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Fado em movimento

There’s a sense of certainty surrounding this encounter…

Cristina Branco, the undisputed queen of contemporary fado, considers musical tradition an inexhaustible resource to nourish the most audacious artistic adventures.

The ensemble Des Équilibres, led by violinist Agnès Pyka, regularly ventures down unexpected paths and knows how to leave its preferred repertoire (20th century music ) to explore other musical worlds.

The singer, accompanied by guitarist Bernardo Couto, and the ensemble, in a string trio formation, revisit with Fado em movimento this eminently Portuguese musical genre of fado, confronting it with contemporary writings, thanks to the unpublished compositions of Florentine Mulsant, Fátima Fonte and Anne Victorino d’Almeida.

The program’s central theme is established through the various texts of Gonçalo M Tavares, a Portuguese writer, texts commissioned specifically for this project.

A unique way of building, beyond borders, a common European musical imagination.

Fado em movimento , created as part of the France-Portugal Season 2022.

Musical program
Ensemble Des Equilibres in a trio format,
featuring voice and Portuguese guitar

artistic team

Ensemble Des Equilibres in trio formation:
Agnès Pyka, violin / Jean Sautereau, viola / Guillaume Martigné, cello
Bernardo Couto, Portuguese guitar
Cristina Branco, vocals
Florentine Mulsant, composer
Fátima Fonte, composer
Anne Victorino d’Almeida
Gonçalo M. Tavares, writer

CREATIVE CONCERTS

August 8, 2025 |  Musiques en Ecrins Festival (05)
October 5, 2023 | Gallia Théâtre de Saintes (17)
October 3, 2023 | Théâtre de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, scène nationale (78)
July 5, 2023 | Festival Métis / Festival de Saint-Denis (93)
November 10, 2022  | Le Carré Sam, Boulogne-sur-Mer (62)
October 18, 2022  | La Ferme du Buisson, Scène nationale de Marne-la-Vallée (77)
September 29 and 30, 2022  | Casa da Musica de Porto, Portugal
September 8, 2022  | ESMAE, Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espetáculo do Porto

Agnès Pyka

First Violin

Jean Sautereau

Viola

Guillaume Martigné

Cello

Bernardo Couto

Portuguese guitar

Christina Branco

Voice

PHOTO GLLERY

VIDEO

THE PROGRAMME

Florentine Mulsant
• String Trio op 112, (premiere on 29/09/2022)

Fátima Fonte
With Luís Neto da Costa , Collaborative Orchestration
• “Voar na diagonal” (premiere on 29/09/2022)
• “Tabaco” (premiere on 29/09/2022)

Anne Victorino d’Almeida
• O Homem Mal-Educado (creation October 2023)
• O Desempregado com Filhos (creation October 2023)

GENERAL INFORMATION

Artistic actions

Opportunities for public rehearsals,
instrumental and composition masterclasses

Partners

Co-production La Ferme du Buisson, Scène nationale de Marne-la-Vallée (77)
Casa da Musica de Porto, ESMAE, Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espetáculo de Porto, and the ensemble Des Équilibres
Action financed by the Ile-de-France Region

With the support of:
SACEM, Copie Privée, SPEDIDAM, CNM, the French Institute.
“Event created as part of the France-Portugal Season 2022”

Ensemble Des Equilibres is a member of FEVIS and Scène Ensemble.
Ensemble Des Equilibres is supported by the DRAC Ile-de-France.
Ensemble Des Equilibres receives funding from the Ile-de-France Region.

download the show's file

CONCERT DATES

THE RECORD, AT KLARTHE’S

Following in the footsteps of the ensemble’s previous cross-cultural projects, it was the encounter with Cristina Branco, an undisputed star of Fado, and the magic of her voice that sparked this collaboration. Bringing together the contemporary aesthetic of our three bows with the traditional repertoire of Fado is the challenge we wanted to take on.
Fado is, above all, a text. On Cristina’s advice, we discovered the writing of Gonçalo M. Tavares, which serves as the guiding thread for the entire project. We commissioned three contemporary composers: Fátima Fonte, Florentine Mulsant, and Anne Victorino D’Almeida, each of whom imagined the musical image of these texts in their own very different styles. The three French musicians and the two Portuguese musicians, for their part, came together through their different approaches to musical expression and their respective techniques: the complex and highly structured language of the ensemble, serving the improvisational expression of our Portuguese counterparts.
Since Cristina and Bernardo don’t read sheet music and work entirely by ear, we had to reassess and adapt our work to their needs while embracing the unique melancholy inherent in the world of Fado. This work took place during residencies at the Casa da Musica in Porto, as well as at the ESMAE university and the Ferme du Buisson, the national stage in Marne-la-Vallée.

Agnès Pyka

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