{"id":43,"date":"2022-12-04T16:22:13","date_gmt":"2022-12-04T15:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/en\/?page_id=43"},"modified":"2026-03-12T13:16:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T12:16:38","slug":"important-collaborations","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/en\/important-collaborations\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<hr>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><b>PHILIPPE LEROUX<strong> | <\/strong><\/b><\/span><b><strong><em>L&rsquo;ANNONCE FAITE \u00c0 MARIE<\/em><\/strong><\/b><b><\/b><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>World premiere opera<br \/>\nLibretto by Rapha\u00e8le Fleury based on Paul Claudel&rsquo;s work<br \/>\nStaging by C\u00e9lie Pauthe<br \/>\nMusic by Philippe Leroux<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1474 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/baiser-de-Violaine-Chatelet.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"360\" height=\"540\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Rapha\u00eble Kennedy | Violaine Vercors<br \/>\nSophia Burgos | Mara Vercors<br \/>\nEls Janssens Vanmunster | Elisabeth Vercors<br \/>\nMarc Scoffoni | Anne Vercors<br \/>\nCharles Rice | Jacques Hury<br \/>\nVincent Bouchot | Pierre de Craon<br \/>\nEnsemble Cairn \/\/ Ensemble intercontemporain<br \/>\nGuillaume Bourgogne \/\/ Ariane Matiakh | musical direction<br \/>\nR\u00e9mi Durupt \/\/ Thomas Palmer | assistant to the musical director<br \/>\nSol\u00e8ne Souriau | staging assistance<br \/>\nGuillaume Delaveau | scenography<br \/>\nCarlo Laurenzi | Ircam electronics<br \/>\nCl\u00e9ment Cerles | Ircam sound diffusion<br \/>\nAna\u00efs Romand | costumes<br \/>\nS\u00e9bastien Michaud | lighting<br \/>\nFran\u00e7ois Weber | images<br \/>\nDenis Loubaton | dramaturgy<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-379 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/Violaine-lepreuse\u00a9Martin-Argyroglo.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/Violaine-lepreuse\u00a9Martin-Argyroglo.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/Violaine-lepreuse\u00a9Martin-Argyroglo-200x300.jpeg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">For his first opera, the composer Philippe Leroux has set his sights on an authentic \u00ab\u00a0mystery\u00a0\u00bb: this is how <em>L&rsquo;Annonce faite \u00e0 Marie<\/em>, described by Paul Claudel as a \u00ab\u00a0drama of the possession of a soul by the supernatural\u00a0\u00bb, is presented. Paul Claudel, whose work is inseparable from his Christian faith, revisits the figure of the Virgin. Following a chaste farewell kiss given to a guest of her father, the wise Violaine contracts leprosy. Recluse in a leper colony and rejected by all, she will nonetheless forgive the offences of those who have disowned her. One Christmas Eve, she performs miracles &#8211; starting with giving life to a newborn baby, the daughter of a sister who hates her and a former fianc\u00e9 who has left her. In this drama, writes director C\u00e9lie Pauthe, \u00ab\u00a0desire for elevation and wild impulses, flesh and spirit, heaven and earth engage in a hand-to-hand combat seeking to synthesise, the quest for a life and a work\u00a0\u00bb. Philippe Leroux and C\u00e9lie Pauthe wanted to summon Claudel himself to the stage. The former by recreating his voice, which, as melodic as it is rough, blends in at times with that of the performers, the latter by plunging the drama back into his native Tardenois. Thus the playwright is there, engaging in a secret dialogue with his characters, like a spectre watching over them, if not benevolent. In this score, both intimate and dizzying, the composer brings to life what Claudel called an \u00ab\u00a0opera of words\u00a0\u00bb, a dialogue between drama and poetry, between sound and meaning, between voice and breath.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Zh95ry6h4es?si=8WXf3UU-rh-lMvlE\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A faithful interpreter of Philippe Leroux, with a full voice and extremely clear articulation, French soprano Rapha\u00eble Kennedy is a heart-rending Violaine Vercors. Her commitment is total, her performance extraordinarily powerful and deeply moving in its humanity, lost and distraught, and her bearing is magnificent.<br \/>\nBruno Serrou, brunoserrou.blogspot.com, 2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rapha\u00eble Kennedy is a celestial yet down-to-earth Violaine, with a flute-like soprano voice that reaches for the heavens.<br \/>\nH\u00e9l\u00e8ne Kuttner, artistikrezo.com, 2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rapha\u00eble Kennedy is the very embodiment of Violaine, physically and vocally, seeming to do whatever she wants with her incredibly plastic voice, even in the high register.<br \/>\nLe Figaro, Christian Merlin, 2022<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">[&#8230;] In the first place, it is the soprano Rapha\u00eble Kennedy who commands admiration, because she portrays a particularly moving Violaine Vercors, but even more so because she reproduces, with almost no respite during the two and a half hours of the show, the details that abound in her part &#8211; microtonal intonation, nuances, changes in timbre during the performance &#8211; without ever compromising the fluidity or the momentum of her role.<br \/>\nAvant Sc\u00e8ne Op\u00e9ra, Pierre Rigaudi\u00e8re, 2022<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rapha\u00eble Kennedy leads Violaine from youthful energy to the breath of death with an unwavering vocal and stage presence [&#8230;].<br \/>\nJean-Guillaume Lebrun, La Terrasse, 2022<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">[&#8230;], let us mention the performance of the remarkable Rapha\u00eble Kennedy. If the vocal part of her interpretation leaves us speechless, her theatrical dimension is truly breathtaking and during the meeting with her sister in act three, she reaches heights of dramatic intensity that leave the entire audience frozen in amazement and admiration.<br \/>\nUnidivers, Thierry Martin, 2022<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">[&#8230;] Violaine, the saintly and sacrificial sister, finds in Rapha\u00eble Kennedy an interpretation &#8211; or rather, an intercession &#8211; that is strikingly accurate, energetic and emotional: an extraordinary first role with a starry vocal range, which takes her from a very young, whimsical woman to a piet\u00e0 already in heaven.<br \/>\nConcertClassic, Didier Lamare, 2022<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The first interventions of Violaine (fabulous Rapha\u00eble Kennedy), between mischievous glissandi and high-pitched thrusts, describe better than words the candour of the character, her absolute sincerity.<br \/>\nT\u00e9l\u00e9rama, Sophie Bourdais, 2022<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Violaine&rsquo;s text, which at the beginning sounds like a chatterbox, can be crushed with childish mischief or it can be a genuine lament. The duets are impressive, especially the one in the last act that pits raging instinct (Sophia Burgos&rsquo; convulsive Mara) against mystical faith (Rapha\u00eble Kennedy&rsquo;s hallucinated Violaine).<br \/>\nLe Monde, Pierre Gervasoni, 2022<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">It is a Violaine full of vitality &#8211; Rapha\u00eble Kennedy is breathtaking &#8211; who expresses herself in the first exchanges with Pierre de Craon, juggling with the syllables, in the interplay of phonemes, on the ascending momentum of her singing, accelerating or slowing down the flow: a relationship to the text that is as free as it is adventurous, which avoids any pathos and which Philippe Leroux likes to maintain, in the plasticity of the sung lines and the interaction of the instrumental playing. [Her] jubilant high notes and the agility of her voice, which is in demand throughout the opera, are marvellous [&#8230;].<br \/>\nRes Musica, Mich\u00e8le Tosi, 2022<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Armed with an impeccable vocal technique, the soprano navigates from the sharpest high notes of the playful and amorous young woman [&#8230;] to the painful and dramatic accents of illness and agony.<br \/>\nToute La Culture, Ang\u00e9lique Dascier, 2022<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rapha\u00eble Kennedy plays an intense Violaine, who goes from the will-o&rsquo;-the-wisp of love to the radiance of a blind but awake being. The emission [&#8230;] is remarkably natural, never forced, just like the unity of the timbre despite the multiple colours required [&#8230;].<br \/>\nForumopera, Tania Bracq, 2022<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Faced with such inventive vocal writing, the singers reveal the emotions of the characters with tremendous truth : Rapha\u00eble Kennedy&rsquo;s luminous and mysterious Violaine.<br \/>\nOpera Online, Laurent Vilarem, 2022<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1482 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/robe-de-fiancee-Chatelet.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"630\" height=\"420\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<hr>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><b>BERTRAND WOLFF<strong> | <\/strong><\/b><\/span><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><b><em><span style=\"color: #000000;\">AUSC\u00daLTARE<\/span><\/em><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>World premiere sound experience<br \/>\nMusic by Bertrand Wolff<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-441 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/auscultare_partition-graphique-allegee.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"auto\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Bertrand Wolff | composer<br \/>\nRapha\u00eble Kennedy | soprano<br \/>\nIsabelle Deproit | contralto<br \/>\nGuillaume Stagnaro | robotic design<br \/>\nAlexandre Martre | lighting creation<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ausc\u00faltare is a mixed work for two voices and electronics. The synthetic sounds, carried by four directional loudspeakers, unfold invisible landscapes, revealing the acoustic space as a new listening terrain.<br \/>\nThe composition explores the links between the human voice and synthesised sounds. Singing complements and extends the electronic sounds in a mimetic relationship. The superimposition of live voices and projected sounds gives rise to an encounter in which each extends, reflects and harmonises in an unheard-of interplay of timbres. These elements extend, respond and harmonise, creating an unsuspected universe.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-529 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Auscultare\u00a9Bertrand-Wolff.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"450\"><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A sound that is no longer measurable by hearing. As if the sound that surpasses us on all sides were the space that matures.<br \/>\nRainer Maria Rilke, Distant Song<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/798417942\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><b>KAIJA SAARIAHO &amp; JEAN-BAPTISTE BARRI\u00c8RE<strong> | <\/strong><\/b><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><em>VISUAL CO<\/em><\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><b><em><span style=\"color: #000000;\">NCERTS&nbsp;<\/span><\/em><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>Music by Kaija Saariaho and Jean-Baptiste Barri\u00e8re<br \/>\nVisual conception and realisation by Jean-Baptiste Barri\u00e8re<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-287 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/concerts-visuels-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"458\" height=\"auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/concerts-visuels-1.jpg 762w, https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/concerts-visuels-1-229x300.jpg 229w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Aliisa Neige Barri\u00e8re | violon<br \/>\nCamilla Hoitenga | flutes<br \/>\nRapha\u00eble Kennedy | voice<br \/>\nJean-Baptiste Barri\u00e8re | design and realisation of the images, electronics realisation<br \/>\nPierre-Jean Bouyer, Fran\u00e7ois Galard | video processing<br \/>\nIsabelle Barri\u00e8re | cameras and video control<br \/>\nThomas Goepfer | electronics realisation<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sensory correspondences, displacement of the imagination, reversal of perspectives: it is to a similar experience that <em>ekstasis<\/em> invites you, built by sound and image around six works by Kaija Saariaho and Jean-Baptiste Barri\u00e8re. The complementarity of their creative paths, living together and often working in the same way, draws the quite precise organization of the work presented. Prima la musica, dopo la visione&#8230; The three works of Kaija Saariaho are musical compositions, sound constructions, acoustic and electronic, pre-existing the vision of her husband. The three pieces by Jean-Baptiste Barri\u00e8re were conceived as multimedia works, and first of all for the visual concert, with lines and rhythms that are perhaps more direct, leaving open spaces to receive the images.<br \/>\nDidier Lamare<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/286655906?portrait=0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This concert\/show, with its visual dimension which is closely linked to the continuity of my writing, proposes [&#8230;] a path, a crossing of my work, and testifies in an original way to my musical career.<br \/>\nKaija Saariaho<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Above all, the image must not prevent from listening to the music [&#8230;]. It should not be placed on the music, or on the contrary illustrate the music. Neither should it proceed from the commentary on or around the music. It must thus be realized through its own writing, formally articulated with the musical writing, proceeding from the same ideas or techniques of composition, but developed in another sensitive dimension, without pleonasm nor arbitrary antagonism, in dynamic and evolutionary interaction. [\u2026] In this program, the music unfolds in the image, one becomes the extension of the other.<br \/>\nJean-Baptiste Barri\u00e8re<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-426 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/concerts-visuels-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"auto\"><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A sensory journey that accompanies a music that is just as much.<br \/>\nLe soir, Ga\u00eblle Moury, 2019<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">[&#8230;] The three works by each composer have the same propensity for intimate confidence. Saariaho&rsquo;s works (written in the 1990s) show an exceptional quality of deployment. Nocturne&rsquo;s spidery weave, NoaNoa&rsquo;s spatialized amplification and Lonh&rsquo;s enchanting revolutions. More recent (2003-2014), those of Barri\u00e8re (the twirling Crossing the Blind Forest, the bewitching Violance and the penetrating Ekstasis) reveal a taste for the projection of the vocal or instrumental gesture which, [&#8230;] ensures that the musician doubles as an authentic stage director.<br \/>\nLe Monde, Pierre Gervasoni, 2019<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Three musicians are united here: the flutist Camilla Hoitenga, faithful to the mazes of the two composers; the violinist Aliisa Neige Barri\u00e8re, their daughter, whose physical and musical presence diffuses a venomous enchantment; the soprano Rapha\u00eble Kennedy, in an embodiment with a silver tip that imposes, in our opinion, the reference versions of the two vocal pieces.<br \/>\nL. L., 2019<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">It was fascinating to hear what a well-balanced whole the two composers\u2019 respective works produced. [&#8230;] the two composers share many features in common, in particular their ability to structure multiple narrative layers at once and their simultaneous perception of past, present and future. At the heart of this is their unflinching belief in the relevance of modern art and its expressive powers. [&#8230;] The soprano Rapha\u00eble Kennedy had perfectly internalised the worlds of Saariaho\u2019s Lonh and Barri\u00e8re\u2019s Ekstasis.<br \/>\nAamulehti, Harri Hautala, 2021<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ekstasis was also an opportunity to showcase some of Saariaho and Barri\u00e8re\u2019s most trusted musicians, people who know exactly what performing these works requires. [&#8230;] Camilla Hoitenga, Aliisa Neige Barri\u00e8re and Rapha\u00eble Kennedy all performed their respective roles with great conviction [&#8230;].<br \/>\nHelsingin Sanomat, Samuli Tiikkaja, 2021<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ekstasis is a fascinating fusion of concert and multimedia performance [&#8230;]. Rapha\u00eble Kennedy\u2019s free, flexible and highly expressive voice was given the final word in the concert in Barri\u00e8re\u2019s Ekstasis for soprano and electronics.<br \/>\nHufvudstadsbladet, Heidi Korhonen-Bj\u00f6rkman, 2021<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Soprano Rapha\u00eble Kennedy gave an outstanding rendition of the vocal element of the piece, which includes much pure singing but also a wealth of extended vocal techniques. Accompanied only by electronics, Kennedy managed to retain her sense of pitch while sailing magnificently through the enormous vocal challenges Lonh presents.<br \/>\nOpera News, Argo McKinnon,&nbsp;2012<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">[\u2026] Lonh, a solo soprano work given a virtuosic reading by Rapha\u00eble Kennedy [\u2026]<br \/>\nThe New-York Times, Allan Kozinn, 2012<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rapha\u00eble Kennedy was the riveting soloist in the newest work on the program, Ekstasis.<br \/>\nThe New-York Times, Zachary Woolfe, 2014<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-425 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/concerts-visuels-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"auto\"><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><b>ROBERT PASCAL<strong> | <\/strong><\/b><\/span><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><b><em><span style=\"color: #000000;\">X\u012a L\u01cfNG<\/span><\/em><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>For soprano and electroacoustic device, in CD <em>Aubes<\/em><br \/>\nFor Rapha\u00eble Kennedy | Commissioned by the GMEM<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-645 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Robert-Pascal-Aubes.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"auto\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Rapha\u00eble Kennedy | soprano<br \/>\nPierre-Adrien Charpy | sound diffusion<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The entire piece follows a gentle modulation of long, floating sounds, accompanied by a sometimes fragile, deep bass. Here, the voice warms up, sometimes very energetically, reciting a poem by the 8th-century Chinese poet Du Fu. He acquired a vast estate, planted a host of different trees and plants, and lived there, with a view of the river and faraway mountains. The poem certainly bears the mark of his contemplations, and shares them as a succession of short, rich images. The score reprises the simple poem format, in four sections, with the voice gaining in mobility while reciting the text, striving to achieve each inflexion, of utter importance in Chinese languages. So the electronics serve to resonate, opening up the space Du Fu hints at. The title repeats two words from the poem in the evocation of the \u00ab\u00a0western peaks\u00a0\u00bb that rear up in the window frame.<\/p>\n<!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-43-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/xi-ling_cd.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/xi-ling_cd.mp3\">https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/xi-ling_cd.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Few composers of Robert Pascal&rsquo;s stature have entertained that necessary inner collision of thoughts in order to extract the essence of a doubt, and thus freedom. Freedom in which music decants the special signification in a life embracing strength in sincerity, held up as unity in direction. Resolutely refusing to rest on any laurels, he built a body of work that reflects precisely all that exhilarated his life. As a qualified maths teacher, he knew that writing may flourish when scrupulously articulating the void. The abstract nature of the art of producing sounds &#8211; in which composing means making sense of heterogeneity and even chaos &#8211; set up the greatest and most prolific of spheres of action. In keeping with the commitment demonstrated by his master Raffi Ourgandjian, he appropriated an approach tapping into creation as abandonment. Thus, he vigorously eliminated any form of power, even in an intellectual sense. As a teacher of composition, he constantly strived to be an exceptional source of support for his students, cloaked in respected discretion and humility. For his students and loved ones, he replaced everyday life which cannot be seized upon, and which escapes us indefinitely, with the unnoticed, that cannot be shut away, where we find a subtle tangle of truths that no media drenched in pictures and words could ever portray. Nature, the Proven\u00e7al dialect, the mountains that reward our efforts with beauty and depth in vision, his love of the land and his yearning for cubist light from the south, all firmly cast him as a Mediterranean soul. Such was Robert Pascal, an intermingling of his life and works and ever lucky encounters for his friends.<br \/>\nHenry Four\u00e8s<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">[&#8230;] On this beautiful, strange and penetrating disc, [&#8230;] x\u012b l\u01d0ng (2012), a spectacular Chinese-style landscape, snow-capped peaks, a boat on a lake and birds in the sky, for soprano and electroacoustic device, with the porcelain voice of Rapha\u00eble Kennedy.<br \/>\nL.L., november 2023<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<hr>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><b>LAURENT CUNIOT<strong>&nbsp;| <\/strong><\/b><\/span><b><strong><em>L&rsquo;ENFANT INOU\u00cf<\/em><\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>World premiere opera for young audiences<br \/>\nLibretto and Staging by Sylvain Maurice<br \/>\nMusic by Laurent Cuniot<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-937 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/lenfantinoui-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"428\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Rapha\u00eble Kennedy | soprano<br \/>\nAnne-C\u00e9cile Cuniot | flute<br \/>\nEtienne Lamaison | clarinet<br \/>\nGianny Pizzolato | percussions<br \/>\nAntonin Bouvret | scenography<br \/>\nLo\u00efs Drouglazet | video creation<br \/>\nRodolphe Martin | lighting creation<br \/>\nL\u00e9a Perron | costumes<br \/>\nYann Bouloiseau | sound<br \/>\nR\u00e9mi Rose | general management<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">On the shelves of a library open to the imagination, the illustrated album by Oliver Jeffers: <em>The extraordinary boy who devoured books<\/em>. Henri devoured them for good, voraciously, making himself sick with stories and knowledge until he lost everything, before discovering, in reading, an effective and joyful remedy. Sylvain Maurice seizes the book, as a gourmet more than a gourmand. He draws from it the libretto of a musical theater for young people. He imagines a video scenography like a blank page where all the words, the desires, the oddities of this unheard of and unheard of childhood craving are projected. It is the world of which all children who dream and are therefore not reasonable are curious, the world of those who will come to listen to this small opera with one voice, three instrumentalists and electronic device. Dynamic, often mobile and sometimes mysterious, Laurent Cuniot&rsquo;s music speaks directly to the sensitivity of young spectators. It opens back doors to sound elsewhere with which they are not familiar. Unheard of, again. How unheard of is the coloratura soprano voice of Rapha\u00eble Kennedy, at once very maternal and very juvenile, narrator and embodiment of the characters. She flies in the heart of this fantasy with the colors of a poetic, dreamlike, fantastic, funny and moving rainbow if one wants to listen to it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PtUJQz0ZANc\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The title is delightful, the work is no less so. [&#8230;] Laurent Cuniot&rsquo;s music is nothing less than demanding, linking the voice and the three instruments in a complicit, inventive and often virtuoso writing. Rapha\u00eble Kennedy&rsquo;s performance, full of freshness and vitality, to which the score leaves almost no respite, is spectacular. [&#8230;] She is irresistible in the \u00ab\u00a0songs\u00a0\u00bb that punctuate the score. [&#8230;] Like our soprano, Anne-C\u00e9cile Cuniot, Etienne Lamaison and Gianny Pizzolato are exemplary partners in a performance in which \u00ab\u00a0meaning and sound become one\u00a0\u00bb, as the composer points out.<br \/>\nResMusica, Mich\u00e8le Tosi, 2019<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The music of Laurent Cuniot gives to hear the clarity and the nuances of the pure and virtuoso coloratura soprano voice of Rapha\u00eble Kennedy [&#8230;]. The instruments converse with pleasure [&#8230;].<br \/>\nTh\u00e9\u00e2tre du blog, V\u00e9ronique Hotte, 2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<hr>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><b>ENSEMBLE TM+<\/b><\/span><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><b><br \/>\n<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><b><em>LA NUIT EN T\u00caTE<\/em><\/b><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A listening journey<br \/>\nMusic by Claude Lejeune, Hans Abrahamsen, Michelangelo Rossi, Henry Purcell, Gy\u00f6rgy Ligeti, Tarquinio Merula, Georges Aperghis<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1272 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/La-nuit-en-tete_Opera-de-Massy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"auto\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Rapha\u00eble Kennedy | soprano<br \/>\nYannick Varlet | harpsichord<br \/>\nJulien Le Pape | piano<br \/>\nAnne-C\u00e9cile Cuniot | flute<br \/>\nEtienne Lamaison | clarinet<br \/>\nNo\u00ebmi Schindler | violin<br \/>\nMarion Plard | viola<br \/>\nFlorian Lauridon | cello<br \/>\nGianny Pizzolato | percussions<br \/>\nLaurent Cuniot | conductor<br \/>\nChristophe Schaeffer | lighting creation<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In this <em>listening journey<\/em>, tm+ interweaves ancient and contemporary music around the theme of night. Like a nocturnal dive in the form of poetic echoes. The <em>Two Inger Christensen Songs<\/em> by Hans Abrahamsen (born 1952), which suspend time to take us back to the heart of childlike emotions born of the mother&rsquo;s song, are answered by the famous lullaby by Tarquinio Merula (1595-1665), as haunting as it is moving. <em>La nuit en t\u00eate<\/em> by Georges Aperghis (born 1945) echoes the gentle, obsessive inner turmoil of a woman struggling with her thoughts, as if mirroring the strange sweetness of <em>See, even night herself is here<\/em>, the famous aria by Henry Purcell (1659-1695) from his opera <em>The Fairy Queen.<\/em> Other music by Claude Lejeune and an anonymous 17th-century composer are part of this weaving of past and present, where the centuries become blurred to reveal to the listener the singularity and timeless expressive intensity of each of the works in this original programme.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">[&#8230;] Christophe Schaeffer&rsquo;s lighting contributes to the delicate, intimate sounds of the tempered harpsichord mixed with the enigmatic percussion and celesta. Violin, viola, flute, clarinet and cello each contribute their own timbre, while maintaining a homogeneous ensemble. In the ensemble works, they let themselves be guided by Laurent Cuniot&rsquo;s precise, supple conducting. In works involving fewer instruments, they manage to direct themselves and pay close attention to phrasing. Yannick Varlet and his harpsichord provide much of the programme&rsquo;s musical inspiration and continuity. His skilfully improvised transitions make this cohesion possible, with Ligeti&rsquo;s Passacaglia ungherese as the central work. [&#8230;] Rapha\u00eble Kennedy embodies even more of this technical and musical precision, in the service of a true narrative. With a clear, almost crystalline timbre, and always very sure, she handles parts of great difficulty with great ease. The only things that betray her are her precise attention and her brief, concentrated glances during Georges Aperghis&rsquo;s audacious La Nuit en t\u00eate. Her leaps in register in Hans Abrahamsen&rsquo;s Two Inger Christensen Songs show flawless vocal control through subtle balance in her projection. Her pianissimi have great presence and softness. Alongside these modern works, Purcell&rsquo;s See, even night herself is here and J&rsquo;avois cr\u00fb qu&rsquo;en vous aymant by an anonymous seventeenth-century composer are breathtaking in their elegant melodies, culminating in the hypnotic lullaby Canzonetta spirituale sopra alla nanna by Tarquinio Merula.<br \/>\nOlyrix, Emmanuel Deroeux, february 2025<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<hr>\n<ul>\n<li><b><strong><em>QUATRE CHANTS POUR FRANCHIR LE SEUIL<\/em><\/strong><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Music by G\u00e9rard Grisey<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-502 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/TMplus-Grisey.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Rapha\u00eble Kennedy | soprano<br \/>\ntm+<br \/>\nLaurent Cuniot | conductor<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I conceived <em>Quatre chants pour franchir le seuil<\/em> as a musical meditation on death in four parts : the death of the angel, the death of civilization, the death of the voice and the death of humanity. [&#8230;] The texts chosen belong to four civilizations (Christian, Egyptian, Greek, Mesopotamian) and have in common a fragmentary discourse on the ineluctability of death. [&#8230;] Almost like a fifth song, once again \u00ab\u00a0diatonic\u00a0\u00bb, the tender lullaby that seals the cycle is not intended for sleep but for awakening. Music of the dawn of a humanity finally rid of the nightmare. I dare to hope that this lullaby will not be one of those that we will sing tomorrow to the first human clones when it will be necessary to reveal to them the unbearable genetic and psychological violence that was done to them by a humanity desperately in search of founding taboos.<br \/>\nG\u00e9rard Grisey<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TOCSWrT4WDY\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Death and its rituals. Musical, poetic, inner worlds turning like planets. Thousand-year-old civilizations brought before us and which tell of the passage. Rapha\u00eble Kennedy&rsquo;s crystal voice sings of the inevitability of disappearances &#8211; men, beliefs, civilisations &#8211; in barely visible shimmers and unfathomable maelstroms. There is no question of consoling religion or abysses of despair : only the absolute plenitude of an artist who seizes the inescapable question and offers us his music from beyond, a voice like red gold above the tumult.<br \/>\nDemi-cadratin.fr, Didier Lamare, 2014<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<hr>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><b>ENSEMBLE ARS NOVA<strong>&nbsp;| <\/strong><\/b><\/span><b><strong><em> LABORINTUS II<\/em><\/strong><\/b><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><b><br \/>\n<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>Music by Luciano Berio, Carlo Gesualdo and Luca Marenzio<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-865 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Ars-Nova-Laborintus-II-large.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"337,5\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Serge Maggiani | narrator<br \/>\nRapha\u00eble Kennedy, C\u00e9line Boucard, Anne Magou\u00ebt, Anne-Marie Jacquin | sopranos<br \/>\nEls Janssens, Caroline Gesret | mezzo-sopranos<br \/>\nIsabelle Deproit | alto<br \/>\nHugues Primard, Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Chiama | tenors<br \/>\nPaul-Alexandre Dubois, Nicol\u00e1s Lartaun, baritones<br \/>\nEnsemble Ars Nova<br \/>\nEmma Li\u00e9geois | video actress<br \/>\nGregory Vajda | musical direction<br \/>\nDavid Lescot | stage direction<br \/>\nAlwyne de Dardel | scenography<br \/>\nSerge Meyer | video<br \/>\nOlga Karpinsky | costumes<br \/>\nJuliette Besan\u00e7on | lighting<br \/>\nAugustin Muller | Ircam electronics, Ircam computer music consultancy<br \/>\nJ\u00e9r\u00e9mie Bourgogne | Ircam sound diffusion<br \/>\nMarie Delebarre, Erwan Le Metayer, Maxime Robert | stage management<\/p>\n<p>Laborintus II is a work for the stage; it can be treated as a story, an allegory, a documentary or a dance.<br \/>\nLuciano Berio<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1yyqgGJbm0U?si=hqoBQekinRKIBneg\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">[&#8230;] a hallucinatory sequence of 60s free jazz, letting loose and giving free rein to improvisation. It&rsquo;s a chance to sing and dance for the sparkling Rapha\u00eble Kennedy, galvanised by the effects of an eccentric trumpet and two drum sections.<br \/>\nResMusica, Mich\u00e8le Tosi, june 2023<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">[&#8230;] Ars Nova&rsquo;s remarkably well-prepared group of singers, particularly the female trio, display a profusion of language and speech. The unbridled vocality, the soloistic and noisy escapes (clapping hands) are never at the expense of accuracy and overall balance.<br \/>\nConcertoNet, J\u00e9r\u00e9mie Bigorie, june 2023<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Conducted by Gregory Vajda, the artists of the Ars Nova ensemble deliver a performance of the highest calibre.<br \/>\nAnaclase, BB, june 2023<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A splendour, masterfully interpreted.<br \/>\n[&#8230;] The singers, musicians and Maggiani drift madly through the texts: on the one hand, Dante&rsquo;s language, set to music in this way, rediscovers its original tessitura, and on the other, litanies of places and names, spoken and embodied by the exceptional singers of Ars Nova.<br \/>\nTransfuge, Oriane Jeancourt Galignani, june 2023<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<hr>\n<p>Photos credits:<br \/>\nL&rsquo;Annonce faite \u00e0 Marie\u00a9Martin Argyroglo &#8211; Angers-Nantes Op\u00e9ra &amp; \u00a9Thomas Amouroux &#8211; Th\u00e9\u00e2tre du Ch\u00e2telet<br \/>\nAusc\u00faltare\u00a9Bertrand Wolff<br \/>\nVisual concerts\u00a9Isabelle Fran\u00e7aix<br \/>\nx\u012b l\u01d0ng@Jean-Paul Villegas<br \/>\nL&rsquo;Enfant inou\u00ef\u00a9Elizabeth Carecchio<br \/>\nQuatre chants pour franchir le seuil\u00a9DR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PHILIPPE LEROUX | L&rsquo;ANNONCE FAITE \u00c0 MARIE World premiere opera Libretto by Rapha\u00e8le Fleury based on Paul Claudel&rsquo;s work Staging by C\u00e9lie Pauthe Music by Philippe Leroux Rapha\u00eble Kennedy | Violaine Vercors Sophia Burgos | Mara Vercors Els Janssens Vanmunster | Elisabeth Vercors Marc Scoffoni | Anne Vercors Charles Rice | Jacques Hury Vincent Bouchot &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/en\/important-collaborations\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continuer la lecture<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> de &laquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43"}],"version-history":[{"count":65,"href":"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":836,"href":"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43\/revisions\/836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/raphaelekennedy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}