This pianist dreams of starting a large choir of 300 people in a small town in the Lot

It's a bit of a crazy bet. But she believes in it firmly. Sophie Alexander, a musician from Lot, has been giving choir lessons in Gourdon since September 9. But this is only the beginning, she hopes, of a great adventure. “I realized that a choir where we perform French songs, quite current, was missing in the sector. And then, those around me were asking me a lot to participate in a choir project. I had the desire to create a group dynamic. I could dedicate myself to it two hours a week,” says the woman who is an employee of the Department. So, on July 15, the pianist sent a bottle into the sea on her Facebook account. “I've been wanting to start a choir in Gourdon for some time. This time has finally arrived! So join us every Monday evening from September 9 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. to share a good time together. Songs in French and English, rock, ballads….everything is possible! The room will be reserved according to the number of singers,” she says.

The messages quickly arrived in his Facebook inbox. One interested, then two, then three, then four… As a result, on Monday September 9, the first course had 25 participants in the Lafontade room, loaned free of charge by the municipality of Gourdon. Unexpected. And the number increases from week to week to reach, today, 35 singers. Intergenerational singers who are between 16 and 86 years old. A beautiful ensemble which has already exceeded the expectations of the 52-year-old professor, who graduated with a master's degree in music in England and serves as choir director.

Every Monday evening, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., the choir rehearses with the means at hand, in the municipal hall. The space, however, is nothing like a music room: every Monday, the musician is forced to transport her heavy Yamaha electric piano. “I bring my own equipment, that’s for sure, it’s not easy, and we can’t have a lot of amps in the room, we make do,” she slips. She loads the piano into her “little 15-year-old car, praying every time that it won’t break down.”

The D system

Once everything is installed in the room and the singers are in place, Sophie Alexander assures him: “It’s nothing, it looks very good.” She puts the lyrics of the songs she has worked on online on her site, A lot of songs, and everyone prints their document. Instructions are given on a Whatsapp group created for the occasion. At home, Sophie Alexander plays Chopin, Beethoven and Mozart. In the Lafontade room, the repertoire of his course is more current: “You are my other”, by Lara Fabian and Maurane, “Avant toi” by Slimane and Vitaa and “Mistral Gagnant” by Renaud but harmonized for two voices by the care by Sophie Alexander. A choir of odds and ends with baroque charm.

The music teacher now wants to think much bigger. In any case, she has a certain something that others don't have. A slightly crazy idea: “I would like to one day reach the number of 300 singers, that would be a dream for me. But already, 200 would be enormous.” The room is designed to accommodate 60 people. So, if the choir class is a victim of its success, we will have to push the walls. “It’s a challenge, the more volume there is, the more atmosphere there is. An ensemble of 200 or 300 people is absolutely grandiose, it transports us,” she continues. The choir director knows what she is talking about: she accompanied a choir of this size on the piano in Saint-Nazaire. “I still have very moving memories,” she says. Sophie Alexander wants to bring these memories back to life in the Lot. A call is therefore launched to candidates who wish to join the choir. Especially since in 2025, the pianist is already thinking about the music festival. “For the moment, we are still learning, but the idea is to be able to sing in the villages and for festivities in the department, to offer activities and concerts. We will build up our own repertoire little by little. small and at the end of the school year, we will surely be operational,” she assures. A great challenge.