Committed choirs
Echoing its show Beethoven Wars, Insula orchestra invited 180 young singers to perform a concert at the Patrick Devedjian Auditorium on 3 May 2024, centred on the values dear to Beethoven: peace, freedom, commitment and the importance of the arts. Spanning classical, pop and contemporary repertoire, secondary-school and sixth-form students from Asnières-sur-Seine (Truffaut secondary school and Renoir sixth-form college) and students from Paris 8 University came together for this concert with musicians from Insula orchestra. They were guided in their preparation by singers from the accentus choir and musicians from Insula orchestra, and were invited to discover various programmes by the orchestra and choir at La Seine Musicale during the season.
“In a world of peace and love, music would be the universal language.” Henry David Thoreau
While music has often accompanied war on the battlefield through songs and anthems rousing the troops, above all it very often carries the message of a sincere revolt against conflict. As a universal artistic expression, it has been the tool of many composers, across the ages, to convey the values of peace and freedom. War is also a great source of inspiration for musical composition: is it really a coincidence that one of the most famous secular songs of the late Middle Ages is entitled L’Homme armé (“The Armed Man”), and enjoyed extraordinary success through all its reworkings? Two of them featured in the “Committed choirs” concert, along with many other vocal works of every era and origin — proof that the subject is still topical and knows no borders.