Les Plaisirs de Versailles

Chantal Santon Jeffery is acclaimed as one of the most accomplished French sopranos of the present day. She has embodied numerous roles in operas by Mozart (Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, Fiordiligi, the Countess Almaviva), Britten (the Governess in The Turn of the Screw), Purcell (King Arthur, Dido and Aeneas), Haydn (the title role of Armida), Rameau (La Gloire in Le temple de la Gloire), and has also sung operettas and contemporary music.

 

She has been invited to perform in prestigious venues in Europe, America, and Asia. Her many recordings feature Baroque, Classical, and Romantic French operas and oratorios but also works by Mozart, Martinez, Stradella, Da Gagliano, Purcell, J. Ch. Bach, etc.

 

Recent releases: “Brillez, astres nouveaux!”, a recital of French Baroque opera arias with the Orfeo Orchestra, under the baton of György Vashegyi; Maître Peronilla by Offenbach with the Orchestre National de France, conducted by Markus Poschner; Jephté by Montéclair and Dardanus by Rameau, again with the Orfeo Orchestra.

After studying piano and music at Le Puy Cathedral Choir School, Marine Lafdal-Franc completed her bachelor’s degree in musicology at the Sorbonne. She continued her studies at the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles under Olivier Schneebeli.

 

She has collaborated with ensembles such as Ensemble Correspondances (Sébastien Daucé), La Chapelle Rhénane (Benoît Haller), Les Arts Florissants (William Christie), Les Talens Lyriques (Christophe Rousset) and Cappella Mediterranea (Leonardo García Alarcón).

 

In this season (2020/2021), she performs for the first time at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, in Rameau’s opera Acanthe et Céphise, in which she sings the roles of Fairy and Shepherdess under the baton of Alexis Kossenko. At the same time, at the Théâtre national de l’Opéra-Comique she alternates the role of Palès in Mondonville’s opera Titon et l’Aurore in collaboration with the ensemble Les Arts Florissants and appears in the role of Neptune in Durón’s opera Coronis in collaboration with the ensemble Le Poème Harmonique. She will perform in Prague and Helsinki in François Colin de Blamont’s opera Le Retour des dieux sur la terre.

Soprano Anne Sophie Petit studied solo singing (to master’s degree level) at the University of Music Lausanne (HEMU). She received the “Young Talent” award from the Philippe Jaroussky Music Academy (2019/2020) and is a laureate of the Royaumont Foundation. In 2020, she was awarded 3rd place in the International Singing Competition in Béziers and won the Gustav Mahler Competition in Geneva, in a duo with pianist Marcel Vigh.

 

She recently excelled in the roles of Musette in Puccini’s La bohème, Little Red Riding Hood in Leuenberger’s Le Petit Chaperon rouge, Yniold in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande and the Fire, the Princess and the Nightingale in Ravel’s opera The Child and the Magic Spells.

 

She has performed several times with the ensemble Gli Angeli Genève. In 2020, she performed the roles of Delia and the Second Priestess in Rameau’s opera Acanthe and Céphise, under the baton of Alexis Kossenko, and in 2021, she will sing the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute on a Dutch tour with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century.

 

For the 2020/2021 season, Anne Sophie Petit is a member of the Studio at the Lyon Opera House.

The Hungarian soprano studied classical singing at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, historical singing at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Leipzig and also studed opera for one term in Victoria, Canada with Nancy Argenta. She has attended masterclasses by Michael Chance, Kati Debretzeni, Roberta Invernizzi, Maria Jonas and Jordi Savall.

 

In Leipzig she appeared at the most important early music festivals of the city. In Canada she was a soloist at the Pacific Baroque Festival and with the Victoria Baroque Players.

 

Adriána collaborates on an ongoing basis with with the conductor György Vashegyi and the Purcell Choir & Orfeo Orchestra in Budapest. She has sung at many Hungarian premieres and is the soloist on the ensemble’s award-winning CD recording of works by the composer F. B. Conti.

 

The free jazz album called “When Down…” featuring Adriána was released in 2020.

 

To support her work, Adriána won the scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Arts and the Fischer Annie Scholarship.

The French high tenor Clément Debieuvre studied Baroque opera at the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles where he took part in various concerts and stage productions. He collaborates with many leading French Baroque ensembles and platforms: Les Arts Florissants, Le Concert Spirituel, Les Ambassadeurs, Les Surprises, Les Ombres, La Grande Écurie du Roy, Les Épopées, the Ensemble Leviathan, Les Cris de Paris, the Ensemble Correspondances, Pygmalion, and the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles.

 

In the 2019–2020 season, he appeared as Pygmalion in Rameau’s opera of the same name in Ósaka. In 2021, he will be singing grands motets by Lully and Clérambault, and Pynthonisse in Charpentier’s opera David et Jonathas. He will then participate in a French little operas project in the Maison de la radio in Paris, operas by Colin de Blamont, and madrigals by Monteverdi.

Jordan studied singing at the Jacques Ibert Conservatory in Paris. During these years, he interpreted various tenor roles in Mozart, Debussy, Offenbach, and Massenet operas. He took masterclasses with Regina Werner, Anne Le Bozec, Margreet Honig, and Jocelyne Dienst. In 2017, Jordan entered the Maîtrise de Notre-Dame de Paris.

 

He has performed in contemporary art projects, e.g., in collaboration with Alex Cechetti in Paris and with Tal Isaac Hadad in the National Opera in Montpellier. Jordan Mouaïssia and Tal Isaac Hadad worked together again in Pantin and Lyon in 2019.

 

Also in 2019, Jordan sang a solo part in the St Matthew Passion (with Jos van Veldhoven in Notre-Dame Cathedral) and appeared in the role of Panatellas at the Bayonne Opera in Jacques Offenbach’s La Périchole. In 2020, Jordan was a soloist in André Campra’s Messe de Requiem conducted by Sébastien Daucé.

Thierry Cartier first approached the world of singing and Baroque music when he joined a Sinfonia choir conducted by Michel Laplénie. From 2015 to 2017, he studied lyric singing at the Conservatoire de Bordeaux to learn vocal technique.

 

In June 2017, he was admitted to the course for higher musical training (associated with Les Chantres choir) at the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles, where he spent three years before obtaining his Diploma in Musical Studies. This course allowed him to specialize in the repertoire of French Baroque music. It was also an opportunity for him to take part in productions mixing Les Chantres with professional early music ensembles, such as Les Talens Lyriques, Les Folies françoises, the Gabrieli Consort, La Rêveuse, and Les Surprises.

 

During his final year at the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles, Thierry began to work as a professional singer with French music ensembles, such as Ensemble Correspondances, Les Epopées, Marguerite Louise, Le Concert Spirituel, and Les Arts Florissants.

Flautist Jana Semerádová is a graduate of the Prague Conservatory, the Faculty of Philosophy, Charles University in Prague, and the Koninklijk Conservatorium in the Hague, the Netherlands. She is also a laureate of the Magdeburg and Munich international competitions.   Jana Semerádová is the artistic director of Collegium Marianum and programming director of the concert cycle Baroque Soirées and the IMF Summer Festivities of Early Music. She undertakes intensive archival research both at home and abroad and is engaged in ongoing study of Baroque gesture, declamation and dance.   Under her direction, Collegium Marianum stages several modern premieres each year. Jana Semerádová has a number of CDs to her name; her recordings with Collegium Marianum are featured as part of the successful series “Music from Eighteenth-Century Prague” on the Supraphon label, for which she has also recorded her two signature CDs “Solo for the King” and “Chaconne for the Princess“.   Jana Semerádová has performed at leading European concert venues and festivals (such as Oude Muziek Utrecht, Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci, Händel-Festspiele in Halle, the Prague Spring festival), collaborated as a soloist with artists including Magdalena Kožená, Sergio Azzolini, Alfredo Bernardini, or Enrico Onofri, and regularly performs with e.g. Il Suonar Parlante, Wrocławska Orkiestra Barokowa, or Orkiestra Historyczna.   In 2015 she received her habilitation degree as an associate professor of flute from the Faculty of Music and Dance at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. In 2019 she was awarded the prize of the Prague Group of the Society for Arts and Sciences.   The Czech Music Academy Awards „Anděl“ in 2020 brought the nomination to Jana Semerádová and Erich Traxler (category Classics) for their CD „Chaconne for the Princess“.

Lenka Torgersen studied violin at the Pilsen Conservatory and subsequently at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under Václav Snítil. After graduating she focused intensively on Baroque violin and honed her skills at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis under Chiara Banchini.   Lenka Torgersen is the concert master of Collegium Marianum. From 1999 to 2012 she was the concert master of Collegium 1704; currently she also works regularly with other Czech and international ensembles including La Cetra Barockorchester Basel, Ensemble 415, Freitagsakademie (Bern), Ensemble Inégal, and others. From 1999 to 2012 she was concert master of Collegium 1704. As a chamber musician and soloist she performs at major European stages and music festivals and also collaborates with various leading figures in early music (e.g. René Jacobs, Andrea Marcon, Jordi Savall, Andrew Parrott).   In 2010 as a soloist with Collegium 1704 she recorded the works of Antonín Reichenauer, for which she received the Diapason d’Or award. In 2013 she recorded a solo CD “Il Violino Boemo” (Supraphon), a modern-day premiere reviving the sonatas of the 18^th century Czech violin virtuosi.

Since it was founded in 1997, the Prague ensemble Collegium Marianum has focused on presenting the music of the 17th and 18th centuries, especially by composers who were born or active in central Europe. One of the few professional ensembles specialising in this field in the Czech Republic, Collegium Marianum not only gives musical performances, but regularly also stages scenic projects.   The ensemble works under the artistic leadership of the traverso player Jana Semerádová whose active research into and study of Baroque gesture, declamation and dance has enabled the broadening of the artistic profile of the Collegium Marianum ensemble and the presentation of multi-genre projects featuring Baroque dance and theatre. This background also informs her unique, thematic programming, which has resulted in a number of modern-day premieres. The ensemble works closely with renowned soloists (Hana Blažíková, Simona Houda-Šaturová, Roberta Mameli, Raffaele Pe, Chantal Santon Jeffery, etc.) and has carried out projects with leading conductors and directors (e.g., Andrew Parrott, Rudolf Lutz, Benjamin Lazar, and Jean-Denis Monory). Its artistic collaboration with the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles has produced dramaturgically extraordinary projects involving French Baroque music and dance and the ensemble also maintains a long-term, fruitful collaboration with the Buchty a loutky theatre company.   Collegium Marianum has received critical acclaim both at home and abroad and has appeared extensively on Czech Radio and TV as well as on radio abroad. The performances of the ensemble at many music festivals and prestigious venues have met with great success.   The Supraphon label has already released ten of their recordings as part of the “Music of 18^th Century Prague” series. In 2022, the CD “A Lily Among Thorns” with Hana Blažíková was nominated for the “Anděl” musical awards.   Collegium Marianum is the ensemble in residence of the Summer Festivities of Early Music international festival. It is a recipient of the merit award for the quality and dissemination of Czech music from the Czech section of the International Music Council of UNESCO.