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accentus, founded by current conductor and artistic director Laurence Equilbey, is a choir dedicated to the performance of the major a cappella works as well as to contemporary repertoire. Recently rated by Gramophone as one of the top ten choirs in the world, today accentus is an ensemble of 32 professional singers performing at the highest artistic level.
The choir appears at the leading French and international festivals and regularly collaborates with prestigious conductors (Pierre Boulez, Anders Nilsson, Eric Ericson, Christoph Eschenbach) and orchestras (Orchestre de Paris, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Orchestre de l’Opéra de Rouen Haute-Normandie, Concerto Köln, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Insula orchestra, etc.). It has participated in a variety of operatic productions ranging from world premieres (Pascal Dusapin’s Perelà, Uomo di fumo and Matthias Pintscher’s L’Espace dernier at the Paris Opera) to standard repertoire such as Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Léo Delibes’ Lakmé, Reynaldo Hahn’s Ciboulette at Opéra Comique…
accentus enjoys an important residence at Opéra de Rouen Haute-Normandie where it regularly performs in concert as well as in opera productions as the chorus. The ensemble is also privileged to be a partner with the Cité de la musique. Since 2009, accentus has an ongoing collaboration with Orchestre de chambre de Paris. It has also established a close relationship with talented conductor Christophe Grapperon. In 2014/2015, accentus will inaugurate a close working relationship with the Paris Philharmonia with two concerts : Haydn’s Die Schöpfung and Dvorak’s Stabat Mater.
accentus records exclusively for naïve. All its recordings have received wide critical acclaim. The CD “Transcriptions” (with sales of over 130,000) was a 2004 Grammy Award nominee in addition to receiving a Disque d’or in 2008. The CD “Schoenberg”, recorded with the Ensemble Intercontemporain (2005), received a Midem Classical Award in 2006 and “Haydn, Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross” with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin (2006) is already considered to be a benchmark version of that work. Other important and critically acclaimed recordings include the release of “Fauré, Requiem” with the members of the Orchestre National de France (2008) ; “Strauss a cappella” with the Latvian Radio Choir (2009); “Rachmaninoff, Vespers and Liturgy of St John Chrysostome” with Eric Ericson Chamber Choir (2010), “ Manoury Inharmonies” (2011), “Mendelssohn, Christus et Cantates chorales” with Orchestre de chambre de (2011). The disk from accentus, “Janacek, Brumes d’enfance (Mists of Childhood)”, conducted by Pieter-Jelle de Boer, was released in August 2013. The latest disk – Mozart’s Requiem – was released in September 2014. For 2015 the choir plans to record vocal works by Mantovani and a record of Gluck’s Orfeo and Euridice with Franco Fagioli.
accentus was voted Ensemble of the Year in the Victoires de la Musique Classique in 2002, 2005 and 2008.
accentus receives aid from the Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles d’Île-de-France of the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, is subsidised by the City of Paris and the Île-de-France Region, and also receives support from SACEM. accentus is in residence at the Opéra de Rouen Haute-Normandie. Concerts and cultural activities in the Department receive the support of Conseil Général des Hauts-de-Seine. The cercle des mécènes d’accentus specifically supports the ensemble’s artistic development.
