LET'S SING CHRISTMAS WITH THE LYRIQUE-EN-MER CHOIR
December 21, 2024 at 6 p.m. Palais Church
The Lyrique-en-Mer festival choir, accompanied by soprano Jazmin Black Grollemund, take us on a journey through classical and traditional Christmas carols in French, Latin, Spanish and Breton.
Under the direction of Gérald de Montmarin, choirmaster, and Brigitte Clair on piano.
Come and join us for "Douce Nuit", "Il est né le divin enfant", "Noël Blanc" (White Christmas), "Vive le vent" and many more....
Concert fee €10, free for children under 12.
The concert will be followed by a mulled wine reception on the Place de la Mairie, in aid of and with the participation of GUERVEUR (with the support of the Mairie de Palais, Biocoop and Ouest Boissons).
Discover the artists' bios below
A dense and prestigious career for this native of Rennes, who has been everywhere and rubbed shoulders with the greatest in the musical world... After obtaining her two first prizes in piano and viola at the CNR de Rennes at the age of 14, Brigitte Clair went on to study piano, chamber music, composition and accompaniment at the CNSM de Paris, where she won the Concours International de Sonates de Vierzon, and her passion for the voice led her to develop her activity as a vocal conductor with major houses. Pianist at the Ecole d'art lyrique de l'Opéra de Paris, she went on to work with the Opéra National de Paris, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Festival Radio-France Montpellier, Palazetto Bru Zane, Radio France, Deutsch Oper Berlin, Bologna, Lausanne...and as far afield as China, performing classical repertoire and contemporary creations. In demand as a harpsichordist and pianist, she becomes the musical assistant to conductors such as R. Jacobs (Cosi fan tutte at the Champs Elysées...) or E.Pido( Cenerentola...), collaborates with B.Haîtink for an anthological Pelléas et Mélisande, with Kurt Masur, M.W.Chung at RadioFrance for Messiaen's Saint-François d'Assise, Carmen...and many other premieres, as well as with Ève Ruggieri, J-M Damian and regularly performs with the NFB (January 2024 Carmina Burana with Ludovic Tézier at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées). Accompanying artists such as Jean-Pierre Wallez, Maxence Larrieu, Anne-Sophie Von Otter, Franck Ferrari, Magdalena Kozena, Vincent Le Texier, Marianne Crébassa, Timothée Varon, Elsa Benoit...the Festivals of Périgord Noir, Septembre Musical de l'Orne, Chartres, Ile de France, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Ramatuelle, Rennes, Moscow Contemporary Music, Switzerland, Spain, Italy and even China regularly invite her. For the 2018 season, she joined the Pôle Supérieur de Dijon as vocal director and continues to collaborate with numerous theaters and festivals (Clermont, Lyon, Menuhin Festival in Gstaadt, Berlioz Festival in La Côte Saint André , Festival de la Trinité sur mer, OpéraComique ,Musicatreize, ... as vocal director and recitalist with singers. She continues to work with Philippe Jaroussky at his academy. Developing numerous projects in Brittany with the Compagnie La Voce dell'Alma, she works with the Triforium choir in Vannes as guest conductor.
Gérald de Montmarin trained for 8 years at the Maîtrise de Notre Dame de Paris under Nicole Corti, Lionel Sow and Sylvain Dieudonné. This solid experience as a member of the Maîtrise, then as a singer in the choir of the Université Paris-Sorbonne, awakened his harmonic and polyphonic sense, and enabled him to tackle a wider choral repertoire.
With a degree in Music and Musicology from the Sorbonne, he went on to specialize in choral conducting with Denis Rouger, Ariel Alonso and Jean-Philippe Billmann, with whom he obtained the Diplôme National Supérieur Professionnel de Musicien en direction d'ensemble vocal at the Haute Ecole des Arts du Rhin in June 2022.
He was artistic director of the Petits Chanteurs de Saint Laurent de Paris for five years. He is also choirmaster of the Maîtrise de Saint Christophe de Javel, as well as the Pré-Maîtrise and Choeur Préparatoire of the Maîtrise de Notre Dame de Paris from 2015 to 2017.
From September 2017 to July 2022, he will head the Strasbourg Cathedral choir school. In addition to services and concerts at the cathedral, he leads the choir in concerts throughout Alsace and France during summer tours. He will be recording the "Chapelles rayonnantes" cd in May 2019.
In September 2022, he joined the teaching staff of the Académie de Musique et d'Arts Sacrés de Sainte-Anne d'Auray as pre-mastery choirmaster, music culture teacher and music education teacher at the Groupe Scolaire Sainte-Anne Saint-Louis.
In January 2023, he becomes assistant choral conductor for the Lyrique-en-Mer Festival choir.
After coming to Belle-Ile-en-Mer as a young artist at the Festival Lyrique in 2009, the American soprano settled in France for good in 2013.
When Jazmin is not on her adopted island, she is invested as one of the principal artists of Les Variétés Lyriques, a company dedicated to the creation, performance and transmission of opera. Committed to projects that democratize opera singing, Jazmin also leads singing workshops for adults and children.
Jazmin flourishes alongside composers such as Mark Kilstofte, Nathan Fryml, Philip Walsh, Philippe Schoeller and Olga Vassileva to bring contemporary works to life. In 2019, Jazmin plays the role of Alma Stinney in Stinney: An American Execution by Frances Pollock at Prototype, the contemporary opera and musical theater festival in New York City. She tours European venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, the Téatru Manoel in Malta, and the Théâtre Montparnasse.
Praised for her rich timbre and wide, colorful range, the American soprano sings the roles of Arminda in La Finta GiardinieraNedda in I PagliacciMutter in Hansel und GretelFiordiligi in Cosi fan Tutteand the title role in Dido and Aeneas.
You can also take a look back at past editions of the Festival
