...maîtrise de caen
MAITRISE DE CAEN Caen
A boys' choir school in Basse Normandie
La Maitrise de Caen, founded in 1987 by Robert Weddle has been directed by Olivier Opdebeeck since January 2003. It is the result of a collaboration between the Conservatoire National de Region and the Education Nationale.
The choir consists of 26 boys between the ages of 11 and 14. Depending on the programme, a group of 10 professional male voices and also instrumentalists are used for concerts. The children begin the choir school curriculum at the age of 7 or 8 in the pre-choir school. A series of concerts prepare them for future public performances within the Maitrise choir. They have a specially adapted timetable ; every morning they practise for 1 or 2 hours at the Conservatoire where they take singing and instrumental lessons and theory and history of music. Afterwards they return to their school for their general education. A boy who is in the concert choir will have had four years' experience of singing. During the school year, the Maitrise gives Saturday lunchtime concerts in the church of Notre Dame de la Gloriette in Caen where they offer twenty concerts a year. They also organise concerts and take part in operas included in the season at the Theatre in Caen, and tour and sing in various festivals.
During his career, the chorister will sing in more than 60 concerts. The frequency of the Saturday lunchtime concerts is an integral part of the choir school project which aims to allow the child to express and present himself in public, to react promptly to all the demands made on him and to acquire a rich musical education. All styles and periods of music are performed but specialising in sacred baroque music. During the past few months La Maitrise de Caen has presented works by Mozart, Monteverdi, Handel, Bach as wellas Britten Gounod and Fauré.
Olivier Opdebeeck, conductor, is artistically and educationally active in all musical areas from the Renaissance period up to the present day. His professional life is particularly ecletic : Centre d'Art Polyphonique de Paris, Theatre Ecole Florent, Ecole de l'Opera de Paris, Chorale Vittoria, Maitrise d'Argenteuil, Petits Chanteurs à la Croix de Bois, Atelier Choral du Val d'Oise, Choeur de Chambre de Namur, Théatre Imperial de Compiègne et Cori Spezzati. Invited by numerous festivals and French musical institutions, he has also directed concerts in Japan, Lebanon, Tunisia, Switzerland, in the Netherlands and in Belgium. He holds the C.A. in Choral Singing.
Programme : Monteverdi sacred music - extracts from the Vespers for the Virgin.
Concert 1h00 : Saturday 31st October - 15h - Agneaux Church
