RÉCIT – The future management of the institution has just completed the recruitment of 50 young people. Aged 11 to 16, they will receive comprehensive training starting in September and will participate in their first productions next season. Le Figaro witnessed the final auditions.
Excitement was palpable this Saturday morning. In the confidence of the Bastille studio, the Opéra de Paris has just begun the final round of recruitment for its future children’s chorus. Auditions are underway, as seen on the doors. From 9:30 am until the end of the afternoon, a continuous ballet of blonde heads – and voices more or less white – will parade in front of the four members of the final jury. Among them, Morgan Jourdain, their future chorus master, and Myriam Mazouzi, director of the Opéra de Paris Academy. But also Ching-Lien Wu, the chorus master of the Opéra. And the boss of the place: Alexander Neef!
With music sheets in hand, they scrutinize every voice inflection. Every note filled with harmonics. But also each individual’s ability to handle a rhythmic difficulty. To color a phrase. To channel their stress. Or to blend into the accompaniment of the pianist chef de chant who is present to support them. Behind the half-closed doors of the modest auditorium, cohorts of… [text cut off]
