Elsa Dorbath, the cellist who thinks collectively

“The name Ataremac? It was my partner’s idea. I was looking for my dormitory a name that clicks and he said to me, try Comrade upside down! I loved all these consonants, it sounds a bit like an Inca divinity.” Elsa Dorbath also adds that this strange name gives an idea of ​​the originality and ambition of the string orchestra that she founded alone, on a whim.

Since 2018, Ataremac has been like a little insistent melody that has taken its place in the musical biotope of classical music in Lausanne. This unconducted ensemble of sixteen string players impresses with always imaginative and very well constructed programs. The 2024-2025 season, in Lausanne and Neuchâtel, explores the theme of cinema in a skillful and captivating way. An idea whose artistic director no longer knows how it came about, as the thirty-year-old is so full of desire and curiosity.

The next concert, this Saturday January 26 in Neuchâtel and Sunday January 27 in Lausanne, is entitled “Contre diving”. It gives pride of place to famous film score composers – Ralph Vaughan Williams, Nino Rota, John Williams, Philip Glass – who also wrote for the concert: “Although these works were not initially conceived for the cinema, they all have an undeniable cinematic dimension.”

Elsa Dorbath, on the other hand, remembers perfectly the genesis of her ensemble: “I was given the task of putting together a string orchestra for a series of concerts in Paris,” says the cellist. But everything fell through at the last moment, when I had gathered all the musicians.” His companion, the Lausanne composer Nicolas von Ritterthrows him a challenge: if you want a dormitorydo it yourself! Cap or not cap?

“I had no idea of ​​the budget, the fundraising, the locations, the public’s expectations, the marketing,” admits the musician of French origin, “but we started right away with a full season of four concerts and commissions from composers!” Fearless, the artistic director imagines themes specific to each season – “it’s more rewarding than finding a theme per concert”.

The stress is enormous, the investment just as much, with each time the question of whether the game is worth it: “But from the first rehearsal, I know why I’m doing it. There is such positive energy at work, tremendous enthusiasm from the musicians. When we play without a conductor, we all have to know every measure of the score, to be hyper-reactive. Perseverance ends up paying off: since this season, the Camerata Ataremac has found a permanent home base at the Maison de Quartier Sous-Gare in Lausanne.

Also for children

Mother of two children aged 3 and a half and 8 months, Elsa Dorbath launched, with her colleagues, the “small notes space”, a musical daycare service, in parallel with each concert. “We have two separate rooms. The entertainment for children aged 4 and over is designed on the same theme as the concert. At the end, we all get together to see what the children have done.”

The last concert of the season takes this approach even further. It will see the culmination of an orchestra camp in the spring for young instrumentalists, who will double as the adult orchestra for a symphonic version of “Peter and the Wolf.”

This bringing together of students around the same lectern with professional musicians is a childhood memory of Elsa Dorbath. “At 12, I participated in an educational project alongside my cello teacher who played in the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra. This concert decided my life.” Namely: making music together and creating “a sound you can lie down in”.

Fortunately, in Lausanne she will find not only the ideal teacher, at the Haute École de musique de Lausanne, who remains her mentor, Patrick Demenga, but also a city on a human scale, a landscape that speaks to her, a family to found, a collective to bring to life. The beautiful adventure.

Matthew Chenal has been a journalist in the cultural section since 1996. He particularly chronicles the abundant news of classical music in the canton of Vaud and French-speaking Switzerland.More info

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