choeur de chambre accentus
Founded by Laurence Equilbey for the purpose of performing
the major works of the a cappella repertoire and engaging
with contemporary creation, accentus is today an ensemble
of 32 professional singers which appears at the leading
French and international festivals.
The choir collaborates regularly with prestigious
conductors and orchestras (Pierre Boulez, Jonathan Nott,
Christoph Eschenbach, Orchestre de Paris, Ensemble
Intercontemporain, Orchestre de l’Opéra de Rouen/Haute
Normandie, Concerto Köln, Akademie für Alte Musik). It has
participated in a variety of operatic productions ranging
from contemporary premieres (Pascal Dusapin’s Perelà, uomo
di fumo and Matthias Pintscher’s L’Espace dernier at the
Paris Opéra) to the standard repertoire (Rossini’s Il
barbiere di Siviglia at the Aix-en-Provence Festival).
The ensemble is also privileged partner of the Cité de la
Musique in Paris, and enjoys an ongoing residence at the
Opéra de Rouen/Haute Normandie, structured around the axes
of a cappella concerts and programmes for choir and
orchestra.
Critically acclaimed ever since its first recording,
accentus was awarded the Liliane Bettencourt Prize of the
Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1995. Each of its CDs has
received numerous prizes from the music press, and its
recording of Transcriptions, which has sold more than
100,000 copies, was a Grammy Award nominee in 2004, and
received a Disque d'or in January 2008. Its Schoenberg
recording with the Ensemble Intercontemporain (2005)
received a Midem Classical Award in 2006. Haydn’s Seven
Last Words of Christ on the Cross with the Akademie für
Alte Musik Berlin (2006), is already considered a benchmark
version. The choir’s most recent releases were a second
volume of Transcriptions (2006) and a recording of Liszt’s
Via Crucis with Brigitte Engerer (2007). accentus received
the Grand Prix Radio Classique de la Découverte in 2001 and
was voted Ensemble of the Year in the Victoires de la
Musique Classique in 2002, 2005 and 2008.
It is the first ensemble to use the electronic tuning
system e-tuner.
Website choeur de chambre
accentus