Festival de Saint-Céré
ALADIN Et LA BELLE ÉVEILLÉESaturday, August 2nd 2025
Marie Oppert (pensionnaire de la Comédie Française), narrator and soprano
Pierre Créac’h, illustrations
Manon Galy, Camille Fonteneau, violins
Léa Hennino, Claudine Legras, violas
Héloïse Luzzati, cello
Ulysse Vigreux, double bass
Célia Oneto Bensaid, piano
Born in 1871, Jane Vieu was a pupil of Jules Massenet. Her catalog of around one hundred and fifty works includes several operettas performed in major Parisian theaters, London and Brussels. Her works, halfway between song and melody, operetta and musical comedy, were a great success, and Jane Vieu herself was a well-known singer, often performing her own roles. Premiered in 1902 at the Théâtre des Mathurins, La Belle au bois dormant is a “sung fairy tale” based on a libretto by Lucien Métivet. Thanks to an ingenious system of light projection of images drawn on glass plates, the audience travels through the dreamlike world of the tale, while a singer takes turns interpreting all the roles, while providing the narration. In Jane Vieu’s day, this show was not intended for children, but for the Tout-Paris who flocked to see these performances, which were a kind of ancestor to our cartoons. In Lucien Métivet’s version of La Belle, the action takes place in the 20th century: a prince on a bicycle awakens a sleeping Belle, who is horrified to discover that carriages have given way to automobiles, and that the forests of yesteryear have been decimated by lumberjacks. Horrified by the discovery of this new world, she prefers to return to her magical forest and go back to sleep… Performed many times at the Théâtre des Mathurins, Lucien Métivet and Jane Vieu’s Aladin, conceived in 15 shadow puppet tableaux, is closer to the original tale – in its version from the Thousand and One Nights, set in China. Originally, shadow puppets were used to depict the characters and the sumptuous scenery… In this revisited version, the two tales are illustrated by cartoonist Pierre Créac’h, whose drawings, tracings and paper cut-outs are projected live in front of the audience during the concert. The music has been arranged for the first time, with Eugène Domergue’s orchestration reduced to a septet with piano. In Rita Strohl’s Septet, Aladdin and Sleeping Beauty are joined by Joan of Arc, another legendary character who inspired the Breton composer to write this astonishing work for strings and piano. Composed in 1890, it earned its author, according to the press of the day, “a veritable standing ovation”, with audiences hailing “her genius as a composer” and “the talent of a first-rate pianist”.
PROGRAM
ALADIN ET LA BELLE ÉVEILLÉE
JANE VIEU (1871-1955)
Aladin
La Belle au Bois dormant
“Aladin et la Belle éveillée” premiered on February 10, 2024 at the Cité de la musique, in co-production with the Orchestre de chambre de Paris and in collaboration with Elles women composers, as part of the ‘Nouveaux récits’ series initiated by the Philharmonie de Paris.
RITA STROHL (1865-1941)
Septet
ELSA BARRAINE
DISTRIBUTION
Marie Oppert (pensionnaire de la Comédie Française), narrator and soprano
Pierre Créac’h, illustrations
Manon Galy, violin
Camille Fonteneau, violin
Léa Hennino, viola
Claudine Legras, viola
Héloïse Luzzati, cello
Ulysse Vigreux, double bass
Célia Oneto Bensaid, piano
MARIE OPPERT
After her highly acclaimed debut in the lead role in Les Parapluies de Cherbourg at the Théâtre du Châtelet alongside Natalie Dessay and Michel Legrand, Marie Oppert went on to study musical theater at Marymount Manhattan College in New York on a Fulbright scholarship from the Franco-American Commission. On her return to France, she trained in opera singing with Chantal Mathias and joined Nathalie Bécue’s class at the Conservatoire Darius Milhaud in Paris. In 2017, she won the interpretation prize at the Marseille International Singing Competition (operetta category), as well as the “Special Award” and “Trustee Award” in 2020 at the Kurt Weill Foundation’s Lotte Lenya Competition. In 2021, Marie was named “Révélation artiste lyrique” at the Victoires de la Musique Classique awards. She has performed the title role in Peau d’Âne, Maria in West Side Story and Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. Regularly invited to sing in concert at prestigious venues, she also lent her voice to the title roles in the musical tales Georgia, tous mes rêves chantent by Timothée de Fombelle and Siam, au fil de l’eau with Ensemble Contraste. Under contract with Warner Classics, her first album “Enchantée”, recorded with the Orchestre National de Lille (dir. Nicholas Skilbeck), was released in September 2020. In 2022, she made her film debut in Claude Zidi Jr.’s feature film Ténor, and joined the Troupe de la Comédie-Française as a boarder in April 2022.
PIERRE CRÉAC’H
Author-illustrator-composer Pierre Créac’h is a versatile artist. He combines his talents to write illustrated musical tales for young and old. He not only writes and draws them, but also composes and produces the soundtracks. Classical music and drawing are his lifelong loves. Passionate about voice and fiction, he uses a variety of means to take his audience into a narrative world filled with poetry, mystery and tenderness. After graduating from the Montpellier Conservatory of Music in piano and composition, he went on to attend the highly reputed Penninghen School of Graphic Art, where he taught academic drawing and illustration for fifteen years. This double curriculum has steered his career towards an ever-changing plurality between sound and image.
MANON GALY
Named ‘Revelation Instrumental Soloist’ at the 2022 Victoires de la Musique awards, Manon Galy trained at the Toulouse and Paris CRRs before going on to the CNSMDP, the Munich Hochschule with Julia Fischer, the Philippe Jaroussky Academy and the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Waterloo, where she is currently in residence with the Zeliha trio. She is a prizewinner in numerous international competitions, including the Lyon International Chamber Music Competition in 2021, where she won 1st prize as well as all the special prizes in sonata with Jorge Gonzalez-Buajasan, and the Banque Populaire, Safran and Charles Oulmont foundations, as well as AMOPA. Manon performs regularly as a soloist with various international orchestras, collaborating with such great conductors as Renaud Capuçon, Sacha Goetzel, Aziz Shokhakimov, Victorien Vanoosten, Gabor Takáks-Nagy, Bertrand De Billy, David Molard-Soriano and Simone Menezes, among others.
A chamber musician at heart, Manon Galy founded the Trio Zeliha in 2018 with Jorge Gonzalez-Buajasan and Maxime Quennesson. Their first disc, released in 2020 on the Mirare label, was acclaimed by the critics (5 diapason, 5 stars from Classica, Editor’s choice from Gramophone magazine…), as was their last disc, released in May 2024, which also received 5 stars from Classica, 4T from Télérama and ‘Choix de Laure Mézan’ from Pianiste magazine. ‘Nuits Parisiennes’, released in February 2023 on the Aparté label and the result of the duo formed with pianist Jorge Gonzalez-Buajasan, won a Diapason d’Or de l’année, 5 stars from Classica and 4T Télérama. As a soloist and with the Zeliha trio, Manon has joined the production company ‘Beau Soir productions’, run by Renaud Capuçon.
CAMILLE FONTENEAU
Camille Fonteneau is a Franco-American violinist with an insatiable curiosity, always happy to discover new ways of seeing Music, Art and Life in general. A graduate of the Paris Conservatoire in the class of Alexis Galpérine and François Salque, Camille is a member of several chamber music ensembles and plays regularly with Le Balcon, Ensemble Calliopée, Les Dissonnances, the Rotterdam Chamber Music Society and others. She has performed at a number of festivals, including Les Folles Journées de Nantes, La Grange de Meslay, La Roque d’Anthéron, the Festival des Arcs and the Festival d’Auvers-sur-Oise. A former founding member of the Trio Hélios, she recorded two discs for the Mirare label, D’un matin de printemps and Bohemia, both of which won awards from the press (Choc Classica). She also won numerous prizes, notably at the Lyon, Trondheim and Joseph Joachim competitions in Weimar…
Driven by the desire to unite a group, Camille performs as concertmaster with the Orchestre de Metz, Ostinato, Appassionato, the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, and as co-solo with the Orchestre de La Monnaie. In 2023, she founded the Fidelio Quartet alongside Marie-Astrid Hulot, Léa Hennino and Maria Andrea Mendoza.
LÉA HENNINO
Born in 1991, Léa Hennino obtained her DEM with honours in Carole Dauphin’s class in 2008. A prizewinner in 2013 at the CNSMD in Paris, where she studied with Sabine Toutain and Christophe Gaugué, Léa also spent a year working with Japanese violist Nobuko Imai in Geneva. She spent two years perfecting her skills with the English violist Lawrence Power in Zurich. Recognised as one of the most promising violists of her generation, Léa Hennino has performed on major international stages alongside such renowned artists as Renaud Capucon, Alina Ibragimova, Hanna Weinmeister, Gérard Caussé and Clemens Hagen.
Léa is a regular guest with ensembles such as Les Dissonnances, I Giardini and the Aurora Orchestra in England. As a soloist, she has performed Martinü’s Concerto with the Hradec Kralové Philharmonic Orchestra in the Czech Republic and Mozart’s Symphonie concertante with the Toulouse Chamber Orchestra. Selected to take part in international academies in Poland, Germany, the USA, Switzerland, England, Sweden and Spain, she performs in various ensembles in concerts and master classes with great masters. Léa has won numerous prizes in national and international competitions and is a laureate of several foundations.
CLAUDINE LEGRAS
After studying at the CRR de Dijon, then at the CRR de Paris with Laurent Verney, Claudine Legras entered Sabine Toutain’s class at the CNSM de Paris, graduating with honors in 2008. She continued her Master’s studies in David Gaillard’s class, graduating with unanimous acclaim in 2011. She has perfected her skills in masterclasses with Yuri Bashmet, Nobuko Imai, Bruno Pasquier, Pamela Frank… As a chamber musician, she has performed alongside Nicolas Dautricourt, Xavier Phillips, Svetlin Roussev and François Salque at various festivals. Her various orchestral experiences as solo viola and tutor have enabled her to be conducted by such great conductors as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Ricardo Mutti, Bernard Haitink, Kurt Masur, Valery Gergiev, Daniele Gatti, Klaus Mäkelä… She has been a member of David Grimal’s ensemble Les Dissonances since 2008.
HÉLOÏSE LUZZATI
ULYSSE VIGREUX
Ulysse Vigreux began studying double bass with Denis Rocher, then with Eric Wrobel at the CRD du Val Maubuée, where he obtained a DEM in instrument, musical training and chamber music in 2006. The following year, he entered the Conservatoire de Paris – CNSMDP in the class of Thierry Barbé and Jean-Edmond Bacquet, and obtained his Diplôme de Formation Supérieure in 2010. During these years of study, he received a scholarship from the Meyer Foundation. He won first prize in the Association des Contrebassistes de France competitions in Lyon in 2005 and Amiens in 2007. He also won international competitions, in 2008 in Wroclaw and in 2009 in Glasgow. In chamber music, he has performed at various concerts and festivals (Giverny, Deauville…) alongside Michel Strauss, Maria Belooussova, Rebecca Chaillot, Alain Meunier, Priya Mitchell, Gil Sharon, the musicians of the Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse, the Quatuor Ébène… He has performed with the Orchestre national de l’Opéra de Paris, the Orchestre national de Lille, the Orchestre national de France and the Radio France Philharmonic under Jonathan Nott, Myung-Whun Chung, Kurt Masur, L.Renes, Philippe Jordan, Esa- Pekka Salonen… In 2010, he joined the Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse, conducted by Tugan Sokhiev, before joining the Orchestre de Paris in 2012 under the baton of Paavo Järvi. He became principal double bass in 2018.
CÉLIA ONETO-BENSAID
A singular and committed personality, Célia chooses the repertoire she performs with care: American music (including her own transcriptions), French music, contemporary music and works by female composers all feature prominently in her programmes. A YAMAHA artist, she is the winner of numerous international competitions: Piano Campus, Fondation Banque Populaire, Cziffra, etc. She has been a guest at the Philharmonie de Paris, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Piano aux Jacobins, La Roque d’Anthéron, La Folle Journée de Nantes, the Grand Théâtre de Harbin (China), Salamanca Hall (Japan), Wigmore Hall (London)… A much sought-after chamber musician, she has performed with Renaud Capuçon, Violaine Despeyroux, Elsa Dreisig, Marie-Laure Garnier, Olivia Gay, the Hanson Quartet, Léa Hennino, Héloïse Luzzati, Fiona McGown, Alexandre Pascal and others: His first solo disc, American Touches (2018), is devoted to Gershwin and Bernstein, and Métamorphosis (2021) to Glass, Pépin and Ravel (5 Classica stars, contemporary disc of the week on France Musique, etc.). She also took part in a monograph on the unpublished works of Charlotte Sohy from La Boîte à Pépites, widely acclaimed by the international press. In January 2023, she released the CD ‘Chants Nostalgiques’ with Marie-Laure Garnier and the Quatuor Hanson, featuring French mélodie, which won TTTT from Télérama.
do you know
RITA STROHL?
Rita Strohl (1865 – 1941)
Solitude
Héloïse Luzzati, cello
Célia Oneto Bensaid, piano