Canticum Novum

By rediscovering and interpreting early music repertoires, Canticum Novum forges links between the music of Western Europe and the repertoire of the Mediterranean basin, rich in the union of the Christian world and an East marked by a dual Jewish and Moorish heritage. These programmes also reflect another of Canticum Novum's ambitions: to place the human adventure and interculturality at the heart of its projects, and to constantly question identity, orality, transmission and memory.

Canticum Novum's programmes are as rich as they are diverse. The works performed allow us to rediscover the repertoires of the Mediterranean, as well as those of Afghanistan, Turkey, Persia, Arabia, the Sephardim, Armenia, Cyprus and Japan, as part of a programme devoted to the Silk Road.

At the same time, the ensemble is putting on a number of shows for the general public with dreamlike scenography: Hayim Toledo 1267 (a musical tale for shadow theatre), Tapanak (an extraordinary epic in cut-out paper) and Nour (a danced and illustrated tale). 

Canticum Novum was founded by Emmanuel Bardon in 1996. After performing at the Opéra-Théâtre de Saint-Étienne from 2008 to 2012, the ensemble is currently in residence at the Ancienne École des Beaux-Arts in Saint-Étienne. Since 2009, Canticum Novum has organised an annual festival of early music and world music in the Loire region, the Festin Musical, which focuses on the meeting of peoples and cultures.

Canticum Novum also gives over forty concerts a year in France and abroad. The ensemble is a regular guest at major festivals such as the Radio France Festival, La Folle Journée in Nantes and Tokyo, the Via Aeterna Festival, the Ambronay Festival and the Pontoise Baroque Festival, the Festival de la Chaise-Dieu, the Estival de la Bâtie d'Urfé, Les Traversées de Noirlac, the Festival de Labeaume en Musiques and the Festival Baroque de Tarentaise. The ensemble also performs at national venues such as the Châtelet theatre in Paris, the Melun-Sénart theatre, the La Roche-sur-Yon theatre, the Montélimar theatre, the Cherbourg theatre, the Lille opera house and the Clermont-Ferrand opera house. Over the last ten years, Canticum Novum has also been involved in a number of educational initiatives aimed at raising awareness of early music repertoires among young audiences, working closely with organisations such as the Centre Culturel de Rencontre de Noirlac and La Mégisserie de Saint-Junien.

Alongside the ensemble, the Ambronay label has released seven CDs by Canticum Novum: Paz, Salam & Shalom (2011), Aashenayi (2015), Ararat (2017), Laudario (2019), Al-Basma (2021), Samâ-ï (2022) and Shiruku (2023). Some of these programmes have also been recorded for television by Films de la Découverte.

The ensemble is subsidised by the Ministère de la Culture DRAC Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the Département de la Loire and the Ville de Saint-Étienne. Canticum Novum receives occasional support from ADAMI, CNM and SPEDIDAM.

May 2024