L'Achéron

Creation for the festivals of Wallonia 2025
Programme available from July 2025

6 musicians: soprano, 2 viols, archlute & guitar, harp, percussion.

Originating in Naples, the villanelle was born in the 16th century and embodies the influence of folk music on so-called learned music, giving Italian music a rhythmic complexity and melodic purity that would be found in the canzonette and the madrigal, and later in opera. During the Renaissance, in Italy as elsewhere in Europe, the dividing line between scholarly and popular music was much thinner, as were the boundaries between religious and secular music. What we consider to be distinct genres today came together more easily, and the artistic links and interactions between the court, the street and the church were extraordinarily dynamic. Continuing to explore the relationships between music and musicians from seemingly opposite worlds, L'Achéron sets out here to shed light on the folk roots of Italian Renaissance and Baroque music: From Naples to Rome, Florence and Venice, from Giovanni Domenico da Nola to Girolamo Frescobaldi, Johannes Hieronimus Kapsperger, Giovanni Pierluigi Palestrina and Claudio Monteverdi, the apparent simplicity, rustic lyricism and galvanising strophism of this music will naturally echo the popular music of today.

Thanks to the support of the Philippart Foundation, Céline Scheen completed her training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London with Vera Rosza. Céline Scheen sings in the greatest festivals and the greatest halls, under the direction of prestigious conductors. A lover of early music and its diversity, she chooses to give priority to concerts, her repertoire ranging mainly from Renaissance and Madrigal music to the late Baroque period.
Céline Scheen works closely with Le Banquet Céleste conducted by Damien Guillon, with whom she has recorded several CDs: Bach's Psalm 51 BWV 1083 (2016), "Affetti amorosi" devoted to G. Frescobaldi and 'Trinitatis' (2023) devoted to the Cantatas of J.S. Bach. A very loyal partner of Christina Pluhar, she sings a series of concerts with L'Arpeggiata in Europe, the United States and Asia. Passionate about the encounter between the arts, she has collaborated with the contemporary ballet Pina Bausch, shared the stage at La Cigale with DJ Arnaud Rebotini and, in 2024, took part in a new creation by choreographer Alban Richard, Come kiss me now. Since 2019, Céline Scheen has been teaching singing at the Conservatoire Royal de Liège and hosts a weekly column on RTBF, "La Passion selon Céline...".