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Ensemble Baroque de Toulouse (Baroque Vocal & Instrumental Ensemble) |
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Founded: 1978 - Toulouse, France |
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Founded by Michel Brun in 1998, Ensemble Baroque de Toulouse (= EBT; the Toulouse Baroque Ensemble) brings together professional instrumentalists and singers passionately fond of performing and interpreting 18th century music.
Using ancient instruments and adopting their own individual style, the instrumentalists and choristers of the Ensemble seek to recapture the original freshness and intensity of Baroque music.
The Ensemble’s repertoire covers a vast spectrum of ancient religious and secular music, from Gesualdo to Mozart, with a predilection for the works of J.S. Bach, an important number of which remain unknown to the general public.
Since its creation, the Ensemble has experienced a remarkable development which has led to its participation in numerous famous festivals, not only in the Midi-Pyrenees Region but throughout France.
Very active in Toulouse musical life, the Ensemble has figured in various local, national and international festivals such as ‘Toulouse les Orgues’, Moissac, Auch ‘Eclats de Voix’, ‘Un été à Albi’, Le Mans and the Sorèze Abbey School Festival.
Since 2002, the Ensemble has increasingly joined forces with the vocal ensemble "Les Elements" and has performed with the Pythagore ensemble in a programme combining ancient and contemporary music.
In 2005-2006, the Ensemble inaugurated a new musical season in the Gèsu church in Toulouse. During 2006-2007, the Ensemble is embarking on a fresh, exciting project, likewise in Toulouse: a monthly free performance of a Bach cantata.
The Ensemble has a sponsorship agreement with the Ministry of Culture and Communication, and several Agencies such as the Regional Direction of Cultural Affairs, the Midi-Pyrenees Regional Council, the Haute-Garonne Departmental Council and the Toulouse City Council. |
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First Violin: Laurent Pellerin |
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Laurent Pellerin was born into an intensely musical family. When he was 6, he started to play the violin with his father. He studied at the Bordeaux Conservatoire and was awarded its gold medal in 1976. In 1977, he was admitted to Pierre Amoyal’s class at the Paris Advanced National Conservatoire, winning first prize in 1981.
Returning to Bordeaux in 1983, he became part of the Bordeaux Aquitaine Orchestra and since 1986 he has been first violin at the Capitole National Orchestra in Toulouse.
Apart from his orchestral activities, he takes part in chamber music concerts and for several years has notably extended his repertoire to ancient music within the ‘A Cinque’ Ensemble as well as the Toulouse Baroque Ensemble. |
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‘Les Cantates sans filet’: Extemporizing Cantatas! |
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The Ensemble plays a Bach cantata once a month (on a Sunday): the entrance is free for everyone! The audience is invited to come and attend the rehearsals; the musicians have already worked on their scores by themselves, but never together.
This is the opportunity for the audience to discover how a score is worked. At the end of the rehearsals, it is asked to the audience, according to its motivation, to sing the final choral all together!
At the end of the cantata, a lunch is offered. Its theme depends on the cantata’s number (the number defines a French county). This is the opportunity to chat with the musicians and to ask them about the cantata. |
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‘Passe ton Bach d’Abord’: the festival all around Bach (in June) |
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This is a brand new kind of festival that offers 50 concerts, amateur or professional artists and musical activities for two days.
This smiley and quirky event prods the spectators to get around the city, from a concert to the other one till the end of the night: a thirty minute concert, every hour, from the Saturday 04:00pm till the Sunday night.
There are many variances around Bach: traditional concerts, but also Bach in a tango or jazzy interpretation. You can also come and learn traditional dances, or discover the whole Bach family (they all were musicians!). Preludes and fugues, improvisations and allegros, brass bands and rice cars, follow each others at a spanking pace in crypts, bistros, churches, museums or coffee houses. |
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Source: Ensemble Baroque de Toulouse (December 2008)
Contributed by Marie Grégoire (December 2008) |
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Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works |
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Conductor |
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Works |
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Links to other Sites |
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Ensemble Baroque de Toulouse (Offical Website) |
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