Driven by a common passion for teaching, vocal improvisation and musical adventures off beaten path, Christine Bertocchi, Valérie Philippin and Claudia Solal will share, throughout this workshop, their specific approaches around the origin of words, the development of language and the extended vocal exploration with or without textual support. From sound poetry to musical theater, from working with vocal textures to instant composition, from imaginary language to the making of sung forms, it is a vast playing field that each of them will enrich through improvised proposals or exploratory walks among all the available materials.
Valérie Philippin
With a training in dance, theater and then lyrical singing (golden medal from the Boulogne-Billancourt’s academy of music), Valérie Philippin specialised in 20s century and contemporary repertoire, combining interpretation, writing and improvisation while exploring the links developed between voice and music, theater, dance, literature and visual arts.
Repertoire’s performer and creator of numerous concert and musical theater’s works since the 90s, she has been involved in major French and international ensembles, Ircam, Inter-contemporary ensemble and sang under the direction of conductors Pierre-André Valade, Baldur Brönnimann, Susanna Mälkki, Peter Rundel, Jean Deroyer, Philippe Nahon...
The founder and artistic director of « Singulière compagnie - la voix et les arts de la scène » and then of the instrumental ensemble « Kiosk », she created musical shows honoured by the Beaumarchais Foundation, the Alexandrie Modern Art Biennale’s golden medal, the Coupleux-Lassalle’s price... Her CD-DVD « A portée de voix » conceived with Kiosk ensemble to Georges Aperghis’s vocal music was praised in 2011 by Charles Cros’ Grand Prix de l’Académie.
Today she pursues her exploration of crossovers between contemporary vocal writings, sound poetry, world music and improvisation as a research and musical creation space. She writes and composes pieces for voice, scores-poetry and open forms.
Authors of articles and books on working with the voice, she published with Symétrie editions in 2017 « La voix soliste contemporaine, repères, technique et répertoire » and in November 2018 « Le corps chantant, anatomie et technique vocale ».
Supported by an in-depth study of vocal « lutherie », her teaching with professionals and non-professionals aims at developing creative voices and imaginations by combining contemporary repertoire with diverse vocal styles explorations, free improvisation and individual and collective composition stemming out of techniques coming from dance and theater. Her main focus is to question the place of orality within music practice and its transmission.
She gives master classes in France and abroad to singers, voice teachers and composers, especially for the Réseau Européen des Académies d’Opéra, Ircam, l’Académie du festival Manifeste, Burgundy and Aquitaine center for higher education in music, the Paris CRR’s Young Singers department, Orsay CFMI, Ecole Supérieure Nationale des Arts de la Marionnette as well as numerous music academies.
Claudia Solal
Claudia Solal is an untamed and adventurous musician. As a singer, songwriter, she has been performing for over 20 years in France and abroad, on the most prestigious venues and festivals. Her singular collaborations, her numerous artistic experiences played a large part in building a unique and captivating vocal language, at the crossroads of written material and improvised songs. Off shore songs, as she likes to call them.
After her highly acclaimed first two recordings «My own Foolosophy» (quartet with Baptiste Trotignon, 1998), and «Porridge Days» (duet with Benjamin Moussay, 2005 – Charles Cros Academy’s Coup de cœur), she releases «Room Service» in 2010 (ffff télérama), with Spoonbox quartet. Her third album in collaboration with Benjamin Moussay, Butter in my Brain, is unanimously celebrated (2017 - ffff Télérama, 4 stars Jazzmagazine). It is nominated at the Victoires du Jazz 2018.
Much in demand as soloist and sidewoman, Claudia recently has been heard in Yves Rousseau’s Poète, vos papiers - tribute to Léo Ferré in tandem with singer Jeanne Added, with Françoise Toullec’s la Banquise, with pianist Jean-Marie Machado (Les Ames Papillon 5tet / Danzas Orchestra), in Eleanora Suite with clarinetist Jean-Marc Foltz and violinist Régis Huby, in duet with saxophonist Jean-Charles Richard, in duet with her father Martial Solal, or with his Newdecaband, with la Théorie du Chaos (with Médéric Collignon and Lê Xuy Xuân), a trio of vocal improvisation.
She currently works in a trio with Didier Petit and Philippe Foch (Les Voyageurs de l’Espace / Charles Cros Academy’s Grand Prix 2017), - with whom she toured in China in 2016 and 2017, and in Finland and Baltic Countries in 2018, with french american quartet Antichamber Music (Katie Young, Lou Mallozzi and Benoît Delbecq), Equivoxe duet with contemporary singer Valérie Philippin, in duet with clarinetist Sylvain Kassap Moldaves !, with Diego Imbert’s Le Vent Nocturne (on poems by Apollinaire) for winds and strings… A duet recording with Benoît Delbecq will be released in 2019.
She’s been teaching since 1998, and has run the jazz singing and improvisation class at Strasbourg’s Conservatory CRR since 2005. She gives workshops and master classes, and composes for TV and theater, and lends her voice for radio and movies.
Christine Bertocchi
Christine begins performing on stage at a young age for singing shows while still training (CNR in Grenoble and various professional workshops). Starting in 1992, her interest takes her towards multidisciplinary works (theater, dance, singing) and she begins to work for choreographers and theater directors, such as Bruno Meyssat (1993-1999). She pursues her training in lyrical singing, medieval singing and does an internship at the Centre Acanthe (2002). A certified Feldenkrais practitioner since 2000, Christine also trained in voice anatomy and physiology with speech therapist Guy Cornut and Blandine Calais-Germain.
Co-founder of the non-profit organization Mercoledi & Co (1996 to 2001), she develops a unique style in various forms of reading-concerts, readings of contemporary authors, and performances in music improvisation.
Since 2005 she works both in Burgundy where she founded D’un instant à l’autre company, and in Paris where she still collaborates with music-improvisers, composers and authors. Her performance works explore the relationship between text and music, writing and improvisation, body and voice, and enquires into the audience’s modes of listening: Voie Ouverte 2007, En aparté 2010, Imaginary Soundscapes 2011, Multivox 2012, Engrenages 2015, Bon voyage 2018. www.uninstantalautre.com
Since 2014, she sings in D.U.O with Guillaume Orti, an evolving project which enjoys ringing in unusual places.
She pursues her long collaboration with bass player Eric Chalan, with the written repertoire titled « à mesure... » (text by Ghislain Mugneret - composition by Guillaume Orti) as well as with improvisation performances.
She presently sings in Pascal Charrier’s KamiOctet.
Christine teaches vocal techniques, vocal improvisation, vocal games, musical theater and ways to integrate body and stage work (Feldenkrais® method) in professional training settings for musicians, singers, dancers or actors (Harmoniques in Paris, Orsay CFMI, ESM-Dijoin, CNFPT, Afdas training sessions, ARIAM, Opera House Dijon, various CRR), throughout France and beyond.
24 people maximum. Registration will be taken into account in order of arrival on a first-come basis. Financial support is available through OPCO (Afdas, Uniformation, FIPPL...) and employers. A discount rate is possible for individual financing.
contact@uninstantalautre.com / + 33 6 25 11 20 29