A thousand voices resonate in the great hall of the Opéra Bastille as in a stadium: one of the last rehearsals of “Crowd Out”, an extraordinary piece inspired by the world of sport, was held on Saturday in the Parisian venue.
Its composer, the American David Lang, looked for “sounds” and “songs of football supporters” and, “from this material of popular culture, he made a piece as popular as it is a piece for amateurs”, describes for the AFP Myriam Mazouzi, director of the academy of the Paris Opera
The public performance is scheduled for Monday, as part of the cultural Olympiad taking place ahead of the Paris Games, but the show has already been performed elsewhere in the world for several years, for example in Los Angeles (United States) and Montpellier (south of France).
Among the participants, some come from amateur or corporate choirs, or from the academy’s various artistic and cultural education programs. The youngest participants are middle school students, the Opera specifies. “It’s a completely incredible experience because it’s a kind of unidentified musical object,” says Fayçal Karoui, in charge of musical direction alongside Dimitri Chamblas, who is responsible for the choreography and staging.
Spread out both on stage and in the audience, the choristers led by choir directors sing, speak, whisper, clap their hands in rhythm, perform movements, sometimes in groups, sometimes all together.
“It’s very impressive,” enthuses Émilie De Fos, 47, a psychologist who is taking part in the show. “Behind this individuality that you can feel in certain passages, there is a whole unity and that moment is very intense,” confides the one who wanted to “try an experiment” and “put herself in a new position.”
“We don’t have the opportunity to come and rehearse at the Opéra Bastille every day. And then, being part of such an ensemble requires a lot of concentration. (…) It’s really an unusual experience,” notes Bérénice Vannesson, 43, who works in the hospital public service and is also part of a non-professional choir.
This piece thus allows us to show that “a project which brings together very diverse people, from very different social, cultural and professional backgrounds, (…) it works”, says Myriam Mazouzi happily.
