Insula orchestra's artistic project is built around a repertoire ranging mainly from the Classical to the Romantic eras. Mozart, Schubert or Weber form naturally the core of this repertoire with symphonic programmes as well as programmes with choir and soloists.
The orchestra plays on period instruments, working on sonority appropriate for today's large concert halls. The project relies first and foremost on an emotional and stylistic research. Members of the orchestra also take part in chamber music projects.
The musicians – gathered around a small group of renowned and experienced section leaders – are recruited among the young generation graduating from European specialised higher education institutions.
This new ensemble, founded by Laurence Equilbey and the Conseil general des Hauts-de-Seine in 2012, has reached out beyond its homeland on the western edge of Paris to the rest of France and beyond, performing at major venues and high-profile festivals. In Hauts-de-Seine, a full range of cultural and educational initiatives has been designed, notably to foster awareness among potential audiences who have never had the opportunity to approach classical music, as well as educational and participatory projects involving young people and schools.
Insula's first season opened in the autumn of 2012 with Mozart's Mass in C Minor, which the orchestra performed alongside accentus chamber choir. The programme was recorded and broadcast on the Arte TV channel on Christmas Day. It continued in the spring of 2013 with a symphonic programme devoted to Mozart and Schubert.
The 2013-2014 season will see the orchestra continuing to explore the repertoire with Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice, in the original Viennese version with the countertenor Franco Fagioli, and Mozart's Requiem (recorded by Naïve) with soprano Sandrine Piau. In spring, the orchestra will offer a programme based on the theme of storm, featuring John Field's Piano Concerto "L'incendie par l'orage" with the pianist Abdel Rahman El Bacha and Beethoven's Symphony n°6 "The Pastoral".
Insula orchestra is a department of erda | accentus.
Insula orchestra receives support from Hauts-de-Seine General Council and is in residence at Carré Belle-Feuille at Boulogne-Billancourt.
Mécénat Musical Société Général is the principal patron of accentus.
