Accentus
The Accentus Chamber Choir, known in French as Le Choeur de Chamber Accentus, or often simply as Accentus, is one of the world's leading small choirs. The group has a wide repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary music.
The French chamber choir Accentus was founded in 1991 by Laurence Equilbey, who remains its director. The group has always had 32 members. Her initial intention was to explore a cappella choral music of the 19th and 20th centuries, and the choir has continued to perform and record music from this repertoire, but over time, the group's range has broadened through collaboration with outside groups. Accentus' financial situation stabilized in 1993 when it received a grant from the Fondation France Telecom. In 1998, the choir began a long residency at the Opéra de Rouen, and it performs concerts there independently of the opera at the city's Théâtre des Arts and Chapelle Corneille.
Accentus has entered into collaborative relationships with ensembles of many kinds. The choir has sung with period instrument groups, including Concerto Köln and the Akademie für alte Musik. It has also joined traditional symphony orchestras, such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Symphony, and the Orchestre de Paris, under such conductors as Christoph Eschenbach and Pierre Boulez. With Boulez's Ensemble InterContemporain, the group toured the U.S. in 2000, and it has mounted many other foreign tours. Accentus has often performed contemporary music, and Equilbey formed an offshoot, Axe 21, devoted to contemporary repertoire.
Accentus is especially noted for its catalog of recordings, which comprised more than 35 releases as of 2020. The choir recorded for various labels at the beginning of its career and then moved to Naïve in 2003, remaining on that label for many years. In the late 2010s, the group made several albums for Erato, and in 2020, it joined the historical-instrument group Les Siècles for a performance of Camille Saint-Saëns' early opera Le Timbre d'Argent. Accentus' recordings have earned several Diapason d'Or awards as well as a Grammy nomination.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Saint-Saëns - Hahn: À la lumière
Accentus, Christophe Grapperon, Eloïse Bella Kohn
Classical - Released by Alpha Classics on 19 Aug 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov : Vêpres, Liturgie de St Jean Chrysostome
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 18 Oct 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Poulenc: Figure Humaine
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 20 Mar 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Accentus: The a capella Recordings
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 9 Dec 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sacred Voices
Accentus, Accentus - Laurence Equilbey, Orchestre National de France
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 24 Nov 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Saint-Saëns : Le Timbre d'argent
Les Siècles, Accentus, François-Xavier Roth
Classical - Released by Bru Zane on 28 Aug 2020
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Canons & Musical Jokes
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 29 Nov 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss : A Cappella
Sacred Vocal Music - Released by naïve classique on 9 Nov 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Albéniz, Falla, Poulenc, Ravel, Rodrigo & Satie: Paris Barcelone - From Gaudi To Miro
Accentus, Isabelle Moretti, Edmon Colomer
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 24 Mar 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Transcriptions II
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 6 Nov 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvorák: Stabat Mater
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 10 Mar 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Requiem(s)
Accentus, Doulce Mémoire, Chorus Musicus Köln
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 24 Mar 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Accentus, Eric Ericson: North
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 29 Nov 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Leos Janacek : Brumes d'enfance (Mists of childhood)
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by naïve classique on 26 Aug 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Suomi, Finland: Sibelius, Kuula, Rautavaara
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 15 Dec 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schoenberg: Choral Works
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 17 May 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem
Sacred Vocal Music - Released by naïve classique on 2 Mar 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Manoury : Inharmonies
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by naïve classique on 22 Mar 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sephardische Romanzen
Classical - Released by Preiser Records on 7 Feb 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Musiques à Orsay
Accentus, Bernard Kruysen, Isabelle Moretti
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 24 Mar 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo