SAMUEL COQUARD
MUSIC AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
After studying piano and singing with Paul Rodier at Notre-Dame College, Samuel Coquard turned to the organ in the class of Luc Antonini at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Montpellier and followed university studies in musicology at the same time. In December 1999, at the age of twenty-three, he was appointed choir director of the Maîtrise de la Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, the youngest conductor to be appointed to this position alongside Nicole Corti. In September 2002, Samuel Coquard became Musical and Artistic Director, educational manager of the Bouches-du-Rhône Masters, where he directs the children's choirs, the young choir and the Asmara chamber choir which he founded in 2004.
The Master then develops and becomes under his impulse a recognized and specialized structure to which he will give the name of Pole of vocal art. At the head of the Master's, Samuel Coquard collaborates with the operas of Marseille and Avignon, Festival of Lyric Art of Aix en Provence, the Chorégies of Orange, the Easter Festival. He is also invited to major national and international stages such as the Chorégies d'Orange, where in July 2012 he conducted Rossini's “Petite Messe solennelle”. He regularly participates in the Music Festivals of La Chaise Dieu, Conques, Roquevaire and Vendée. He also directed the opening of the Festival d'Art Lyrique d'Aix en Provence in 2008 and in June 2017.
He will conduct an a cappella and Bach concert at the Abbaye de Silvacane as a prelude to the Festival d'Art Lyrique pour Aix in June. For Marseille-Concerts at the Théâtre du Gymnase, Samuel Coquard conducted the New Year's concerts, in 2011 with Johann Strauss' "Valses de Vienne" and in 2012 with Rossini's "Petite Messe Solennelle", which he will resume in 2018 at the Musicales du Lubéron festival in the Taillades quarries.
The Director of the Opéra de Marseille will entrust him with the creation of the contemporary opera “Douce et Barbe Bleue” by Isabelle Aboulker, directed by Nadine Duffaut, which he will conduct at the Théâtre de l'Odéon in December 2015.
Under the Solstice label, he recorded with the Maîtrise, a first disc devoted to the sacred vocal work of Jean Langlais, then in 2009, a new disc devoted this time to works for choir and piano by Dvorak, Rachmaninov and Rheinberger. . In 2011, under the label Parsiphonie released a new disc where he conducts this time the Young Choir and Nina Uhari on the piano in the Lieder und Gesänge by Malher and the Duetti für Chor by Mendelssohn. 2013, Samuel Coquard records with the Maîtrise a new disc in honor of Benjamin Britten's 100th birthday, bringing together works for choir and harp by Kodaly, Holst and John Thomas with Elodie Adler on harp. The wealth of artistic expression of the vocal art center has therefore enabled him to deepen the German and Italian baroque repertoire, Slavic and French romanticism, but Samuel Coquard is also interested in works unknown to the general public as well as in music. contemporary works by Iannis Xénakis, Régis Campo, Carol Robinson, Jean-Pierre Leguay, François Rossé and Edith Canat de Chizy, Florent Gauthier, Zad Moultaka and Christian Roque, from whom he commissioned works.
His majestic, precise and powerful direction, his teaching both sober and demanding, rigorous, terribly effective but coupled with rare human qualities have been recognized and rewarded.
The disc dedicated to Jean Langlais obtained the most beautiful awards of the disc: 5 Diapasons and 4 stars in Le Monde de la Musique. Samuel Coquard received the Pierre Barbizet Music Prize on December 12, 2008, from the Academy of Arts, Sciences and Letters of Marseille.
In 2019, and in parallel with his directing activities within the Maîtrise des Bouches-du-Rhône, Samuel Coquard was appointed Guest Choir Master at the Peking Opera NCPA. He was entrusted with the direction of the choirs for two productions of French operas, Les Pêcheurs de Perles by Georges Bizet and Les Contes d'Hoffman by Jacques Offenbach, and assisted Pinchas Steinberg and Donato Renzetti in the direction of the orchestra. In 2020, he turned to conducting contemporary works and commissioned three composers: Marc Henric, Bernat Vivancos and Michaël Levinas.
France 3 and Mars production will dedicate a documentary to him retracing the commitment of his work with the children of the Maîtrise and will retrace his career turned towards transmission which is at the center of his life and his career as a musician and conductor.
MARC HENRIC
ASSISTANT CHOIR DIRECTOR
After musical studies crowned with several conservatory prizes (choir direction, piano, musical training and chamber music), a degree in musicology at the Sorbonne, a National Higher Diploma in choir and orchestra direction and the State diploma in ensemble direction, Marc Henric specializes in the work of children's voices by practicing with the Pages at the Master's of the Center de Musique Baroque de Versailles. A recognized pedagogue, he is often called upon to train conductors wishing to specialize in the voice of the child. After having taught choral singing and conducting in the conservatories of the city of Paris, at the Regional Conservatory of Boulogne-Billancourt as well as at the University of Evry Val d'Essonne, Marc Henric joined the Maîtrise des Bouches in September 2018. -du-Rhône as assistant choir director to Samuel Coquard.
His experience as a conductor and his ease in accompanying all types of music give him the opportunity to perform frequently with several ensembles as a pianist or organist.
He leads a career as a songwriter both in scholarly music and in contemporary music. Several of his works, Above All, the Orphans, Agnus Dei, have entered the current repertoire of many choirs, in France and abroad. As an author – composer – performer, he has the opportunity to be heard in the most prestigious places: Palais des sports and Zénith de Paris, Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, New York Cathedral, Mexico City Cathedral. , Victoria Concert Hall in Singapore, Hsinchu Concert Hall in Taiwan, Opera at the Seoul Arts Center, International House of Music in Moscow…
This notoriety gives him the opportunity to sign, in 2019, the concluding credits of the Korean film Idol by Lee Su-jin. Marc Henric collaborates with the film music composer Vladimir Cosma for whom he wrote the libretto of a cantata, 1209.
Among his great creations, in June 2017 we will remember David and Goliath at the Cathedral of Reims, sacred scene for soloist, three choirs and orchestra; in November 2018 at the Arsenal de Metz the version for large wind band of his Magnificat de la Paix, commissioned on the occasion of the national commemorations around the 1st World War or, in December 2019, two creations around Christmas, one at the Théâtre du Puy-en-Velay by the Maîtrise du Puy and the Orchester National d'Auvergne, the other at the Royal Chapel of the Palace of Versailles, commissioned by the Baroque Music Center of Versailles.
In 2020, La Maîtrise des Bouches du Rhône commissioned him to write a story for children and an instrumental ensemble: Le conteur du chapiteau, supported by the Ministries of Culture and National Education.
He will soon present Behind the Mirror, a reflection on the disasters of social networks in the form of a monologue. Marc Henric is actively preparing an album of original songs, the first clip and single of which is called So Different.
SANDED DHANASRI
DANCE TEACHER
Dhanasri Sablé is a state-certified dancer and teacher in contemporary dance. She trained in theatre, visual arts and art therapy before devoting herself to dance.
It is in the art of movement that she mixes her experiences in the service of a sensitive, architectural and expressive dance. She teaches dance to a wide audience ranging from early childhood, to confirmed adults and beginners.
His classes tend towards the autonomy of the students and the sensitive development of their art through dance.
The improvisation workshops and the technical courses that it offers make it possible to make the body available to a lively dance.
Her choreographies fit into specific spaces where the dance reveals designs that the body traces.
She works regularly with other artists, dancers, musicians, actors… and participates in creative projects for different companies.
It is in pleasure, discovery and exchange that movement circulates and dance travels.
Dhanasri Sablé is a trainer at Studios du Cours as part of the MANAD training for contemporary dance and preparation for the EAT and as part of the training for the State Diploma in contemporary dance pedagogy.
LUC DEVOUASSOUX
CHORUS MANAGER, LIBRARIAN
Luc Devouassoux was born in Aix-en-Provence on December 29, 1969, to santon-makers parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.
After studying automation in Toulon in 1990, he joined design offices in aeronautics for the design of helicopters and test facilities on aircraft. The Gulf War causing the aeronautical world to fall, he then turned to after-sales service in office automation.
Alongside his main activity, he has always worked as an extra for cinema, television or even opera, while continuing the tradition of santons on the markets for the Christmas holidays. In 1996, the family offered him the opportunity to take over the production and marketing of santons in order to bring it into modernity and thus relaunch the business.
In 2009, when his father retired, he continued the activity of santons alone and also returned as a dresser at the Opéra de Marseille and the Festival d'art lyrique d'Aix-en-Provence.
He will stop playing santons in 2015 to devote himself entirely to the world of entertainment, and joins the Maîtrise des Bouches-du-Rhône in May 2019 as Choir Manager and Music Librarian.
