Elisabeth Joyé

Elisabeth Joyé is a notable figure within the French harpsichord school. The press retains from her interpretations of great delicacy, an unparalleled art of the toucher, in short, a constant search for colours and expressiveness. This keyboard science was transmitted to her by the great names of the harpsichord: Gustav Leonhardt at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam, Bob van Asperen at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Jos van Immerseel at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp, where she graduated with great distinction. After having played for many years in various orchestras, Elisabeth Joyé is now mainly dedicated to chamber music and harpsichord and organ recitals. She has recorded extensively with orchestra, in particular with the Simphonie du Marais, conducted by Hugo Reyne, in the context of chamber music (Couperin, Bach, Blow, Purcell) and solo (Bach, Duphly, Fischer). Being also a much sought after pedagogue, she always wanted to open her investigation into the art of playing the harpsichord to others: a shared quest “to reach a singing and expressive performance”, as Bach wrote in his preface to the Inventions. She teaches harpsichord and basso continuo at the Erik Satie Conservatory in Paris, at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa and in master classes in Europe, America and Japan.

Madrigalesca

In the intoxicating wake of lullabies (nanne), lamentations (lamenti), but also of terzetti and serenati, ethereal paghejlle that our ancestors sang, the Madrigalesca ensemble inscribes memory path through the crossroads. It is an invitation to take a walk between popular music and ancient praxis, questioning in the orality, what the paghjella tells about the falso bordone and what is said about the madrigal of the Italian quattrocento by the terzetti and the madrigale of the Corsican repertoire of love poetry, also exploring the sacred repertoires and their affiliation in Gregorian psalmodies. One, two and three voices (those of Gigi Casabianca, Cathy Graziani and Nicole Casalonga) that discourse, dialogue, intersect and merge: «three voices to think the world». The Madrigalesca ensemble is regularly requested by early music groups for original programs based on written, secular or sacred sources and oral tradition. Like here with Élisabeth Joyé on the Fiori Musicali programme, with guest soloist Patricia Bovi, director of the Micrologus ensemble. Madrigalesca was founded by Nicole Casalonga, for which she composed or arranged several works.

Nicole Casalonga

The music of life – from the nursery rhymes sung throughout the day on festive or rainy days, to the tales at the vigil, from the cantor’s singing in the stalls, to the rattling of reeds, but also the first piano initiations – shaped her musical personality. In Balagne, where she currently lives, she discovered the Tuscan organ and the harpsichord. She learned their repertoires from Jacques Beraza, Sérgio Vartolo and, later, from Elisabeth Joyé. In Pigna, her foster village where meetings take place around traditional, ancient or contemporary music, she is involved in several research programs on traditional singing and its educational application through mimophony. With this new material, she guides seminars and masterclasses in Corsica, mainland France and abroad. As part of a multidisciplinary work, she has written several articles on traditional song. She has been responsible for practical courses at the University of Corsica (Bachelor in Traditional Music). Founder of the Madrigalesca ensemble, she composed the music for Spiccavolu, presented a work session on Corsican singing for the show Tempus fugit by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and, as part of the Calliope university program on epic singing in the Mediterranean, has just completed an important research and creative work on La complainte des sept galères. She presided over the Voce Cultural Center and received the distinction of Chevalier des Arts et Lettres.