BIRDS

Concert by Jean Boucault & Johnny Rasse, Claire Marchal, Quartet Ardeo, Ina Kancheva, Vassilena Serafimova

Free admission

BIRDS are the main theme of CULTURAMA 2023 and La Fete de la Musique, presenting a poetic musical journey in many incarnations. Ambassadors, nomads, symbols of freedom and constant movement, birds have inspired composers and performers throughout the centuries, while poets have attributed to them the symbolism of various emotional states and human characters.

Enamored with birdsong since childhood, Jean Bouc and Johnny Ras have developed a unique mouth-playing technique that imitates the trills of hundreds of bird species. Their participation is combined with the gentle timbre of Claire Marshall's flute, the bright voice of soprano Ina Kancheva, and the virtuosity of marimba player Vasilena Serafimova, while the exceptional French quartet Ardeo enriches this colorful picture of diverse repertoire with its refined music-making.

Jean Boucault& Johnny Rasse

Jean Bouc and Johnny Ras are two nature lovers who are passionately drawn to birds and their poetry. Imitating their songs quickly becomes a reflex, a game, a passion. They then sought to make their gift more musical, to turn it into an art form and become true "bird singers."

Their talent led them to participate in various radio and television programs, including Les Victoires de la Musique Classique (the French "GRAMMYs"), the Molières ceremony, La Nuit de la Voix, and Folle Journée de Nantes. They now perform throughout France, as well as in Japan, Russia, Poland, and other countries, presenting concerts and shows in the universal language of birds.

Quatuor Ardeo

In Latin, Ardeo means "I burn." It is the name of the quartet, as well as its motto, and defines the way these four young women approach their repertoire.

Quatuor Ardeo was founded in 2001 at the CNSM in Paris. Their artistic understanding, spirit of harmony, and great complicity gave rise to a musical career crowned with several international awards—in Bordeaux, Moscow, Melbourne, as well as the Premio Paolo Borciani—which came as a reward for their exceptional qualities. Faithfully supported by Mécénat Musical Société Générale, the quartet resided at the Singer-Polignac Foundation between 2008 and 2016. Since 2005, the quartet has participated in professional training and cultural activities of the ProQuartet Association for more than 10 years. Named "Rising Stars" in 2014, the quartet has performed in the most prestigious European concert halls: the Cologne, Paris, and Luxembourg Philharmonic Halls, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Konzerthaus in Vienna and Dortmund, Laeishalle in Hamburg, Konserthuset in Stockholm, Megaron in Athens, Auditori in Barcelona, Casa da Musica in Porto, Palace of Arts in Budapest, Barbican Centre in London, Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, Cité de la Musique, Salle Cortot, Centre Georges Pompidou, Arsenal in Metz. The quartet has participated in numerous festivals such as the Festival de Radio France in Montpellier, Folles Journées in Nantes, as well as regional events in Japan, Santander, and Kumo. 

Ardeo regularly shares the stage with Adam Lalum, Thomas Demenga, Noam Greenberg, Victor-Julien Lafereire, Matan Porat, Bertrand Chamayou, Jérôme Pernoud, Alain Mionnier, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Evgeny Korolev, Mario Brunello, Andrei Korobeinikov, David Violi, Aaron Pilsan, and works closely with pianist David Kadouch, Luis Fernando Pérez, and clarinetist Reto Bierri. The repertoire of the four young ladies is very broad, including contemporary works, and they regularly work with Kaija Saariaho, Pascal Dusapin, François Meymoun, Philippe Schüller, and Thomas Larcher...

Over the past 18 years, they have demonstrated exceptional character, integrity, inspired and powerful music-making, and have proven themselves to be one of the best quartets of their generation.

The Ardeo Quartet will participate in the "Birds" project and will also perform a solo program during the festival, presenting recordings of some of their latest concepts, Bach or Beethoven.

Ina Kancheva

Ina Kancheva graduated in opera singing from the Prof. Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music in Sofia. She was awarded scholarships to the European Opera Center in Manchester, the Arena di Verona Foundation, the Accademia Chigiana, and the Placido Domingo Center for Excellence in Milan. She received scholarships for the European Opera Center in Manchester, the Arena di Verona Foundation, the Accademia Chigiana, and the Plácido Domingo Center for Excellence at the Palau de les Arts. She is a laureate of many prestigious competitions, including Young Musical Talents, Pancho Vladigerov, Montserrat Caballé, Manuel Auzenski, Spiros Argyris, DEBUT, Viotti, As.Li.Co, and others. She was named Musician of the Year in 2002. From 2002 to 2006, Ina Kancheva was a member of the Hanover Opera troupe, and from 2006 to 2011, she was a member of the Stuttgart Opera, where she performed the roles of Juliet in "Capulets and Montagues," Mimi in "La Bohème,"  Violetta in La Traviata, Countess Adele in Il Conte Ory, Lucio Silla in Lucio Silla, Micaela in Carmen, and others. In 2000 and 20021, Ina collaborated closely with the Berlin Radio National Radio Orchestra, with whom she made a number of recordings and concerts. She has performed as a soloist at numerous festivals in Bulgaria and abroad: Festival Castell de Peralada (Spain), Amadeus Festival and Flanneries Music Festival (France), Landmarks Summer Festival (USA), Beiteddine Festival, Rossini Opera Festival, Ambronay Barock Festival, Ostrava International Festival, etc., as well as in a number of opera houses in Germany, the Royal Danish Opera, Covent Garden in London, La Scala in Milan, Palau de les Arts in Valencia, Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, etc. He has worked with internationally renowned conductors such as Sir Colin Davis, Manfred Honeck, Enrique Mazzola, Vladimir Jurowski, Alberto Zedda, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Vasily Petrenko, Julia Jones, Sir Neville Marriner, Jiří Bělohlávek, Konrad Junghennel, and Sébastien Roulin, as well as leading specialists in the field of Baroque music such as René Jacobs, Ottavio Dantone, Stefano Montanari, and others.

Vasilena Serafimova

Vasilena Serafimova is the first Bulgarian percussionist to be awarded First Prize at the Fifth World Marimba Competition in Stuttgart, Germany, and Second Prize at the 56th ARD International Music Competition in Munich. At the international competition "Music and Earth" she was awarded the Grand Prize as a soloist, as well as First Prize as a member of the percussion ensemble "Accent", created by her parents Avgustina and Simeon Serafimov. In 2014, Vasilena made her debut at Carnegie Hall in New York, and a year later, together with Toma Enko (piano), she was the first marimba performer in the history of the Victoires de la Musique Classique awards ceremony in France. In 2016, the duo Toma Enko & Vasilena Serafimova recorded their first album, Funambules, for the legendary Deutsche Grammophon, and in 2017, the musicians were awarded Second Prize at the International Chamber Music Competition in Osaka, Japan. In March 2021, their second album, Bach Mirror, recorded for SONY Classics, was enthusiastically received by the specialist media and the public. In 2013, Vasilena accepted the invitation to become artistic director of the Paris Percussion Group alongside Jean-Baptiste Leclerc. She is also artistic director and co-founder of the International Marimba and Percussion Festival in Bulgaria. She often lectures at master classes in Europe, Central and North America, and Asia. One of her latest musical projects is a duo with electronic music composer Chloe. The two innovators were invited by Xavier Veilhan to the French Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2017, and their first album was released in October 2021. During the pandemic in 2020, Vasilena and Ina Kancheva created Samodivi, a new musical project inspired by the mythical samodivi. Vasilena is an artist with Adams Musical Instruments and Vibrawell mallets.