フランス放送合唱団 Radio France Choir
The Radio France Choir is, with the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra , the National Orchestra of France and the Maitrise de Radio France , one of the four permanent formations of Radio France .
The Radio France Choir is the only permanent professional choir with a symphonic vocation in the country. Its workforce is 60 lyrical artists . He is most often associated with the three other Radio France groups and also performs with other orchestras , or alone, during a cappella concerts , or with reduced accompaniment. Its musical director has been Lionel Sow since September 2022.
History
Since their birth, the Orchester national de la Radiodiffusion francaise ( 1934 ), then the Orchester radio-symphonique ( 1937 ), have regularly called on two choirs, the Yvonne Gouverne Choir and the Felix Raugel Choir . After the Second World War , these choirs were gradually recognized as the Choirs of French broadcasting and were divided into two distinct formations: the lyric choir (Ch?ur Gouverne) and the symphonic choir (Ch?ur Felix Raugel). It was in 1947 that the Symphonic Choir and the Lyric Choir came together, whose status changed. The French Radio Broadcasting Choirs now form an ensemble made up of salaried professional singers. Rene Alix is ??the director; Marcel Couraud , who later took over from him, directed it regularly. The RTF Choir, founded in 1947, was renamed the ORTF Choir when the latter was created in 1964 . 1975 , end of ORTF , birth of Radio France . The ORTF Choirs are renamed the Radio France Choir.
Musical directors of the Radio France Choir
Lionel Sow has been the musical director of the Radio France Choir since 2022 1 . He was preceded by Martina Bati? (musical director from 2018 to 2021, then principal guest conductor from September 2021 to August 2022), Sofi Jeannin (from 2015 to 2018), Matthias Brauer (from 2006 to 2014) Philip White (from 2001 to 2004), Francois Polgar (from 1991 to 2000), Michel Tranchant (from 1986 to 1991), Jacques Jouineau (from 1977 to 1986), Marcel Couraud (from 1967 to 1975) then Rene Alix (from 1947 to 1966), himself even having taken over in 1945 from Yvonne Gouverne and Felix Raugel , choir directors of their respective groups since 1937 .
Collaborations
Made up of professional artists, the Radio France Choir is the privileged partner of the two Radio France orchestras - the Orchester national de France conducted by Emmanuel Krivine and the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Mikko Franck - and regularly collaborates with the Master of Radio France directed by Sofi Jeannin . With an international dimension, it is in demand by other major classical groups such as the London Symphonic Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra , the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra .
His interpretation of the great works of the symphonic and lyrical repertoire is recognized worldwide. The most renowned conductors have conducted it: Leonard Bernstein , Seiji Ozawa , Ricardo Muti , Vladimir Fedosseiev , Kurt Masur , Mariss Jansons , Valery Gergiev , Emmanuel Krivine , Daniele Gatti , Myung-Wun Chung , Mikko Franck , Yutaka Sado , Gustavo Dudamel , Bernard Haitink , etc. And among the choir directors: Simon Halsey , Marcus Creed , Celso Antunes , Nicolas Fink , Michael Alber , Alberto Malazzi , Lionel Sow , Florian Helgath , Matthias Brauer , Laurent Hayrabedian 2 .