Along similar lines to our Brel and Barbara a cappella programme, « Lettres ouvertes » brings together two of French chanson’s greats: Anne Sylvestre and Léo Ferré.

They combined political engagement with a feeling for words, and they share a lyricism and melodic inventiveness which find echoes in the choral repertoire. The power of their works resonates for listeners still today. Their art embodies revolt and protest, but with an original and poetic significance which is full of humanity and hope.

Anne Sylvestre wrote nearly 300 songs, excoriating the injustices of her times with sensitivity. Her sharp and frequently subversive writing, humanist and feminist, never loses its tenderness and pertinence. Her touching songs are deeply personal, telling stories and revealing things about our own innermost selves… their variety is staggering. 

 Taking after the ‘rebel’ or ‘cursed’ poets, deliberately mingling poetry with slang, Léo Ferré became the bard of Liberty. His prodigiously powerful texts celebrate and curse life with the same intensity.  

Aedes will mingle its 28 voices to make those of these two huge personalities ring out in a variety of transcriptions.

Léo Ferré (arr. Manuel Peskine)
La chambre

Léo Ferré (arr. Frédérique Lory)
Les Poètes

Anne Sylvestre (arr. Fabien Touchard)
Les gens qui doutent

Anne Sylvestre (arr. Manuel Peskine)
Mon mystère

Léo Ferré (arr. Manuel Peskine)
L’homme

Anne Sylvestre (arr. Héloïse Werner)
Bergère

Anne Sylvestre (arr. Aurélien Dumont)
Le centre du motif

Anne Sylvestre (arr. Vincent Manac’h)
Rien qu’une fois faire des vagues

Léo Ferré (arr. Fabien Touchard)
Ni dieu ni maître

Anne Sylvestre (arr. Manuel Peskine)
Mon mari est parti

Léo Ferré (arr. Franck Krawczyk)
Tu n’en reviendras pas

Anne Sylvestre (arr. Lise Borel)
Juste une femme

Léo Ferré (arr. Fabien Touchard)
Avec le temps

Anne Sylvestre (arr. Nigji Sanges)
La chambre d’or

Léo Ferré (arr. Vincent Manac’h)
Je te donne

Anne Sylvestre (arr. Vincent Bouchot)
Les années qui cognent

Léo Ferré (arr. Vincent Bouchot)
Comme à Ostende

Léo Ferré (arr. Lise Borel)
Art poétique

Aedes
Mathieu Romano conductor