Friday 28th April, 2.00pm
Ensemble vocal de Neuilly, located in Neuilly sur Seine, France, was created in 1947. It is one of the oldest community choirs still in activity in the Paris region. Performing a repertoire ranging from the Renaissance era to contemporary music, sacred as well as secular, the ensemble sings in several concerts each year, sometimes for charity events. In each concert, some of the all-time favourite pieces, such as Fauré’s “Cantique de Jean Racine” are performed alongside lesser-known music.
The singers generally sing a cappella, and occasionally perform with local musicians. They attach a great deal of importance to listening to one another, as well as thoroughly understanding the scores they study. Although they are not professional singers, they consistently aim to produce music that is crafted at its best level.
Their conductor, Ludovic Sardain, was trained with Philippe Caillard and Michel Piquemal in France, and with Konrad von Abel in Germany. Ludovic Sardain is also a certified music theory teacher, and a lecturer at New York University in Paris. His approach to music consists of finding the meaning in each musical element, then guiding the singers to live and express it with a large range of emotions. The final goal is to make music intelligible, both for the choir and the audience.
The Ensemble Vocal de Neuilly has visited and hosted choirs from Turkey, England, and Italy, and won a silver medal in the Prague Advent Choral Meeting in 2008.