Discover

the CONCERT FROM SCRATCH

an ANGLO-SAXON concept

The ‘from scratch’ or sing-in is a CHORAL CONCERT where all are invited to sing: individual choristers and whole choirs. The organising institution chooses the score, reserves the venue and recruits the conductor, orchestra and professional soloists. The singers buy their seats, learn the score beforehand and rehearse wherever they can. On D-day they convene at the meeting place and sing together.

The concert may be in a small or large venue – a village church or the Royal Albert Hall in London and unites a handful of singers or 5 000 people.

Unforgettable!

2 000
participants for a
unique
concert

A choral concert
IN Paris

FOR THE BENEFIT OF MEDICAL RESEARCH ON MENTAL DISORDERS

date to come.

TWO DAYS TOGETHER

ONE REHEARSAL IN THE MADELEINE CHURCH

HANDEL’S 

messiah

70

voluntary profesional musicians

90

volunteers

800

amateur singers

2000
personnes pour un
concert
unique

Un concert choral
au théâtre du Châtelet
Paris

AU PROFIT
DE LA RECHERCHE
SUR LES TROUBLES PSYCHIQUES

13-14 NOV 2021
DEUX JOURS
ENSEMBLE

UNE SEULE
RÉPÉTITION
À LA MADELEINE

LE MESSIE,
HAENDEL
AU PROGRAMME

70

ARTISTES
PROFESSIONNELS
BÉNÉVOLES

90

BÉNÉVOLES

800

Choristes amateurs

Why do Research on Mental Disorders?

Singing with other people creates bonds. Contributing to Medical Research on Mental Disorders means supporting those for whom communication is fundamental but made difficult by a mental disorder. A real challenge nowadays when I person out of 4 will suffer during their lifetime from a mental disorder: schizophrenia, bi-polarity, deep depression, autism.

In 2021 Venite Cantemus supported a project on schizophrenia presented by the Fédération pour la Recherche sur le Cerveau (Brain Research Federation).

Venite Cantemus promotes exchange and sharing for the benefit of a cause, bonding with people whose handicap or a disorder affects their ability to communicate, therefore preventing interaction with others in their social or family environment.

The Covid 19 pandemic has shown the importance of social bonds and communication between people. This situation has reaffirmed Venite Cantemus commitment to these values has been reinforced by this situation. 

Mental disorders: autism; schizophrenia; bi-polarity; depression affect 1 in 4 person in their lifetime. These disorders tend to appear before the age of 25 making it difficult and painful for those affected to interact and bond with others in their close and wider social circles.

It is also public health matter.

DISCOVER

The singer's path

beforehand

1

I enrol

The price of my ticket contributes to the donation to the Fédération pour la Recherche sur le Cerveau, the beneficiary of the 2021 concert – for research on schizophrenia.

I will get a refund, should the concert be cancelled.

2

I learn my score

I rehearse with people in my area

3

I organise my week-end

I reserve meals, tours, accommodation thanks to Venite Cantemus’s offers or I make my own arrangements. I plan my transport.

Afterwards

4

I come to Paris

5

I rehearse with everyone else

Date and location to be announced. 2024 or early 2025.

6

I meet other people

If I wish I can visit Paris with Venite Cantemus, share meals with other singers. I can be accommodated in a Parisian home.

7

Time for the concert. I sing!

Date and location to be announced. 2024 or early 2025.

Venite-Cantemus_Eglise-de-la-Madeleine

Discover

2021 edition

HANDEL's MESSIah

800 Singers
in the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris

Dates and places

13 and 14 November 2021

Saturday 13 November – SINGERS -:

rehearsal in the Madeleine church

Sunday 14 November – ALL -:

concert in the Théâtre du Châtelet

TICKET PRICES

Standard singers and audience: 45€

Under 26 years old: 20

Benefactor – THANK YOU! -: 65

Teaser 2019
(2017 videos)

DISCOVER

2021 artists

THE CONDUCTOR, Gildas Harnois

Gildas loves a challenge and has bounds of energy.
He will conduct the Venite Cantemus orchestra and choir for the third time to everyone’s delight.

Born in Orléans in 1974, Gildas Harnois trains as a flautist and organist at the Conservatories of Orléans and Boulogne-Billancourt.

Winner of the Concours National for Young Organists at Saint-Germain-des-Fossés in 2000, he is the titular organist at the Sainte-Croix Cathedral in Orléans since 1997 and performs in concerts with various formations (Festivals at Roquevaire, Agde, Orléans, Tours, Blois, Paris (Saint-Joseph-des-Nations’ church and the Val-de-Grâce church)).

He obtains his diploma from the Centre National Supérieur de Musique in Paris in analysis and orchestral direction and he studies at the Hochschule in Vienna in 2003 where he wins the competition for Young Conductors organised by the Chamber of Zurich that same year. Appointed Head Assistant to Jésus Lopez-Cobos and then to Jean-Claude Casadesus with the French Youth Orchestra in 2004 and 2005, he also works beside Alain Altinoglu, Lawrence Foster and Ton Koopman.

He is invited to direct the Orléans Symphonic Orchestra, the Republican Guard Symphonic Orchestra , an ensemble of the Lyon National Orchestra, the Auvergne Chamber Music Orchestra, the Dusseldorf Autumn Festival Orchestra, the Lithuanian Symphonic Orchestra and the Zurich Chamber Music Orchestra.

On 1st July 2014 he is appointed Head of the Police Orchestra and is today Director of this excellent formation in the most prominent Parisian concert halls, in France and abroad (Japan) and has made two recordings, the second in 2019, the Maîtres Sorciers, which is devoted to young French composers.

Amongst his projects as conductor in 2021-2022, a creation by Julien Joubert with soloists, adult and youth choirs for the Jeanne d’Arc Festival in Orléans, a new and original production of Gluck’s Orphée and Eurydice with the Musique de Joye Ensemble as well as an exceptional rendez-vous with 800 Venite Cantemus singers and orchestra around Handel’s Messiah in the Théâtre du Châtelet in Parisé

The soloists

Young, talented and generous…

Find out more about previous edition soloists.

Tatiana Probst
Soprano

Sophie Pondjiclis
Alto

KAËLIG BOCHÉ
TÉNOR

Nabils suliman
basse

Originally from Brittany and recently awarded a Master’s degree in Lyric Art from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et Danse de Paris (class of Elène Golgevit), Kaëlig Boché is also awarded from several competitions (ADAMI, Concours International de Mélodies Françaises de Toulouse, Concours International de chant de Marseille, Concours de Mâcon); he was quickly spotted as one of the most promising tenor among the new generation.

Dividing his time between opera and recitals, his young career has already led him to perform on the opera stages of Lyon, Muscat (Oman), Saint-Étienne, Nancy, Dijon, Montpellier, alongside the Orchestre régional de Normandie (Illuminations by Britten, Coronation Mass by Mozart, Schubert’s Lieder), the Orchestre de Massy (Britten’s Serenade for horn, tenor and strings), the Orchestre national des Pays de la Loire (Honegger’s Le Roi David), or with the pianists Célia Oneto-Bensaid, Jeanne Vallée, Thomas Tacquet, Sébastien Joly, Tanguy de Williencourt and Adam Laloum.

Sophie Pondjiclis studied music at the CNSM in Paris and at the Ecole d’art lyrique of the Paris Opera. She was awarded first prize at the Toti dal Monte International Singing Competition in Treviso, Italy. 

A leading figure on the international stage, she happily performs repertoires as diverse as they are varied. Her flamboyant temperament and the warmth of her voice make her an accomplished artist that we never tire of admiring, with more than seventy roles in her repertoire, performed on the greatest international opera stages such as La Scala in Milan, the Paris Opera, Geneva, Hong Kong, Brussels, Berlin, Munich, Beijing, London and the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, among others…

Very involved in the training of young singers, she is co-founder and artistic director of the “Académie Internationale d’Art Lyrique”.

Sophie Pondjiclis is a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres.

The Belgian baritone Nabil Suliman studied at the Damascus Conservatory (Syria) and at the Opera Studio in Brussels.

He won the International Competition of the Capitole de Toulouse and the First Prize of MEZZO Television, and sang the roles of Sourine/Dame de Pique, Cabaretier/L’Ange de Feu (Brussels), Michele/Il Tabarro (Maastricht), Bill/Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (Nancy, Luxembourg), Escamillo/Carmen (Athens), Falke/Die Fledermaus (Amsterdam), Satan/Paradise Lost (Wroclaw), Lord Ruthven/Der Vampyr (Szeged), Lasky/Le Roi malgré lui (Lyon,Opéra-Comique), Boris/Moskva Tcheryomushki (Lyon), Johann/Werther (Tokyo,Lyon), Chamberlain/Rossignol (Aix-en Provence, Lyon, Châtelet, Quebec), Melot/Tristan und Isolde (Madrid), Einäugige/Die Frau ohne Schatten (Antwerp), Thésée/Oedipe d’Enesco (Brussels), Duc d’Albe (Antwerp), Monterone/Rigoletto (Alden Biesen), Ctéssipe/Pénélope (Brussels), Count Oscar, Henker, Hessels/Der Schmied von Gent (Antwerp).

The soprano Tatiana Probst, a graduate of the CNSM in Paris, wins several prizes in various international competitions.

In 2015 she sings the role of Musetta in Puccini’s La Bohème at the Opéra de Reims. Then she plays Micaëla in Carmen at the Rabat Opera, Nuit Magique (a tribute concert to Henri Dutilleux) with Marc Minkowski at the “Ré Majeure” Festival before taking part in the 29th edition of Violon sur le Sable in Royan in July.

She sings the roles of Mimi in La Bohème and Nadia in La Veuve Joyeuse, and participates in La Folie Offenbach, a programme filmed for France 3 at the Folies Bergère.

In 2019, she sings the role of Javotte in Manon at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées (alongside Nino Machaidze and Juan Diego Florez) as well as Papagena in Die Zauberflöte at the Opéra de Lille, in Romeo Castellucci’s new production and plays her first Pamina.

The section leaders

Ce qu’ils en disent.

” Être sollicité pour apporter son concours à un événement caritatif est toujours une émotion profonde pour un musicien ! Le “don” musical, ce talent d’artiste, est une richesse et une chance pour celui qui le reçoit, mais aussi une très grande responsabilité. Le mettre au service d’une cause qui aide ceux qui souffrent ou sont démunis permet sans doute d’exercer cette responsabilité. Nous en avons été témoin chaque fois que nous avons demandé à l’un ou l’autre de participer, et toujours touchés de leur “oui” immédiat, ainsi que de leur enthousiasme et de leur générosité. Merci !! “

Gilles Lefèvre, notre premier violon – Violon solo de l’Orchestre Symphonique d’Orléans

et Philippe Bary, notre premier violoncelle – Violoncelle à l’Orchestre de Opéra de Paris, enseignant au CNSM de Paris

Soon more to read.

Learn about

The research project

on schizophrenia

Carried out by the Fédération pour la Recherche sur le Cerveau.

Fédération pour la Recherche sur le Cerveau

Currently, one third of the population is affected, in one way or another, by psychiatric or neurological disorders. The Fédération pour la Recherche sur le Cerveau (FRC Neurodon) brings together those who seek to further the understanding of the human brain functions in order to cure neurological and/or psychiatric disorders.

Founded in 2000 by Bernard Esambert, it now regroups six patient associations and research foundations: AMADYS (dystonia), ARSEP Foundation (multiple sclerosis), FFRE (epilepsy), Brain Paralysis Foundation, France Parkinson, UNAFAM (mental disorders), and aims at covering all brain pathologies.

Its main purpose is to support research in neurosciences all over France. In over 20 years the FRC has funded 406 research projects.

Its second purpose is to raise awareness of the general public regarding the importance of the brain, notably via the annual « National Neurodon Campaign » event. The FRC operates with complete transparency and its financial records are independently audited and certified, and can be consulted online.

To find out more about the FRC, click here.

Mental disorders and the FRC

Psychiatric illnesses encompass a number of disorders which appear in various forms. Depression, anxiety, bipolarity, schizophrenia and other psychosis, addictions and developmental disorders, including autism, are part of it. It is critical to promote research on psychiatric disorders in order to improve their diagnosis and develop further treatments.

The FRC is committed to fund transversal research projects on neurological and psychiatric diseases. As part of its 3-year Call for Application relating to « The brain and its environment », the FRC has funded very advanced projects on mental disorders, such as the effects of a stressful environment on depression or environmental risk factors on autistic disorders.

The research project on schizophrenia

The selected research project, led by Malika Auvray, a researcher at the CNRS, aims at improving social difficulties in schizophrenic patients. Schizophrenia, which affects 1% of the global population, is characterized by cognitive disorders and the loss of contact with reality (delirious hallucinations, loss of feelings, social withdrawal,…). Social withdrawal is one of the most detrimental factors increasing or even triggering psychiatric disorders.

Improve social interactions

This project aims at developing techniques to improve social interactions. It is based on the fact that the difficulty, experienced by individuals with schizophrenia, to understand other people’s thoughts, desires and intentions may be partly driven by an inability to “put themselves in someone else’s shoes” in order to adopt someone else’s physical viewpoint (e.g. the object to my right is to the left of the person in front of me).

About Malika Auvray

Malika Auvray is a CNRS researcher in cognitive neurosciences for the Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique (ISIR, Sorbonne University, CNRS UMR 7222). Her research interests spatial cognition, multisensorial perception and sensorial substitution.

Her Team

Mohamed Chetouani and David Cohen, both renowned specialists in their respective fields of expertise, and Louise Kirsch, post-doctoral researcher, are teaming up on this project. It will be carried out in close collaboration with a team from the Centre National d’Aide aux Enfants et Adolescents à Haut Potentiel (CNAHP, Centre Hospitalier Guillaume Régnier, Rennes).

 

The Resarch Institute

The ISIR is a multidisciplinary research laboratory in Sciences de l’Ingénieur et de l’Information et en Sciences du Vivant (Engineer and Information Science and Life Sciences), located on the Jussieu campus of the UPMC (Pierre and Marie Curie University) where roughly 150 people – researchers and teacher-researchers, doctorants and post-doctorants, technical and administrative personnel – are gathered.

Find out (even) more

About schizophrenia

About Dr Malika Auvray’s research project.