Quatuor Voce, Jodie Devos, Juliette Hurel, Emmanuel Ceysson
Biography Quatuor Voce, Jodie Devos, Juliette Hurel, Emmanuel Ceysson
Quatuor Voce
In the last 15 years, the Quatuor Voce has established itself as one of the most eclectic and adventurous string quartets on the classical music scene. Laureates of numerous international competitions and passionate about defending the great string quartet repertoire, alone or alongside such exceptional musicians as Yuri Bashmet or Gary Hoffman, their concerts take them all over the world, from Helsinki to Cairo, from Tokyo to Bogota. Convinced of the relevance of the string quartet formation in our modern society and passionate about sharing their music with a wide audience, the innate curiosity of the Quatuor Voce has brought its members to experiment with many diverse art forms. They frequently give their voice to silent movies, and have shared their universe with such diverse personalities as the « mutant » cellist Vincent Segal, singers Kyrie Kristmanson and Aynur, choreographers Thomas Lebrun and the brothers Ben Aïm, and the accordionist Vincent Peirani.
The 2018/19 season sees the Voce travelling the globe with tours of Japan, Haïti, Australia and the United States, as well as numerous concerts in Europe, including Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom - notably the Wigmore Hall - and not forgetting many performances in the great French concert halls (Opera de Nantes, TAP de Poitiers…). The past seasons have included concerts at, amongst others, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Philharmonies of Paris and Luxembourg, the BOZAR in Brussels, the Oji Hall in Tokyo, the Teatro Colon in Bogota…
After many encounters with some of the world’s finest world music and jazz musicians, in 2017 the Voce imagined « Itinéraire », a journey through sixteen strings from Brazil to Indonesia, passing through Iran, Cuba and Egypte. A new repertoire situated at the frontier between written and improvised music, freely inspired by the example set by Béla Bartok and created in collaboration with five composers from multiple horizons, the album « Itinéraire » was released in the autumn of 2018 on Alpha Classics.
The quartet’s recordings of Schubert, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Bartok, Janaeck and Schulhoff have all met with high critical acclaim from the international press, such as The Strad, Télérama (FFFF), Suddeutsch Zeitung, Diapason (5 Diapasons) and the Guardian. Their close relationship with the record label Alpha Classics has already given rise to five recordings for both string quartet and in collaboration with renowned artists such as Juliette Hurel, Lise Berthaud, Vincent Segal and Kinan Azmeh. In 2018 they appeared on the label Aparté on the album « Ballad in Red » with Emmanuel Ceysson, harp solo at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and in 2019 their interpretation of Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet with French clarinetist Florent Héau will be released on the label Klarthe.
To celebrate 15 years of existence, the Voce recently recorded both Mozart and Schubert’s 15th string quartets, which will be released on Alpha Classics in the autumn of 2019.
Having studied with the Quatuor Ysaye, Günter Pichler (charismatic first violinist of the Alban Berg Quartett), and Eberhard Feltz, the Voce have a strong desire to transmit their experience and passion for chamber music to the younger generation. Since 2010 they have taught in several Paris conservatoires for ProQuartet, and in 2017, with the support of the city of Vendôme and of Monceau Assurances, they created « Quatuor à Vendôme », their own festival-academy dedicated to studying and performing chamber music.
Open to the world which surrounds them, they regularly create and commission music by composers of the day, for example Bruno Mantovani, Graziane Finzi, Alexandros Markeas…
The Quatuor Voce would like to particularly thank ProQuartet CEMC, Monceau Assurances, SPEDIDAM and Adami for their continued support.
Jodie Devos
Since winning prizes at the Queen Elisabeth of Belgium Competition, the young Belgian soprano Jodie Devos has pursued a brilliant career that has seen her perform in the leading international opera houses.
Her luminous timbre and virtuosity enable her to sing the most emblematic roles of the coloratura soprano repertory, notably in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Lakmé, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Le Comte Ory, La Fille du régiment, Mignon, Cendrillon and L’Enfant et les sortilèges. She performs under the baton of such conductors as Paolo Arrivabene, Laurent Campellone, Mikko Franck, Leonardo García Alarcón, Philippe Jordan, Dmitri Jurowski, Louis Langrée, Antonello Manacorda, Enrique Mazzola, Marc Minkowski, François-Xavier Roth and Christophe Rousset.
Jodie Devos has also given numerous concerts and recitals around the world, which have taken her to Belgium (Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels), France (Paris), Germany (Düsseldorf), Holland (Maastricht), Italy (Venice), India (Mumbai), Canada (Quebec) and Poland (Katowice) and on tour to Brazil.
Juliette Hurel
is known in both the French and the international music world as a famous flautist. She was unanimously awarded the first prize for flute and the first prize for chamber music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris and obtained prizes in different competitions such as those in Darmstadt, Kobé, Boekarest and the Jean-Pierre Rampal concours. In 2004 she was nominated for the “Discoveries of the year” in the “Victoires de la Musique Classique”.
Juliette is in much demand for chamber music and then performs beside musicians such as Martha Argerich, Youri Bashmet, Gidon Kremer, Truls Mork, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Scharoun Ensemble Berlin...
As a soloist she can be regularly heard with many French orchestras,but also with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Hong-Kong Sinfonietta, Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal, BBC Wales orchestra...
Through her fondness for contemporary music she has had the opportunity to work with composers such as Pierre Boulez, Pascal Dusapin, Philippe Hersant and Eric Tanguy.
Juliette Hurel has made various recordings with pianist Hélène Couvert. The recordings which won prizes and were warmly received by the critics include : Martinu/Prokoviev (Lyrinx) ; French repertoire XXth century for (Naïve-Valois); Haydn Flute Sonatas (Zig-Zag Territoires). Further, she recorded the concertos for flute and orchestra by C.P.E. Bach with l’Orchestre d’Auvergne under the baton of Arie van Beek, “Impressions françaises” -works with piano by Debussy, Fauré, Poulenc-, both for Zig-Zag Territoires, Her album “Dawn of Romanticism » has been released in 2014 for Naïve.
Her CD dedicated to the Mozart complete "Flute Quartets" with the Quatuor Voce appeared in April 2015 for AlphaClassics . Then the CD "Bach-Inspiration" has been released in April 2018 and the last one, "Compositrices à l'aube du XXème siècle" recorded with Hélène Couvert has been released in January 2020, still for the label Alpha Classics. Those recordings have been highly acclaimed and welcomed by the French and international press.
Since 1998 Juliette has been solo flautist with Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, first conducted by Valery Gergiev then by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and since 2018 by Lahav Shani.
She is teaching at the Rotterdam conservatory since 2010.("Codarts")
Emmanuel Ceysson
With his powerful, virtuoso playing, Emmanuel Ceysson, the ‘enfant terrible’ of the harp, sweeps away all the clichés associated with his instrument. His infectious enthusiasm and boundless energy reveals the harp in all its sparkling splendor, in a world where poetry vies with temperament.
Since 2005 he has been a presence in such leading venues on the international musical scene as the Wigmore Hall, the Salle Gaveau, Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, the Vienna Konzerthaus, and the Berlin Philharmonie, where his appearances in recital, concerto repertoire, and chamber music regularly win high praise from the press. His early career was recognized through Prizes by the Académie des Beaux-Arts and appearances in Classical Music Awards “Victoires de la Musique.”
Before playing at the Met, Emmanuel was Principal Harp of the Opéra National de Paris for 9 years, where his solo passages were frequently singled out for mention by the opera critics.
His unfailing commitment to his instrument has earned him the highest international distinctions. In rapid succession, he won the Gold Medal and a special performance prize at the USA International Harp Competition (Bloomington) in 2004, First Prize and six special prizes at the New York Young Concert Artist Auditions in 2006, and First Prize at the prestigious ARD Competition in Munich in September 2009, thus becoming the first harpist to obtain awards at three major international events.
He was Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London from 2005 to 2009, as well as Professor at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris “Alfred Cortot” from 2014-2015, and has taught at the International Summer Academy in Nice since 2010; he also gives regular masterclasses in the course of his foreign tours.
Recordings with Naxos, Naïve, Clavès, MDG, and others include solo, concerto, and chamber repertoire, and have won the enthusiasm of the specialized press.
Naïve “Belle-Epoque,” a French concerto CD, was just released, and Mozart double concerto with Philippe Bernold is to come this fall, under the Aparté label.
