Orchestre Divertimento

Using the motto "There is no one way to be a musician," France's Orchestre Divertimento combines standard repertory with world traditions. The group is led by conductor Zahia Ziouani. Ziouani founded Orchestre Divertimento in 1998. Born in Paris to Algerian parents, she had been a student of Sergiu Celibidache and has been active in both France and Algeria. The group has used other names, including Orchestre Symphonique Divertimento and, in anglophone contexts, the Divertimento Symphony Orchestra. The group consists of 70 instrumentalists drawn from French conservatories and other ensembles. The Orchestre Divertimento focuses its activities on the city of Stains, where it has held an official residency since 2005, and on the surrounding Seine-Saint-Denis region in the northern and northeastern suburbs of Paris. The group performs some 40 concerts a year, not only in that region but elsewhere around France, and it has attracted nationally and internationally prominent soloists, including cellists Raphaël Pidoux and Xavier Phillips, violinist Jean-Marc Phillips-Varjabédian, and pianist Shani Diluka. The Orchestre Divertimento performs repertory from the Baroque era to contemporary times, but it often emphasizes works of the 19th and 20th centuries combined with world music, traditional music, and popular music. The group has commissioned new works from such composers as Salim Dada, Olivier Penard, and Nicola Campogrande. In addition to concert performances, the orchestra's work has a strong educational component; the group has appeared at schools from kindergarten to university. In 2023, the Orchestre Divertimento released its debut album, Bacchanale: Saint-Saëns et la Méditerranée; the album featured Zahia Ziouani's twin sister, Fettouma Ziouani, on cello and included a performance of the Suite Algérienne in C major, Op. 60. The orchestra's concerts that year included "Breakdance Symphonique," a "Rhapsodie Sportive" series exploring the intersection between music and athletic dance, and a "Fête Nationale!" concert in July.
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