Le Balcon

Le Balcon was founded in 2008 by a conductor (Maxime Pascal), a sound engineer (Florent Derex), a pianist and conductor (Alphonse Cemin) and three composers (Juan Pablo Carreño, Mathieu Costecalde, Pedro Garcia Velasquez). Le Balcon adapts to its projects and concerts, not least the number of members, as well as the visual concept and its interaction with sound design and electronic music.

The ensemble is named after the 1956 play by Jean Genet, which places the ensemble’s artistic and musical projects, much like the playwright, in the area of narration, language and representation. 

The ensemble was initially located at the Église Saint-Merry, followed by the Théâtre de l’Athénée Louis-Jouvet, and gradually became a transdisciplinary collective — an orchestra, a group of singers, composers, video artists, dancers and directors — as well as a record label and music publisher. Le Balcon creates productions from a repertoire spanning all eras of music history, with a particular focus on works from the 20th and 21st centuries. In its seven years at the Athénée Théâtre, Le Balcon produced numerous operas and plays, including Strauss’s Ariane auf Naxos, Eötvös’s Le Balcon, Levinas’s La Métamorphose, and Rihm’s Jakob Lenz. At Opéra de Lille, Le Balcon performed several world premieres like Lavandier’s Le Premier Meurtre (2016) and Eldar’s Like Flesh (2022)

The ensemble has worked with the composer in residence funded by the Singer-Polignac Foundation since 2018 and has commissioned a number of new works.

In 2018, Le Balcon began to turn to larger forms, including a production of Licht, Stockhausen’s cycle of seven operas spanning 29 hours of music. Donnerstag from Licht had its premiere at the Opéra Comique in 2018 and was revived at Southbank Centre in London. This was followed by Samstag from Licht in June 2019, Dienstag from Licht in October 2020 and Freitag from Licht in November 2022 at Lille Opera and the Philharmonie in Paris as part of the Festival d’Automne à Paris. 

End of 2022, Le Balcon participates in Alan Menken’s musical The Little shop of Horrors arranged by Lavandier, at Opéra Comique, Paris. Its last album, Das Lied von der Erde (Mahler/Schönberg), with Stéphane Degout and Kévin Amiel, was released on the 27th of May.

Le Balcon was founded in 2008 by a conductor (Maxime Pascal), a sound engineer (Florent Derex), a pianist and conductor (Alphonse Cemin) and three composers (Juan Pablo Carreño, Mathieu Costecalde, Pedro Garcia Velasquez). Le Balcon adapts to its projects and concerts, not least the number of members, as well as the visual concept and its interaction with sound design and electronic music.

The ensemble is named after the 1956 play by Jean Genet, which places the ensemble’s artistic and musical projects, much like the playwright, in the area of narration, language and representation. 

The ensemble was initially located at the Église Saint-Merry, followed by the Théâtre de l’Athénée Louis-Jouvet, and gradually became a transdisciplinary collective — an orchestra, a group of singers, composers, video artists, dancers and directors — as well as a record label and music publisher. Le Balcon creates productions from a repertoire spanning all eras of music history, with a particular focus on works from the 20th and 21st centuries. In its seven years at the Athénée Théâtre, Le Balcon produced numerous operas and plays, including Strauss’s Ariane auf Naxos, Eötvös’s Le Balcon, Levinas’s La Métamorphose, and Rihm’s Jakob Lenz. At Opéra de Lille, Le Balcon performed several world premieres like Lavandier’s Le Premier Meurtre (2016) and Eldar’s Like Flesh (2022)

The ensemble has worked with the composer in residence funded by the Singer-Polignac Foundation since 2018 and has commissioned a number of new works.

In 2018, Le Balcon began to turn to larger forms, including a production of Licht, Stockhausen’s cycle of seven operas spanning 29 hours of music. Donnerstag from Licht had its premiere at the Opéra Comique in 2018 and was revived at Southbank Centre in London. This was followed by Samstag from Licht in June 2019, Dienstag from Licht in October 2020 and Freitag from Licht in November 2022 at Lille Opera and the Philharmonie in Paris as part of the Festival d’Automne à Paris. 

End of 2022, Le Balcon participates in Alan Menken’s musical The Little shop of Horrors arranged by Lavandier, at Opéra Comique, Paris. Its last album, Das Lied von der Erde (Mahler/Schönberg), with Stéphane Degout and Kévin Amiel, was released on the 27th of May.

Le Balcon is supported by the Ministry of Culture, the Société Générale Foundation C’est Vous l’Avenir, the Île-de-France Region, the City of Paris, the Singer-Polignac Foundation, the Centre national de la musique (CNM), the SACEM and La Copie Privée. 

Photo :
Freitag aus Licht at Lille Opera, November 8, 2022. © Gaspard Kiejman