Jean-Christophe Leclère
Jean-Christophe Leclère
Organ & harpsichord
Winner of the International Organ Competition in Bruges, Jean-Christophe Leclère, a qualified medical doctor and osteopath , is the resident organist at the Notre-Dame de l’Epine Basilica in France. He brings this gothique splendour to life during the "Festival de Musique Sacrée "(mid-september ; organ , early music , theâtre , circus arts …) and coordinates the Triangle d’Orgue of Champagne . Inspired by the small XVIIIth century Saxon instruments he initiated a project for a transportable organ.He entrusted the building of this rare, travelling, adaptable piece to the belgian organ builder Rudi Jacques.
Numerous European concerts and prolific discography, he celebrated his 20th CD in 2010 ( from San Petronio de Bologna to Ciergnon , Flanders to Saxony , from Geneva to Roskilde…) Solo or with rare singers such as Catherine Greuillet, Christine Maria Rembeck, James Bowman , Alain Buet , Christophe Laporte, George Poplutz....., chamber music with faithful friends , Philippe Couvert (violin), Patrick Beuckels (traverso) Christine Plubeau, (viola da gamba) Christophe Mazeaud (oboe) William Dongois (cornett), with vocal and instrumental ensembles, including the Académie Sainte Cecile , Philippe Couvert, les Trompettes des Plaisirs, Jean François Madeuf , Magdburger Kammerchor, Lothar Hennig, The Uppsala University choir, The William Byrd Ensemble, Graham O'Reilly, Choir of Clare College (Cambridge) Vocal Concert Dresden -Peter Kopp, the Leipzig Bach -Ensemble-Jürgen Wolff, The Birmingham Ex Cathedra Choir- Jeffrey Skidmore, Capella de la Torre - Katharina Baüml and alternative programmes including Stella Maris with Habib Guerroumi , oud and arabic songs, Angélique Mauillon, harp, Ps'altarello with Pierre Hamon, flutes and bagpipes, and Carlo Rizzo, traditional Italian songs and tambourines; Toccata, Tango & Fugue with Per Arne Glorvigen, bandoneon... with Marina Bartoli, soprano.
Oleguer Aymamí
Oleguer Aymamí
Cello
Oleguer Aymamí began his musical training at the Escolania in Montserrat with P. Ireneu Segarra. After studying cello at the ESMUC in Barcelona with Damián Martínez, he did a master on the baroque cello at the HEM in Geneva with Bruno Cocset and also a master of orchestral conducting with Laurent Gay. He also began the study of the viola da gamba with Guido Balestracci.
He devotes himself to a very varied repertoire ranging from early music to contemporary music, improvised and modern music. He performed regularly with ensembles such as Ensemble Baroque du Léman, Cantatio, Le Concert d'astrée, Gli Angeli Geneva, Cappella Mediterranea, Orfeo 55, Geneva Camerata, Vespres d'Arnadí or Acadèmia 1750.
Jean-Daniel Haro
Jean-Daniel Haro
Violone & viola da gamba
After his studies at the Conservatoire of Metz where he obtained a first prize for recorder and sight-reading with Christian Billet, he studied the viola de gamba with Jay Bernfeld at the Conservatoire of St Cloud, Paris, where he obtained a first prize in Early Music. He graduated from Metz University, France in Musicology.
He currently plays with several ensembles and gives concerts throughout Europe with:
« Fuoco e Cenere » at the festival d’Ambronay
Concertgebouw of Amsterdam
Il Nuove Musiche at the Festival of Flanders, in Bruges, Ghent and Courtrai
Trio Haro in the French Basque region
La Traditora in Alsace- Lorraine
« La Psallette de Lorraine
Ensemble Contrepoint in Luxembourg
…
He taught the viola de gamba at the Conservatoire of Nancy from 2008-2009. He is currently a secondary school teacher of music in Metz (France).
Alla Tolkacheva
Alla Tolkacheva
Baroque mandolin, mandola & mandolone
She studied music at the ’Académie de musique of Samara (Russia) with Larissa Demtchenko, where she obtained her graduate diploma for domra with distinction. Following this she specialised at the Conservatoire de musique of ’Esch-sur-Alzette (Luxembourg) with the mandolin teacher, Juan Carlos Muñoz, there she gained her graduate diploma and concert diploma ( neapolitan and baroque mandolin)
She obtained a second prize in the Russian national competition (domra). She has been awarded several first prizes in international competitions with the famous domra ensemble « Classic Domra ».. followed by tours in Japan, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Switzerland, Italy, and France,... The Samara Symphony Orchestra regularly invites her. She has recorded two CD’s with the « Classic Domra » orchestra (1994-1997). In 1999, she performed with « Tanztheater der Komische Oper Berlin » for the Lionel Hoche Ballet « Purple Dreams », music by O.Respighi in Berlin and Aalborg. In 2002, she won second prize in the « Osaka international chamber music competition ». In 2008, she won first prize and the people’s choice award at the international « Yasuo Kuwahara » competition for mandolin solo at Schweinfurt (Germany).
She is currently teaching mandolin at the Pétange School of Music, voice and music training at the Conservatoire de musique of ’Esch-sur-Alzette.
Manuel Muñoz
Manuel Muñoz
Baroque guitar
He obtained his diplomas in guitar and plectrum instruments, (bandurria & mandolin) with Pedro Chamorro, José María López and Antonio J. García Mengual. He was member of several plucked strings ensembles: « Trio Chamorro », the « Roberto Grandío » orchestra , the Duo « Chamorro-Muñoz », the« Nacional Ensamble » orchestra, the European orchestra « Il Forum Musicale », and the « Luxembourg Mandolin Quintet ».
He has performed in concerts in the USA, Japan, Luxembourg , Spain, Morocco, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, Cuba, and the UK.
For several years now he has been concentrating on the baroque and renaissance guitar in the baroque music ensemble “Artemandoline”
He is currently teaching at the Conservatorio de Musica of Ciudad Real (Spain).
Mari Fe Pavón
Artistic director & Founder
Mari Fe Pavón
Baroque mandolin
Cradled to the sound of the guitar since childhood, Mari Fe Pavón begins the study of the mandolin at a very young age with the teachers P. Chamorro and Caridad Simón and thus discovers a few years later the experience of orchestra and soloist in the orchestra of his city, under the direction of Pedro Chamorro. She also began studying guitar with Manuel Muñoz. She recorded her first record at the age of 15 with the same ensemble, and subsequently studied at the Conservatory of Alcázar de San Juan (Spain) and at the Conservatory of Music in Esch / Alzette in Luxembourg.
Mari Fe Pavón has appeared in concerts with musicians like Mstislav Rostropovitch, Estebán Sánchez,...
Later, she studied with French guitarist Michel Sadanowsky in Paris and was a member of the "Trio de guitares de Paris".
Also interested in the search for unknown historical repertoires, Mari Fe Pavón learns the baroque mandolin and thus discovers the historical interpretation. Very soon passionate about this experience, she studied with Prof. Marga Wilden-Hüsgen at the Hochschule für Musik Köln. She has concentrated his apprenticeships, research and musical practices on the diversity of sources, oral and written, which she deems necessary for recreating the early and Baroque mandolin repertoires today.
At the same time, she founded several ensembles (Il Forum Musicle, Duo Muñoz-Pavón, Luxembourg Mandolin Quintet, Stage International en Alsace, Artemandoline) with Juan Carlos Muñoz and very quickly she gave concerts throughout Europe and the USA, Canada, Japan, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Greece, France, Italy ...)
She is regularly solicited by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Luxembourg. She is also invited as a jury member in various international competitions: Luxembourg, Greece, Germany. She teaches mandolin, guitar and chamber music in Luxembourg.
Mari Fe Pavón is co-founder of the ensemble Artemandoline, with the mandolinist Juan Carlos Muñoz.
Juan Carlos Muñoz
Artistic director & Founder
Juan Carlos Muñoz
Baroque mandolin
Juan Carlos Muñoz has studied with Sylvain Dagosto in France. He is a graduate of the Conservatoire d’Esch/Alzette and graduated in the mandolin from the « Hochschule für Musik » in Cologne after studying with Professor Marga Wilden-Hüsgen. While still very young he embarked on a concert career, giving pride of place right from the start to constant and ever deepening study of the Baroque mandolin and early music in general.
His busy solo schedule has taken him to Japan several times, as well as the USA, Canada, France, Greece, Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Latvia, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Iceland. He has also initiated many musical projects of his own, including the creation of numerous ensembles (Duo Calace, Luxembourg Mandolin Quintet, Duo Muñoz-Pavón, Il Forum Musicale, Artemandoline). He is co-founder of the Stage International de Mandoline et de Guitare and artistic director of the First International Mandolin Competition in Luxembourg.
With the ensemble Artemandoline, formed in 2001, Juan Carlos Muñoz chose to go back to the original documents in order to the establish the true pedigree of this incomparable family of instruments. He had made a major contribution to launching a movement to encourage musical freshness and rigour. To ensure that music composed in the past does not sound like mere ‘early music’ in the present, the performers must manage to be sufficiently free, spontaneous, anticipative and astonished in their intimate act of creation and the newness it engenders. Juan Carlos Muñoz spend his lives searching out and reviving forgotten masterpieces of the mandolin repertory. He’s not content with simply presenting his finds like ‘musical archaeologists’, but endeavour to transmit them to the wider public by means of the essential act of communication between interpreters, composers, and listeners.
He is regularly invited to give masterclasses throughout Europe, USA and in Japan and takes part in a number of international competitions as a jury member (Spain, Japan, Germany, Italy, Belgium..). He teaches the mandolin and chamber music at the Conservatory of Esch/Alzette (Luxembourg) and at the « Hochschule für Musik » (University of Music) in Saarbrücken (Germany).