in choir conducting.

 

Christopher created in 2013 in Toulouse the chamber choir Dulci Jubilo. He conducts numerous productions nationally and enjoys collaborating regularly with other conductors and ensembles such as Mélisme(s) (dir. Gildas Pungier), Les Passions (dir. Jean-Marc Andrieu) or Matheus (dir. Jean-Christophe Spinosi).

 

He is solicited by various ensembles for the composition of essentially choral works, because of his double hat of creator and choir performer. From 2015 to 2018, he was in residence at the Rocamadour festival, where he produced several creations, including his Stabat Mater (produced by the Anima Nostra Label). Ensembles such as the Maîtrise de Toulouse, the Mélisme(s) chamber choir, the Méliades vocal ensemble, the Exosphère ensemble or the Comet Musicke, etc. have already trusted him. From 2022 to 2024, he is in residence composition and guest conductor at the Abbey of Sylvanès – cultural center of meetings.

 

Christopher Gibert is also since September 2018 professor of choir conducting at the Conservatory of Montauban, in the Toulouse region.

Conductor

Philippe Hui

Recording El Nafas by Tarik Benouarka - Studios Davout 2014

Philip Hui is interested in all expressions of his art, from Symphonic to Ballet, from opera to operetta and aims to share the beauties of this vast repertoire with the greatest audience.

Philip HUI joined the Conservatory National Superior of Music in Paris (Masterclass with Pierre Boulez) and obtained a 1st prize of orchestra conductor. 

After having led for many years youth orchestras such as “l’Orchestre Regional des Jeunes de Haute Normandie”, he became Assistant Conductor for the Bretagne Orchestra and then musical adviser for the Opera of Tours.

In 2000, he founded the “Atelier Lyrique de Haute Normandie”, where he was the artistic director until 2009.

In 2001, James Conlon noticed and invited him to become his assistant at the Paris National Opera. Since then, Philippe Hui conducts regularly in many operas and ballets: Orpheus and Eurydice by Gluck, Pina Bausch choreography, followed by a tour in Germany, the Barber of Seville , a tango for Mr. Lautrec, Mozart’s Idomeneo, Paquita, La Sylphide etc… He also got part of the Center of lyrical Training  of the Paris Opera. 

Philip Hui is invited by many venues and festivals in France : Opera of Paris, Tours, Metz, Reims, Limoges, Avignon, Toulon, Rennes, Theâtre des Champs-Elysees , Salle Gaveau , Opera Comique, Centre Lyrique d’Auvergne, Festival de Loches… and abroad: Festival in Nuremberg, Baalbeck…

He conducts a large number of works, including L’enlevement au Serail, La Veuve Joyeuse, La Fille mal Gardée, Roméo et Juliette de Prokoviev, Casse-Noisette, la Voix Humaine, La Belle-Helène, Carmen, La vie Parisienne, La Passion selon St Jean, Orphée aux Enfers, Le Petit Ramoneur de B.Britten that he recorded with Lambert Wilson etc…. 

Philip Hui also worked with l’Orchestre National de Lorraine, de Bretagne ou de Picardie… and collaborates regularly with ensembles such as La Maîtrise des Hauts de Seine. He was for several years Musical Director of the Festival Opéras en Plein Air  : La Traviata, La Flûte enchantée, le Barbier de Séville et les Contes d’Hoffmann.

He is also the musical Director of the Franz Schreker Institute for which he conducts many works in the Champs Elysées Theater, thus initiating a solid and regular collaboration with the Pasdeloup Orchestra. 

Today, he is the Musical Director of the Philharmonie des Deux Mondes, symphonic orchestra in Loire Atlantique, along with a career of conductor in festivals (such as Festival Offenbach d’Etretat…) and orchestras in France and abroad.

Orchestra & Choir

Orchestra and Choir

THE ENSEMBLE SEQUENTIAE under the direction of MATHIEU BONNIN

Days and Nights of the Heart Tree by T.Benouarka-Gaveau 2015 & Narâm Legend by T.Benouarka recording - 2016

The Ensemble Sequentiae, created in 2013, focusses on sacred music. It is composed of an orchestra of 20 musicians and a choir of 30 singers, all coming from the Lyon and Paris Conservatories.

The ensemble is in residence at the Royal Church of Saint-Germain- l’Auxerrois in Paris and gives concerts both in France( Paris, Lyon, Marseille… ) and abroad.

After performing Faure’s Requiem, Charpentier’s La messe de minuit and Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Sequentiae will be performing a German repertoire in 2016 :  Bach’s Magnificat and Mendelssohn’s Psalm 42.

The choir places great importance on singing”a capella” and has set up a chamber choir in 2016 which will be performing Tallis’s Lamentations of Jeremiah and Allegri’s Miserere.

Symphonic Orchestra

Orchestre Pasdeloup

Creation & recording of El Nafas by T.Benouarka 2013 - Days and Nights of the Heart Tree by T.Benouarka recording 2014

The Pasdeloup symphony orchestra was founded by patron of the arts and music lover Jules Pasdeloup more than 150 years ago.

Since its creation Pasdelouip has continued to interpret the masterpieces of the symphonic repertory, borne aloft, generation after generation, by the enthusiasm and passion of talented musicians.

It has naturally become one of the most highly reputed private French orchestras in the realm of classical music, achieving the difficult feat of transmitting more than just a name but a history which becomes an integral part of each of the members of the orchestra in their endeavour to produce and preserve the ample, philharmonic sound which is its special signature.

The Pasdeloup orchestra, determined to move with the times, has acquired the well-deserved reputation of promoting new works, ambitious creations and first class conductors and performers such as Algerian opera singer Amel Brahim Djeloul .

The orchestra performs on stages and in festivals throughout France and Europe, alongside legendary figures such as Placido Domingo and the Paris Opera ballet, the American Theater or the Australian Ballet. 

Orchestre Pasdeloup is a non-profit organisation subsidised by the City of Paris with the financial backing of the Ile de France cultural affairs department.

Choir

Dulci Jubilo under the direction of Christopher Gibert

Creation of "In the Name of the Father", mass in aramaic by T.Benouarka - St Eustache Church - June 2023

Based in Montauban, in the Toulouse region, the Dulci Jubilo chamber choir was created in 2013 by Christopher Gibert. It is in a “sweet joy” as evoked by the name of the ensemble that these performers explore plural repertoires with requirement, assurance and sensitivity.

 

Varying the musical forms from 8 to 24 singers, a cappella or accompanied, the ensemble aims to live the adventure of contemporary creation by opening it and mixing it with identified repertoire. Christopher Gibert regularly develops programs that promote writing for choir and organ, with the complicity of Thomas Ospital, fellow traveler of the ensemble and internationally renowned organist.

 

The ensemble’s first album, “Stabat Mater”, is dedicated to the choral compositions of its artistic director and received the distinction of five stars from Classica magazine. The second record, “Sheng” is a monograph of the works for choir and organ by the French composer Grégoire Rolland.

 

The ensemble is supported by the DRAC Occitanie, the Occitanie Region, the Tarn-et-Garonne department, the SPEDIDAM, the National Music Centre and the Maison de la musique contemporaine.

Choir

THE INTERNATIONAL PHILHARMONIC CHOIR(ICC)

Premiere of The Legend of Néré - Church Saint Eustache Paris Nov 19

An association governed by the 1901 law, founded in 1997 by the Franco-Algerian conductor Amine Kouider, the ICC is a group of 150 choristers of various nationalities who share a love of choral singing and whose mission is to bring cultures closer together through music.

Conductor Amine Kouider, choirmaster Mustapha Kaïd and an assistant choirmaster jointly lead this ensemble, whose ambition is to share a wide repertoire ranging from classics of lyrical or sacred music to works from other cultures.

The International Philharmonic Choir produces its major works, usually accompanied by an orchestra of more than 40 musicians, in prestigious venues in Paris or the Province. In recent years it has been heard at La Sorbonne, UNESCO, Gaveau Hall, Radio France, Hotel de Ville Paris and the churches of Saint Augustine, Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Saint-Eustache and La Madeleine… He has also performed at the Théâtre Montansier in Versailles, the Ancient Theatre of Arles, the Saint-Victor Festival in Marseille, the Ibn Khaldoune Theatre in Algiers, at the invitation of the Governorate of Greater Algiers, and also on Antenne 2, TV 5 and CNN.

The International Philharmonic Choir has been a guest of prestigious orchestras such as the International Orchestra of the CROUS of Paris and the National Orchestra of Algeria. More recently he has collaborated with the Toulon Opera Orchestra.

The International Philharmonic Choir participates in UNESCO’s campaigns for peace and the development of exchanges between cultures. Through his success, he has helped promote actions such as “VeSAK Commemoration,” “Street Children,” “Growing Peace,” “World AIDS Day.” He also performed a concert with the National Orchestra of Algiers, in Arles, for the rapprochement of cultures and produced “Verdi’s Requiem” in concert in Chartres Cathedral for the 35th anniversary of the cathedral’s inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In recognition of their commitments, the International Philharmonic Choir and its conductor Amine Kouider have been “UNESCO Artists for Peace” since 1999.

Musician

Percussionist

Salim Beltitane

Performer in Oriental Dance Rhythms - CD recording in feb 2017

Franco-algerian musician, Salim Beltitane was born in a family of musicians.Influenced by this cultural heritage he was trained in algerian and arabic music and discovered percussions language.

When he was a teenager he began practising oriental percussions with famous masters before completing his learning in Algeria, Egypt mostly in Cairo where he stayed several times.

As a musician appreciated both on stage and in studio, he completed a career enriched by qualitative encounters and experiences, playing various repertoires such as french song, jazz, classical arabic and arabo-andalusian music or world music.

He notably played for Brigitte Fossey, Sapho, Hossam Ramzy and many classical arabic music orchestras from Maghreb or Middle East. Salim appears on stage very often with best in class orchestras or musicians of the arabic- oriental scene in France and many other countries in Europe, Maghreb, Middle East and Africa ( Turkey, Germany, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Spain, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Senegal…)

He studied in Strasbourg Academy and obtained a diploma of Traditional Musics in CEFEDEM Ile de France.

For more than 10 years he has been teaching oriental percussions and since 2016 ethno-musicology in Lorraine University.

Being among the most appreciated soloists in accompanying belly dance or oriental dance, he is often asked for courses, festivals of oriental dance and he creates methods, educational tools in order to transmit this ancient art.

Violinist

Eléonore Siala Bernhardt

Performer in The Cantata for Three Voices by Paul Claudel - Cartoucherie de Paris 2018

Eléonore Bernhardt’s musical studies began at the Montpellier Conservatory, where she trained on cello with Yves Potrel, singing with Patrice Baudry and chamber music on various repertoires and in different groups.

 After obtaining the Diploma of Musical Studies (DEM) in Cello and Chamber Music, she continued her apprenticeship with Professor Marie-Paule Milone, first at the Conservatoire de Rueil-Malmaison where she obtained, at the end of the first year, the Prix d’Excellence, and then at the PSPBB (Paris Boulogne-Billancourt Superior Pole) in 2015. At the PSPBB, Eleonore will also receive the teachings of Éric Picard, principal cello of the Paris Orchestra.

During these three years of double-curricula (Licence of Musicology at the Sorbonne and National Diploma Superior of Professional Musician), she will perform regularly in chamber music at the conservatory but also as a quartet at the Philharmonie de Paris (on the occasion of the Prelude Concerts), in duets at the Museum of the City of Music and the Théâtre des Abbesses, in various projects.

She also participates in numerous orchestral series with, among others, the PSPBB orchestra (Philharmonie de Paris, Théâtre du Châtelet, La Seine Musicale), the Prometheus orchestra (Theatre of the Champs-Élysées with the National Ballet of Canada, La Seine Musicale for “The Summers of Dance“), the JOEHB (Young European Orchestra Hector Berlioz), the ensemble Les Siècles and François- Xavier Roth.

Éléonore Bernhardt founded with Héloïse-Bertrand Oléari (pianist) and Raphael Pogam (clarinetist) the trio Oriolus and the ensemble was invited in 2018 to the Colmar International Festival.

Organist

Christophe Guida

Performer in "Narâm Legend" and "In the Name of the Father" by T. Benouarka creations in Saint Eustache Church - Paris 2019 & 2023

Christophe Guida is a French organist born in Marseille France in 1982. A graduate of the Marseille and Paris Conservatoires, he is now principal organist at Marseille’s Sacré Cœur.

His passion for this instrument has led him to perform in prestigious concerts at Notre Dame, La Madeleine and Sainte Clotilde in Paris and in Albi, St Malo, Bordeaux, Tours, Marseille, Saint Maximin and Megeve. He also performs regularly in Russia(Perm), Germany( Hamburg), Italy(Rome, Novara), Belgium and Canada.

In 2009, he was the first French musician to record Mikael Tariverdiev’s works for organ, in Roquevaire(Quo Vadis).

He very often plays in duet with Monique Thus, principal organist at Notre Dame de la Garde(Marseille) and with famous trumpet players Romain Leleu and Philippe Nava.

 Since 2013, he has often been invited as a soloist to interpret major works of the organ repertoire : Duruflé’s Requiem, Poulenc’s Concerto and Messes pour orgue et chœur by Leo Delibes and Louis Vierne.

There is a podcast of Christophe Guida appearing in the France 3 documentary « Parcours de vie »

Concert Pianist

Isabelle Lafitte

Concert Pianist

Isabelle Lafitte grew up in a family of artists, sculptors, painters, poets and musicians. In this atmosphere conducive to the arts, she began playing the piano at the age of six and revealed her talents as an improviser and composer that would support her studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon, the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest and the Manhattan School of Music in New York. 

 

She chose, with her twin sister Florence Lafitte, to explore literature for two pianos, expanding a career punctuated by concerts on the major international stages: Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Bozar in Brussels, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Novel Hall in Taïpei, Musikhalle in Hamburg, Rudolfinum in Prague, KKL in Lucerne… with prestigious orchestras such as the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic of Flanders, the Orchestre National de France… across Europe, Australia, the United States, Brazil, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia, New Caledonia, Russia…  

 

Together they sponsor and create the works of composers Alain Louvier, Karol Beffa, Paul Brust (USA), Tristan-Patrice Chalullau, Stéphane Delplace and Pascal Zavaro.

 

She also recorded several records for the labels Ligia Digital, Alphée, Soupir and VMG. 

 

A curious mind, Isabelle Lafitte composes, improvises, makes transcriptions, arrangements for two pianos :  Mozart’s “The Magic Flute”, Schumann’s Oratorio “Le Paradis et la Péri”, Falla’s “Vida Breve”, Glazunov’s “Stenka Razine” etc… Invited by the Japanese company “Agua-Gala” and supported by ADAMI, she wrote a ballet music “Nega/ct/ive B.D.”, created in Avignon. 

 

She has been a member of SACEM since the age of 15.  She teaches piano, improvisation, chamber music, composition, among others, in the Paris Conservatories 14th and 18th, has conducted many Master Classes and is a regular jury member of major international piano competitions.

 

 

Photo credit Hugues Charrier

  

Concert Pianist

Louise Akili

Soloist in piano recital concert "Games & Mirrors" - Algiers Opera 2023

Born in Paris in 1990, pianist Louise Akili is graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris.

Having received valuable advice from Cécile Emery, Macha Belooussova, Claire Désert, Anne Le Bozec, Hugues Leclère, Philippe Ferro, Christian Ivaldi, Jeff Cohen, Yves Henry, Emmanuel Olivier, Eric Le Sage and Paul Meyer, she enjoys playing as a soloist as well as in chamber music formation.

Laureate of the Fondation Royaumont, the Cité Internationale des Arts de Paris and the Académie Ravel, Louise regularly performs in concerts in France and abroad. He has performed at the Nohant Chopin Festival, the Saint-Ursanne Piano Festival in Switzerland, the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest, the Hampshire Barn (United Kingdom), the Sibiu Philharmonic (Romania), the Deauville Books and Music Festival, the Grand Théâtre de Provence, the Metz Arsenal, the Avignon Festival, the Ars Terra Festival, the Chaise-Dieu Festival, at the Kiosque de Nancy, the Théâtre Impérial de Compiègne and in Paris at the Centre Pompidou, the Théâtre du Châtelet, the Musée de la Vie Romantique, the Collège des Bernardins, the Petit Palais, the Théâtre de l’Ile Saint-Louis, Salle Cortot, the Cercle de l’Union Interalliée, the Jean-Jacques Henner Museum, the Hôtel Bedford with the Friends of Maurice Ravel, at the Musée d’Orsay and the Philharmonie in Paris.

Curious to discover a varied repertoire, the young artist excels in a wide musical range ranging from the baroque period to contemporary creation in all possible formations.

She was invited by Gaëlle Le Gallic on France Musique. Louise regularly collaborates with soprano Axelle Fanyo, violist Antonin Le Faure, violinists Rachel Koblyakov and Hugues Borsarello, cellists Thomas Chartré and Raphaêl Ginzburg as well as composer Olga Neuwirth.
Her first solo album dedicated to composers Roland-Manuel and Maurice Ravel was released in November 2020 by Passavant Music.

In October 2021, she gave concerts in Finland with cellist Laura Martin and violinist Jean-Samuel Bez. In 2022, she performed in concerts in Trio, Duo, Sextet, at the Festival des Nancyphonies and at the Festival de La Pochette Musicale (Parc de Bagatelle).

Holder of the CA of piano teacher, she teaches at the Chopin Conservatory of Paris15th. She is also artistic director of the Compagnie du Jardin Féérique and pianist of the Jardin Féérique Trio, which develops projects in Finland, Switzerland, Belgium and France.

Oboe musician

Michaela Hrabânkovâ

Oboe soloist in Silencio : Concerto in D minor of Tarik Benouarka - 2016

Michaela Hrabânkova is a versatile soloist and chamber music musician, passionate about standard repertoire as well as contemporary works.
Born in Prague, she currently lives and works in Paris.

Her musical education started in Prague, with the soloist of National Theater of Prague Josef Vacek then at the Prague Conservatory with Professor F.X.Thuri. She left Prague to continue studying in Germany at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe with Professor Thomas Indermuhle. She completed her education with the Erasmus exchange program in the class of Jacques Tys at the Paris Conservatory CNSM. From 2007 to 2010 she got a scholarship from the “ Alvaro Gomez Music Foundation”. She was also supported by instruments producer “ F.Lorée”.

She gave recitals in many festivals around the world. In France( Festival de la Chaise-Dieu, Festival Hector Berlioz, European Meeting of Double Reeds), in Germany ( Rheingau Musik Festival), in Kosovo, in the Czech Republic, in Romania ( Festival of Young Talents), in Algeria or Argentina(Encuentro Oboistas Buenos Aires).

In 2001, Michaela won the 2nd prize of the Czech Radio Competition “ Concertino Praga”. She was invited by the European Organisation of Music Competitions for Youth/EMCY/ to perform on a concert tour through Europe. During past 3 years she was a member of french wind quintette “ Le Concert Impromptu” which is sponsored by the French  Ministry of Culture. From 2014 she has been a member of “ Ensemble Sequentiae” and Orchestra “ Les Découvertes”.

She recorded the CD” French Music” with “ The concert Impromptu”. In 2013 she recorded for the Czech radio “ Cesky Rozhlas” concerto for oboe and small orchestra by Jan Rybar. She also recorded a CD with the guitarist Gabriel Bianco for Ad Vitam Records( Harmonia Mundi)

Michaela is regularly invited to give masterclasses in France, Romania(Gheorghe Dima Music Academy în Cluj-Napoca) or in Czech Republic (Prague Academy of Music, Janacek Academy of Musical Arts in Brno, Prague Conservatory, the Conservatory of Pardubice).
Since 2013 she has been teaching at the Mstislav Rostropovich Conservatory in Maisons Laffitte.

Soloist singer

Soprano

Racha Rizk

Role of Amal in “Days and Nights of the Heart Tree” by T.Benouarka- Gaveau Paris 2015 and CD recording ‘Narâm Legend” by T.Benouarka - 2016

Racha Rizk was born in Damascus(Syria). At the age of 12 , she won first prize in the “Syrian Pioneers” contest and went on to participate in many concerts and festivals open to young artists.

She successfully completed her musical training at the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus under the direction of famous teachers, including Mme Galina Khaldieva.

She graduated in 2002 in “ Damascus Institut Supérieur de Musique “ trained by the famous Natalia Kiritchinka.

She has interpreted some of opera’s major roles, including  Suzana in Le Nozze di Figaro-Mozart, Michela in Carmen- Bizet at the Damascus Opera House, Jumana in the Arabic opera Ibn, Sina in Dido and Aeneas – Purcell and in Gianni Schicchi by Puccini, Nancy in musical show Oliver Twist as well as singing lieder with virtuoso Syrian pianists, Ghazwan Zerekli and Chaden Yafi.

Religious music : Handel’s Messiah, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Stabat Mater. She works with the Contrasto Armonico Ensemble in Damascus and, in Amsterdam, is performing in a programme of madrigals and other Baroque pieces , from Monteverdi to Handel ( Italian Cantatas).

Soprano

Ghada Shbeir

Role of Houria in El Nafas by T.Benouarka - Algiers Opera April 2013

Ghada Shbeir was born in Lebanon. She studied the origin of Arabic Music and graduated from the University of Kaslik and has a Masters Degree in Musical Sciences and a diploma in oriental singing. She is also a specialist in ethnomusicology. Today she teaches oriental singing, and she is working on research concerning Syriac music at the University of Holy Spirit – Lebanon.  Also, she is preparing for her PHD in Musical Science. Ghada considers that learning and teaching require a greater conscious effort, while performing on stage is carried out unconsciously where the singer’s voice is derived from a large depository of all the things he has learned or heard.

Ghada Shbeir has been studying music since she was a little girl, and she has always had a passion for classical Arabic music. She faced many difficulties during her studies since the required reference books were not easily available, and the recordings were very rare. However, she had made up her mind even as a young child to dedicate her talent in singing to promote the Arabic classical songs and musical compositions because she felt that it’s important for us to honor the past, for this is where contemporary Arabic music and all other strains originate from.

Ghada Shbeir has learned all forms (Qawaleb) of the Arabic music beginning with the Taqtooka, Monologue, Dialogue, Mouachah, Mawal and the Poem. According to her, the challenge of performing the Urab (ornaments in singing), the final closing of the musical segments, the Taqaseem, improvisations, Maqamat and rhythms nourished her passion for classical Arabic music. The more she learned about subtle nuances and the special qualities of the traditional music, the more she craved to be a master at it. Ghada Shbeir considers that music has richer areas of specialization than any other field.

Her music is about the soul, it’s about power, beautiful lyrics and untainted poetry for creators who were, and still are, iconic literary figures from the Arab world.

In the year 2007, Ghada released her first CD entitled “Mouachahat”. Through this CD, she breathed a new life into a one thousand year-old form of Arabic music that was close to extinction.

In 1997, she was awarded the first prize at the Best Arabic Song Competition in Egypt. She was also awarded the BBC World Music Award for both the Middle East and North Africa for her CD entitled “Mouachahat” in 2007.

In addition to that, she won the first prize international award for the interpretation of Andalousian chants (Mouachahat).

Ghada Shbeir has published two books. The first is a study of the Arabo-Andalusian singing tradition “The Muwashah after the Cairo Caucus of 1932”and the second is a research on the music of Sayyed Darwish “The Muwachahat and Adwar of Sayyed Darwish”.

Soprano

Dima Bawab

Role of the Lady of Dawn in Narâm Legend by T.Benouarka - Paris St Eustache 2019

Soprano Dima Bawab was born in 1981 in Jordan to Palestinian parents. She became interested in music at an early age and began learning piano and classical dance at the age of 4 at the National Conservatory of Music (King Hussein Foundation) in Amman. 

She chose to devote herself to lyrical singing and began her studies at the CNSMDP. In 2006, during a Franco-Palestinian musical project, she performed with French and Jordanian artists in Mozart’s The Theatre Director and Weber’s Abu Assan. In 2007, she participated in Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio in Vannes and Handel’s Alcina in an artistic collaboration with the City of Music of Paris. She was featured at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2008 in the demanding roles of Fire, Princess and Rossignol in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortilèges .

2009 is particularly rich for the soprano since after The Marriage of Figaro at Wilton’s Music Hall in London, she played Lucy in Menotti’s Phone in Palestine and Jordan. She is also Lois Lane in Cole Porter’s musical Kiss me, Kate at London’s Cadogan Hall. In 2010, she performed at the Opéra Comique en Yniold in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande ,under the baton of Sir John Eliot Gardiner.

In 2011, Dima Bawab took on the roles of Papagena and Pamina in Mozart’s The Magic Flute directed by Peter Brook for a world tour: Paris, Bremen, London, Luxembourg and New York among others. In 2014, she achieved great success in the title role of Zémire and Azor de Grétry at the Royal Opera house in Wallonia. She reprised her role as Yniold in Pelléas et Mélisande in 2015 in Zagreb. That year, Dima Bawab took her first steps in Montpellier with the roles of Fire, Princess and Nightingale in The Child and the Spells. She then made her debut at the Opera d’Angers Nantes as the Sandman and the Rose Fairy in Humperdinck’s Hunsel and Gretel. In 2016, she appropriated the role of the maid of Medea de Cherubini in Dijon. The soprano works her Mozartian repertoire with her debut in The Great Mass in Ut minor under the direction of Nayer Nagui in Cairo. In 2017, she is The Love in Orpheus and Eurydice of Gluck in Avignon. The following year, she sang Sophie in Massenet’s Werther in Nancy 

During the 2018/2019 season, Dima Bawab will play Berta in The Barber of Seville (Rossini)in December in Toulon and then she will play Suzanne in Les Saltimbanques (Ganne) in Avignon.

Soprano

Catherine Manandaza

Soloist in "In the Name of the Father", mass in aramaic by T.Benouarka - Paris St Eustache 2023

Soprano of Malagasy origin, she embodies the first roles of Operas on the international and French stages (Operas of Cairo, Damascus, Algiers), Theater of Xiamen (China), Theater of the Châtelet, Opera of the Rhine, Opera Garnier, Auditorium of the 3000 in Lyon, where she sang, among others, the title roles of the Countess (Marriage of Figaro), Donna Anna,  Donna Elvire (Don Giovanni), Fiordiligi (Cosi fan Tutte), Dido (Dido and Aeneas), Tosca, Aida, Leonora (Il Trovatore), Abigaille (Nabucco), Norma, La Traviata (Violetta), Santuzza, Madame Butterfly, Senta (The Ghost Ship).

She is also fond of sacred music, of which she has performed the most beautiful pages written for soprano : Mass in C minor, Mozart, Verdi’s Requiem, Rossini’s, Dvorak’s and Pergolese’s Stabat Mater …

She performs at international festivals, in Poland, Italy, Gabon, Yalta.

Her extensive and eclectic repertoire leads her to collaborate with directors (Jean-Michel Ribes at the Théâtre du Rond-Point) and prestigious orchestras (Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre de l’Opéra de Lyon, Orchestre des Talens Lyriques with Christophe Rousset).

During this 2022 season she was Suor Angelica taking on a role under the direction of Daniel Galvez Vallejo. This fall, we will be able to listen to her at the Salle Gaveau in a large recital dedicated to the heroines of G.Puccini’s operas.

 

Tenor

Yanis Benabdallah

Role of Nere in “Narâm Legend” by T.Benouarka- Saint Eustache Church Paris 2019 and CD recording - 2016

Born in Rabat in 1986, Yanis Benabdallah is a Moroccan-Hungarian pianist, choirmaster and tenor.

From the age of four, Yanis was taught the piano, singing, sight-reading and then how to direct a choir by his mother, who was a choirmaster. 

In 2009, he won the Prix Supérieur de piano ( top piano prize) in virginie Pasdeloup’s class at the Conservatoire de Suresnes.

After studying musicology at the Sorbonne, he went on to study choral direction under Yves Parmentier, Denis Rouger and then Valérie Fayet at the CNR de Nantes, where he graduated as a choirmaster in 2011.
He is currently Assistant Choirmaster with the International Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra.

As a singer, Yanis gave his first solo performance at the age of 12 in the Paris Opera House children’s choir. After studying singing under Sophie Hervé, he joined the Opéra de Lille. In 2006, he won first prize for singing in the Young French Talent gala in Monaco, and went on to be first in the UPMCF international competition in Paris in 2010.
He was awarded his singing prize by a unanimous vote at the CRR de Paris and pursued his studies at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, under Daniel Ottevear.

Yanis Benabdallah gives regular recitals all over the world: Hungary, Italy, China, India, France…

Soprano

Lara Elayyan

Role of Mina in El Nafas by T.Benouarka - Algiers Opera April 2013

Lara Elayyan is a Jordanian singer of Palestinian origin.

Her voice is an invitation to travel which transports her audience to the highest summits.

Born in Amman, she studied the Oud at the Music Academy of Jordan with the composer and musician Omar Abbad with whom she was to give numerous solo concerts.

Her aim is to breathe new life into Palestinian and traditional music and songs and to the repertory of the great Arab poets such as Mahmoud Darwich.

Lara likes to reflect human emotions in her songs, bringing together and promoting rare texts in numerous performances in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and other countries in the Near and Middle East.

She is also a member of the Nava women’s vocal group set up in 2011.

Tenor

Franck Aderschlag

Soloist in "In the Name of the Father", mass in aramaic by Tarik Benouarka- St Eustache Church 2023

A French tenor born in Paris, Franck Aderschlag has always been passionate about opera.

At the age of 19, he realized  that he had to take classes in order to better understand this art that fascinated him. At that time, the teachers discovered that he had a tenor voice, while he dreamed of himself as a bass-baritone. He then worked with, among others, Renée Doria, Christiane Eda, Pierre and Christiane Patard, but it was mainly the advices of Philippe Barret, Nicolaï Gedda and Michel Dens that shaped him.

Since 1990, he has participated in numerous productions in France and abroad. His repertoire ranges from operetta to opera, oratorio and melody.

He performed in all the theatres of the capital, from the Opéra-Comique to the Opéra Bastille and the Théâtre du Châtelet…  as well as in the provinces and abroad : London, Geneva, Zurich… at the Festival di due Mondi in Spoletto in Italy, Mauritius, Yokohama, Tokyo, the Easter Festival in Salzburg… and alongside the greatest (Placido Domingo, Gregory Kunde, Renato Bruson, Léo Nucci, Ruggero Raimondi, Nicolaï Ghiaurov, Edita Gruberova, June Anderson, Renée Fleming, Natalie Dessay, Cécilia Bartoli….), and under the direction of conductors such as James Conlon, Christopher von Donhanyi, Christian Thielemann, Pierre Boulez and Nello Santi, from whom he benefited from the precious advice…

Particularly appreciated in Puccini’s Roberto des” Villi’, as well as in Verdi’s “Ismael” in the centenary concerts, as well as in recital and concerts, he is unanimously acclaimed by the critics.

This is his first collaboration with Tarik Benouarka.

 

Tenor

Ragaa Eldin

Role of Nour in “Days and Nights of the Heart Tree” by T.Benouarka - Cairo Opera and Gaveau Paris 2015

Born in Cairo in 1983, Ragaa Eldin completed his musical training at the Cairo Conservatory where he graduated in the class of Tenor Sobhi Bidair.

In 2007 he took part in the master class of the Soprano Caroline Dumas at the École Normale de Musique in Paris, followed by several concerts.

In 2008 he became a member of Cairo Opera where he will have the opportunity to interpret several main roles : Butterfly (Yamadori), Lakmé (Hadji), Nozze di Figaro (Don Basilio), Carmen (Dancair), Aida (Messaggiero), Traviata (Rodolfo), L’elisir d’amore (Nemorino), Zauberflöte (Tamino), It Trovatore (Manrico)

In 2010 he was noticed in the semi-final in the  international competition  “Wilhelm Stenhammar” in Sweden.

From 2008 to 2013 he participated in the ” Egyptian-Finnish musical bridge”. It was subsequently invited by the Savonlinna Academy to participate to the master class of Prof. Tom Krause and EijaTolbo. 

In 2014 he participated in the laboratory of Spaziomusica in Italy and was chosen for the Manrico role in Il Trovatore  at the Teatro Mancinelli in Orvieto  under the direction of Maestra Gabriella Ravazzi and Maestro Maurizio Arena.

The same year he graduated “ lyrical art diploma” at Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris.

He was finalist in 2015 in “Spazio Musica” contest in Italy, won the audience first prize and Bologne Teatro prize and received his “perfectionnement” diploma in Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris.

Ragaa Eldin sings as a soloist in many concerts in Cairo, Amman, Oman, Finland, Italy and France.

Tenor

Georges Wanis

Role of Selim in El Nafas by T.Benouarka - Algiers Opera April 2013

A tenor with an Egyptian father and italian mother, Georges Wanis has a solid musical education : first in Cairo with Violette Makar, then with Madame Caroline Dumas at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, starting in 1995.

He won first prize at the singing competition organised by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture in 1995. First prize at the Leopold Bellan competition in 1999 in Paris and the Œuvres des Saints Anges Lyrical Prize in Paris in 2000.

Georges Wanis regularly performs major repertory roles and sings in oratorios and festivals. Bel Canto is his field of predilection : Bach, Schumann, Berlioz, Cimarosa, Mozart, Saint-Saens, Honneger, Britten, Monteverdi…

On stage, he has played Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Nadir in Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Alfredo in Verdi’s Traviata, Nicias in Massenet’s Thaïs, the Duke of Mantova in Verdi’s Rigoletto…

Baritone

Marc Souchet

Soloist in "In the Name of the Father", mass in aramaic by Tarik Benouarka - St Eustache Church Paris - 2023

With his powerful and warm voice, very adapted to the Italian repertoire, this baritone has already embodied the main Verdian roles (Rigoletto, Germont, Il conte di Luna, Amonasro, Nabucco or Iago), also exploring very widely the operas of Puccini, since he interpreted Marcello, Scarpia and Ping, in the pharaonic staging of Turandot by Chinese director Zhang Yimou presented at the France Stadium,  under the direction of Jànos Acs.

 

In the French repertoire, let us mention very beautiful incarnations of the high priest of Dagon in Samson and Delilah, Escamillo in Carmen, Ourrias in Mireille or Mephistopheles in Faust.

He also sang Adam in Massenet’s Eve in 2003, at the Protestant Temple of the Oratory of the Louvre (recording published by Malibran), a performance praised by the critic Bruno Peeters who evokes a “baritone with a superb legato” on Forum Opera.

 

Marc Souchet has also taken part in several editions of Opéra en Plein Air (in France and Belgium), participating in the 2007 production of The Barber of Seville by Julia Migenes (where he is Bartolo under the musical direction of Philippe Hui) or that of The Magic Flute by Caroline Huppert, in 2006, (in the role of Papageno).

 

He is also involved in the contemporary repertoire with the creation of Chrystel Marchand’s Requiem for a Deportee (in Beauvais Cathedral), Eric Darrigrand’s L’Appel de Jean (St Etienne du Mont Paris) or the role of Karl in Minjung Woo’s opera Shanti-Ntra (for the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Paris).

We should also mention Songs of the sea by Charles Villiers Standford with the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Goeffrey Styles or the role of Don Quixote in El Retablo by Maese Pedro by Manuel de Falla under the direction of Charles Dutoit, at the Miyazaki Festival (Japan).

 

 

www.marc-souchet.fr

Actor

Egyptian actor

Assem Nagaty

Role of the narrator in “Days and Nights of the Heart Tree” by T.Benouarka - Cairo Opera September 2015

Assem Nagaty taught The Arabic Theatre course at the Ohio State University, The Department of Theatre. He was the head of the National Centre of Theatre, Music, and Folk Arts. He organized two international conferences under the name of Africa in the Heart of Egypt and Censorship and Theatre.  He is now teaching Acting and Directing at the Academy of Arts.

He got his PhD in May 2011. Assem has a bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering from Cairo University, before getting his second degree in Theatre from the Academy of Arts, Acting and directing Department. After completing a Post Graduate Diploma in Stage Directing, Assem successfully defended his Master in Stage Directing.

As a director, Assem directed many plays in Egypt and in the United States as well such as Viva Egypt by Mohsem Meselhi, House of Flesh by Yusuf Idris, The Sultan’s Dilemma by Tawfiq Al-Hakim, Is it Real That There aren’t  Any Problems! By Metwali Hamed, Will Leave Next Stop by Mohsen Meselhi, Hamletmachine by Hiener Mullar and many other plays.

As an actor, he played many roles on stage and in front of camera. Additionally, he participated in many theatrical festivals all over the world as an actor and as a stage director such as : National Theatre Festival/Algeria, Theatre and Social Movement Festival /Jordan, Mahaba Festival /Syria, Kart-age Festival for Theatre /Tunisia, Avignon Festival / France.

Actress

Pauline Moingeon-Valles

Role of Fausa in The Cantata for Three Voices by Paul Claudel

After obtaining her master’s degree in modern literature in 1999, passionate about theatre, Pauline Moingeon Valles entered the Francis Poulenc Conservatory (Paris 16th) under the direction of Dominique Frot and Jeoffrey Carrey, then Stéphane Auvray Nauroy.

In 2002, she joined the ESAD (School of Art Dramatics in Paris) directed by Jean-Claude Cotillard. She left it to set up her own company, Zineb Urban Theatre.

 Since 2010, she has been attending the Workshops of the International Institute of Performing Arts with Scott Williams, who heads the Impulse Company France, of which she is a member.

 A theatre actress above all, she has distinguished herself in major roles in the classical repertoire such as Phèdre or Macbeth. Present also in the cinema, she shoots under the direction of Alexandre Astier or Josiane Balasko.

For several years, she has lent her voice to the dubbing of films, television series and documentaries.

Theatre :

  • 2016: Phèdre by Racine, directed by Elise Touchon
  • 2015-2016: Alexandre Astier’s Exoconference, Swan (2014-2015)
  • 2015: The Caprices of Marianne by Alfred de Musset, directed by Scott Williams
  • 2012: Macbeth by William Shakespeare,directed by  Marine Assaiante
  • 2009-2012: The Last Journey of Gabi by Mohamed Habassi
  • 2008-2009: LukaLila de Suzie Bastien, directed by Aurélie Van Den  Daele
  • 2008: Hearts En Loc’ by Pascal Loison, directed by Pascal Loison
  • 2005: Harold Pinter’s Lover ,directed by  Jean-Antoine  Marciel
Syrian actor

Fares El Helou

Role of the narrator in « Days and Nights of The Heart Tree » byT. Benouarka - Paris Salle Gaveau November 2015

 Fares El-Helou is one of the big stars of the cinema and contemporary Arab theater.

Trained at the Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus in Syria, he comes on stage and on screen over a very rich career, with the greatest directors and Egyptian, Syrian, Lebanese and European stage directors during the last decades. 

Charismatic actor or comedian loving great poetic texts, Fares is involved as a producer and as an artist in various private and institutional initiatives aimed to enhance the cultural environment of his country and he regularly sponsors many cultural events in the Middle East and the Gulf.

He became very popular in the Arab world through his participation in many successful television series and cult movies in which he often holds important roles. He also engages nowadays with all its reputation for education and childhood.

Theater

  • 1992 Ne faut pas payer by Dario Fo, staging by Ayman Zeidan – Le Théâtre National de Damas.
  • 1989 Barouf à Chioggia by Carlo Goldoni, staging by Ayman Zeidan – Le Théâtre National de Damas.
  • 1988 The cave dwellers by William Saroyan, staging by Fawaz el Sajir – Le Théâtre National de Damas.
  • 1984 L’aventure de la tête du mamlouk Jaber by Sadalah Wannous. Staging by Jawad Assadi – Le Théâtre National de Damas.
  • 1984 Chronique d’une mort annoncée by Gabriel García Márquez, staging by Manuel Jiji – Le Théâtre National de Damas.

Cinema

  • 2005 Public relations, by Samir Zikra. Awarded at Valencia festival : best actor for Fares El Helou
  • 2002 Sacrifices, by Oussama Mohamad. Selected for cannes festival (Certain Regard).Awarded in Lisbon festival : 1st Prize and best shooting
  • 1992 La nuit, by Mohamad Malas. 1st prize in Carthage festival. Le festival de Nantes, Fribourg.
    Actualités

News

  • 2015 Le Bureau des Légendes by Eric Rochant with M. Kassovitz and Jean Pierre Darroussin
Actress

Mélodie Le Blay

Role of Leata in The Cantata for Three Voices by Paul Claudel

Mélodie Le Blay is a French actress born in 1988.

After studying literature in Paris, Mélodie turned to theatre by training first at the Florent course, then at the conservatory of the 5th arrondissement with Bruno Wacrenier and finally at ESAD, which she joined in 2013 working with Gildas Milin, Marielle Pinsard, François Rancillac, Pascal Kirsch and Jean Pierre Baro.

 She also tries her hand at audio-visuals by playing in short films with ESRA or the School of the City, as well as in shorter formats in Golden Moustache skits.

 In January 2017, she founded the theatre company “Acid Drama” with William Pelletier and directed her first staging with the show “Iceberg”, a poetic and parodic adaptation of the film Titanic. 

Theatre

  • 2018: Iceberg:  play, writing and directing (El  DuendeTheatre)
  • 2017: The Refuge – Hélène Trembles (Theatre 12)
  • 2017:Le Médecin malgré lui –  Molière- Directed by  Daniel Lavau
  • 2016: Ritual for a Metamorphosis by  Saadallah  Wannous  – Adel Hakim (Ivry Quay Theatre)
  • 2015: The Aquarium from Yesterday to Tomorrow – François Rancillac (Aquarium Theatre)
  • 2015: Demons by Lars  Noren  – Jean-Pierre Baro (Sylvia Montfort Theatre)
  • 2015: All Chinese-Marielle  Pinsard  (The Tarmac)
  • 2015: 33 Fights – Gildas  Milin
  • 2009: I die like a country by  Dimitris  Dimitriadis-Michael  Marmarinos  (Theatre of the Odeon workshop  Berthiers)
Actress

Danièle Meyrieux

Role of Beata in The Cantata for Three Voices by Paul Claudel

Daniele Meyrieux trained at the Conservatory of Lyon and then Paris in the class of René Simon, at the Actor’s Studio with Andréas Voutsinas and obtained a master’s degree in Theatre at the Institute of Theatre Studies of the Sorbonne Nouvelle.

 She plays Bernanos, Claudel, Marivaux, Montherlant, Shakespeare and most recently Jean Luc Lagarce in “The Rules of Savoir-living in the Modern Society”.

 En 1982, she created, with Denise Rakovsky, La Compagnie le Toucan-Théâtre in Vanves.

She stages Ilias Driss (first prize on Radio France International), Lars Noren, Harold Pinter, Xavier Durringer, “Dit-il” by Christopher Mierejewski in France and abroad.

In 2015, Aiat Fayez, a French-speaking author, published by L’Arche, entrusted her with the staging of one of his plays “Perceptions” which will benefit from the support of the National Theatre Centre.

 “Playing is capturing in one’s daily life, the most subtle infiltrations of the theatre of life,it is to be in one’s body, in one’s language, in a thought that  constructe a situation. It’s the afterlife of repetition”  Danièle Meyrieux

letoucantheatre.com

Musician & Comedian

GABY ODEIMI

Storyteller in El Nafas by T.Benouarka - Algiers Opera April 2013

Born in Antelias in Lebanon, Gaby Odeimi was initiated in music in early childhood. He studied singing, piano and oriental keyboard. War forced him to leave his country and he continued his studies in Paris with Middle Eastern music : theory, singing, percussion and keyboard.

He began his first tour with Zyriab, a mediaeval Arabian music group, in which he sang and played percussion in numerous European festivals such as the Festival of Countries from the Mediterranean Area in Bonn.

He has mainly developed his career as an oriental keyboard soloist and is called upon to perform at numerous events and concerts in France and abroad.

He creates his own compositions, which reveal a deep sensitivity at East and West.

In 2008 he founded the Orchestre Oriental de Paris, which performs at the ASIEM Theater and Cabaret Sauvage.

Dancer

Dancer

UTKU BAL

Role of Nour in Days and Nights of the Heart Tree by T.Benouarka- Cairo Opera - 2015

Utku, born in Turkey,  is already a popular and well known dancer, a beautiful and charismatic performer that shines in all the productions in which he participates.

Trained at the National Conservatoire of Antalya in Ankara and then the State Conservatoire at the University of Istanbul (ballet, modern ballet, contemporary dance and jazz), he completed his training at the International Dance Academy in Paris.

A Corps Et À Cris at the Institute of the Arab World, 2013

Le Grand Bal Masqué de Versailles, choreographed by Kamel Wali-2013

European Youth Ballet soloist in Paris, collaboration with Claude Brumachon, Thierry Malandain and Floriane Blitz, 2012/13

Béjart’s Ballet Bolero at the Palais des Congres, 2011

Dancer

Rebecca Stampfli

Role of a muse in Days and Nights of the Heart Tree by T.Benouarka - Cairo Opera - 2015

Spanish Swiss, born in Neuchâtel in 1986, Rebecca trained in Neuchâtel in Switzerland and then in Paris at the International Academy of Dance.

She completed her training with contemporary jazz and dance workshops with well known choreographers in New York and Los Angeles.

An acclaimed interpreter, she appears in different shows and ballets.

Le Grand Bal Masqué, choreographed by Kamel Wali, 2013
Events at l’Eglise Américaine de Paris, choreographed by Chris McCarthy, 2012
Soloist with the MDC Company, 2004-2006

Dancer

Fanny Sage

Role of Amal in Days and Nights of the Heart Tree by T.Benouarka - Cairo Opera- 2015

Born in Libourne, France, in 1989, Fanny Sage is a charismatic dancer. Sensitive and polymorphic, she blends gracefully in all her roles, each time bringing depth into great performances.

She began dancing at the age of three, driven by a passion that has never left her. Fanny did her professional training at the National Superior Conservatory of Lyon between 2007 and 2011. She studied theater, classical and contemporary dance and simultaneously pursued musical training, anatomy and history of dance.

Choreographer artist, in September 2012 she joined Abu Lagraa’s company La Baraka and participated in the creation of El Djoudour.

Since then she has worked with various contemporary companies: Paul les Oiseaux, Maryse Delente (notably with Mozart’s Requiem), and Compagnie Sans Lettre…

Fanny also participates in many short and feature films that complete her training, her theatricality and sense of ‘perfect’ emotion.

Dancer

Mélodie Caillieret

Role of la Dormeuse and one muse in Days and Nights of the Heart Tree by T.Benouarka - Cairo Opera- 2015

Born in Villeneuve d’Ascq, France, Melody is a performer with exceptional qualities, and a fluid and graceful style.

Her personality and sensitivity are assets for all choreographers she’s working with.

She is working with numerous productions , classical or contemporary ballet but also large audiovisual events.

Les Mozart de l’Opéra, choreographed by Kamel Wali,2014
L’Auberge du Cheval Blanc, Jacques Duparc, 2013
Boléro, Hommage à Maurice Ravel, choreographed by Georgette Kala Lobé, 2010
La revue de Gentry at the Casino de Paris, choreographed by Brian Scott Bagley,2009

Dancer

Antony Delamotte

Role of le Dormeur and a muse in Days and Nights of the Heart Tree by T.Benouarka - Cairo Opera - 2015

French choreographic artist, Antony Delamotte is a powerful, elegant and graceful dancer, and one immediately feels his sensibilities and influences, at the same time urban, contemporary and classical.

Trained at the International Academy of Dance in Paris (classical, jazz and contemporary) and Geneva (ADC school and Extravadanse), Antony is a popular dancer noted for his technical qualities, his eclecticism, his rich vocabulary of dance and interpretation qualities.

He is noted in many productions, such as Robert Carsen’s musicals at Théâtre du Chatelet or the productions of Disney and Pixar.

Stage director, Scenographer, Choreographer

Stage director

Gilbert Désveaux

Direction In Days and Nights of The Heart Tree by Tarik Benouraka - Cairo Opera & Gaveau - 2015

Gilbert Désveaux studied drama in Paris before founding his own production company, dedicated to contemporary creation.

First producer and actor and then stage director , he staged since 1993 more than 20 new or for the first time translated to french plays : plays by Jean-Marie Besset with whom he created NAVA festival in Limoux and also many plays of anglo-saxon writers as Oscar Wilde, Tennessee Williams, Alan Bennett, Michael Frayn, Moïses Kaufman, Austin Pendleton, Richard Greenberg, Will Eno…

From 2010 to 2014 he was director and stage director of Théâtre des 13 Vents, CDN Languedoc-Roussillon in Montpellier.

In 2016 he was nominated director of the Blanc-Mesnil Theater.

Since 2019, he has been director of L’Opera en Plein Air and was appointed director of the Alexandre-Dumas Theater in  Saint Germain en Laye in 2021.

Scenographer

Alain Lagarde

Video creation & Costume Design In Days and Nights of The Heart Tree by Tarik Benouraka - Cairo Opera & Gaveau - 2015

Since studying scenography at the Strasbourg National Theater, Alain Lagarde has created the sets for more than hundred productions, from opera to theater, dance and musicals.

For lyric theater, he worked with the Paris Opera, the Opera de la Monnaie in Brussels, the Grand Theatre de Geneve, the operas of Frankfurt and Hamburg in Germany, the Vienna Staatsoper and the Music Academy of Brooklyn in New York.

In theater, he designed among other things, sets for production such as Platonov and Aspern Papers directed by Jacques Lassalle at the Comédie Française. He participated in the Stratford annual festival in Canada for The Menteur, directed by Matthew Jocelyn and he signed the scenography of Open Space for Mathilda May.

Alain Lagarde also conceived the scenography for international musicals including Mozart l’Opera Rock directed by Olivier Dahan (world tour in 2002-13) and Le Roi Soleil in 2008.

Choreographer, Dance teacher & costume designer

Adriana Mortelliti

Choreography In Days and Nights of The Heart Tree by Tarik Benouraka - Cairo Opera - 2015

Independent Choreographer, Dance instructor and Costume designer

Adriana Mortelliti was born in Reggio, Calabria and completed her training as a dancer and dance teacher at the professional school dance of Milan. In addition, she attended the Academy of Fine arts in Milan where she studied the full range of painting.

Following her training she was hired as a dancer in the “Movers Dance Company” in Zurich, the Augsburg’s theater ballet, the Vienna Chamber Opera and was invited to dance at the Scala in Milan and the Zurich Opera Theater.

As a modern dance teacher and choreographic assistant, she worked for the Augsburg Theater, the festival of Morbish, the Wielki Theater in Lodz, the Wroclaw Opera in Krakow, Staatstheater Cottbus, Dresden theater, the Berlin ballet, the Carlo Felice Theater in Geneva and the Ballet of Milan. 

She is the choreographer for the Ballet of Milan and the Theater of Cottbus.

She has won many international choreography and dance competitions in Japan, Italy and Germany.

Costume, Light & Sound

Stylist

Victor Férès

Costume designer in The Cantata for 3 Voices by Claudel - Cartoucherie Paris 2018 and Costumes realization in "Days and Nights of the Heart Tree" - Cairo opera & Salle gaveau 2015

Dress becomes Art when the garment becomes a language to share an identity or get in touch with the world.

Victor Férès is an french artist born in Tulle in Corrèze, graduated from the School of Fine Arts of Amiens in 1988. At the age of 20, he joined Paris to embrace the world of Haute Couture.

It will first create clothing for fashion photos published in the Official and Vogue France, photographed by Claude Iverné and Bruno Ripoche. In 1988, the Fondation Cartier held 20 of his drawings and 5 dresses sculptures for the exhibition “Fashion, new generation.” Then being designer for Christian Dior Paris , he presented in 1990 its first shows at the Centre Georges Pompidou.

In 1991 and 1995, it presented his creations at the Palais des Congés in a parade which included Thierry Mugler and Giorgio Armani. He published fashion articles for the Liberation daily, alongside Nicole Penicaud and Michel Cressole. His creations are presented in the show “Fashion on the Top” on Arte alongside Martin Margiela, Vivienne Westwood and John Galliano. 

After several passages in the major houses of Haute Couture and several awards such as the 1St Prize in the competition of young designers of Grandes Ecoles , he decided to devote himself to research on materials.

Fashion designer and Visual artist, he visits the body, its identity, intimacy, its lives and  movements … A permanent search of forms and materials: fabric, photographic paper, fiberglass, fiber optic, skin, ceramic…

Sound Engineer

Sylvain Mercier

Recording and Mix of El Nafas, Days and Nights of the Heart Tree, Narâm Legend, Tarik Benouarka 's works - 2014/15/16

Sylvain began his career as an assistant at the Studios de la Seine in Paris in 2000. He acquired a solid experience alongside artists such as Alain Bashung, Alicia Keys, Björk, Salif Keita…

Passionate about music and production techniques, he quickly became an engineer and collaborated with many artists of national and international renown such as Benjamin Biolay, Vanessa Paradis, Jean-Jacques Milteau, Rimk, Asap Rocky, Snoop Dogg, Eric Bibb, David Murray…

Sylvain evolves in all musical styles and makes it a point of honor to cultivate this eclecticism. The wide sound palette thus acquired allows him to put in sound the wishes of directors while giving each project a sound signature of its own.

Concerned about the expectations and desires of the artists who call on him, he knows how to listen while remaining a force of proposal, marrying at will the most recent technologies with the colors brought by an analog material, sometimes from another era.

Today, Sylvain works both for record labels and for artists from the independent/self-produced scene to which he remains very attached.

Light Designer

William Orrego Garcia

In The Cantata for Three Voices by Paul Claudel - Cartoucherie de Vincennes 2018

After studying at the University of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay in Organization and Administration, William Orrego Gracia developed a passion for the stage and trained in dance and theatre, notably with Eduardo Schinca (director), Nelly Passeggi (dance/choreography), Roberto Fontana (theatre, phoniatry), Fred Curchack (improvisation), Eugenio Barba (dramaturgy and composition), Neyde Veneziano (musical theatre), Alexander Stillmark (Distanciation), Aderbal Junior( character creation).

In 1992, he created his first staging (The Cantatrice Chauve by Eugene Ionesco) and decided to devote his life to the show, notably with the creation of his own company.

In 2002 he decided to settle in France. There he continues his experience in the living arts with participation in projects where text, music, dance and image mingle and articulate to build a single language.

Since 2009, lighting creation has occupied a very important part of his artistic career.

Technical Director and General Manager

From 2004 to 2015: Cartoucherie de Vincennes Paris 12th, La Comédia Paris 11th, Théâtre de Dix Heures Paris 9th, Théâtre du Gymnase, Théâtre de l’Ange (Avignon festival), Théâtre de Nesle Paris 6th.

Assistant to the staging, notably at the Cartoucherie de Vincennes

La Maison de Bernarda Alba by F. Garcia Lorca (2004)

Shakespeare’s Othello (2003)

Wood Cayman by A. Diaz Florian (2002)

Life is a Dream by Calderon de la Barca (2002)

Lighting Designer

assistant to Jacques Rouveyrollis at the Théâtre de Nesle, Dix Heures Gymnase and on tour including on The Saint Germain Years

assistant lights of Philippe Groggia (Technical Director of the French Comedy) for the Delbée Company

designer lights on nearly 70 shows: classical and contemporary plays, concerts, shows… among others: Phèdre by Racine- The thread with the Paw by Feydeau-Marie Tudor by Hugo-Laurent Couson in concert-Waiting for Godot by Beckett-Fear and Misery of Brecht-Sucre d’Orge d’Harold  Pinter-The Fall by Camus-Art by Yazmina Reza- the opéra Samson and Dalila by St Saens – An Air of Family by Bacri and Jaoui….