Once Loved (2020)

CHAMBER     5:00

INSTRUMENTATION

high voice, low voice, accordion

Once Loved was commissioned by the ensemble Musicatreize, in co-production with the Philharmonie de Paris and Cité de la Voix de Vézelay, as part of the project Douze Lettres pour Elise in celebration of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth.

It premiered in 2021 at the Festival Messiaen, under the direction of Roland Hayrabedian, with soprano Amandine Trenc, tenor Patrice Balter, and accordionist Jean-Etienne Sotty.

Once Loved, for two voices and accordion, is a miniature of simultaneous love narratives based on a short text by Cordelia Lynn. The three bodies - the two singers and the accordionist - occupy a triangle of yearning, always emoting towards the other. The words, standing for the difficulty of semantic expression, are sparse, yet they provide momentary glimpses of internal worlds. They find their echo, sometimes lyrical, sometimes speech-like, in the hollowed, unencumbered body of the accordion.

More information about the work HERE (including score rental).

3 July 2021
La Courroie, Entraigues
Ensemble Musicatreize
Jean-Etienne Sotty, accordion
Roland Hayrabedian, conductor

4 July 2021
Opéra de Marseille, foyer 
Ensemble Musicatreize
Jean-Etienne Sotty, accordion
Roland Hayrabedian, conductor

14 July 2021
Festival de Chambord
Ensemble Musicatreize
Jean-Etienne Sotty, accordion
Roland Hayrabedian, conductor

16 July 2021
Festival Musiques des Lumières, Sorèze
Ensemble Musicatreize
Jean-Etienne Sotty, accordion
Roland Hayrabedian, conductor

27 July 2021
Festival Messiaen au Pays de la Meije
Ensemble Musicatreize
Jean-Etienne Sotty, accordion
Roland Hayrabedian, conductor