Festival de Saint-Céré
Jeanne Leleu, portraitMonday, August 4th 2025
Marie-Laure Garnier, soprano
Manon Galy, violin
Léa Hennino, viola
Héloïse Luzzati, cello
Célia Oneto Bensaid, piano
A child prodigy who studied with Marguerite Long at the Paris Conservatoire, Jeanne Leleu was eleven years old when she premiered Ravel’s Ma mère l’Oye in 1910 – a concert that earned her the composer’s congratulations for its “childlike and spiritual execution”. Ravel dedicated his Prélude to her three years later. She also studied composition with Georges Caussade, Charles-Marie Widor and Henri Büsser, and won first prize at the Conservatoire with her Quatuor avec piano. In 1923, she became the third woman to win the Grand Prix de Rome, three years after Marguerite Canal. During her stay at the Villa Médicis, she composed assiduously (Michelangelo’s Sonnets date from this period) and traveled to Italy and Greece. On her return to France, she composed a number of large-scale works, including Transparences, a suite for orchestra whose “success grew with each new audition”, and her Piano Concerto, which she created herself at the piano. She received several state commissions, and her ballet Nautéos, created in 1947 in Monte-Carlo, was performed in 1954 at the Paris Opéra. A great teacher, she also taught solfeggio and harmony at the Paris Conservatoire. An indefatigable musician, in 1939 she replied to a journalist from L’Intransigeant who asked her what she would do if her “life had to start all over again”: “I would start all over again just as it was. No regrets. Musical career: that’s what I was made for.”
PROGRAM
JEANNE LELEU, PORTRAIT
MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937)
Ma Mère l’Oye
Prélude
JEANNE LELEU (1865-1941)
Six Sonnets for Michel Angelo
for voice and piano
In Italia (extracts)
for piano
Quartet
for violin, viola, cello and piano
ELSA BARRAINE
DISTRIBUTION
Marie-Laure Garnier, soprano
Manon Galy, violin
Léa Hennino, viola
Héloïse Luzzati, cello
Célia Oneto Bensaid, piano
MARIE-LAURE GARNIER
Lyric revelation of the year 2021 at the Victoires de la musique classique awards, Marie-Laure Garnier leaves an indelible mark on the hearts of her audiences with her powerful, expressive voice. From opera to intimate recitals, her repertoire is so varied that she navigates every occasion with grace and elegance. Her voice is an exceptional instrument, capable of bringing the masterpieces of the repertoire to life with ease. After making her debut in French Guiana, she flew to Paris to turn her passion into a profession. In 2009, she joined Malcolm Walker’s opera singing class at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. After a brilliant Prix de Chant, she obtained a Diplôme d’Artiste Interprète and a Master de Musique de Chambre. Named Révélation lyrique ADAMI in 2013, she is a prizewinner at the Académie Orsay-Royaumont and the Festival lyrique d’Aix-en-Provence. She won Second Prize at the Concours International de Chant de Mâcon in 2014 and First Prize at the Cziffra Competition in 2015. At the 2017 Nadia et Lili Boulanger Competition, the soprano wins the Prix de la Mélodie Française in duet with pianist Célia Oneto Bensaid. In 2019, she distinguished herself at the prestigious Concours Voix des Outremer, winning the Grand Prix. In 2022, she was awarded the Musical Revelation of the Year prize by the Syndicat de la Critique. For the 2024-2025 season, the soprano will embody the roles of Carmen during an overseas tour, Venus in a staging by Olivier Py at the Opéra du Capitole de Toulouse and Tosca, conducted by Alexandra Cravero, in a staging by Florent Siaud during a tour with Les Frivolités Parisiennes.
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.
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.
HÉLOÏSE LUZZATI
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
Jeanne Leleu?
Jeanne Leleu (1898 – 1979)
Transparences : I. L’Arbre plein de chants
Marie-Josèphe Jude, piano
David Kadouch, piano