About us
In the 11th century, the Italian monk Guido d'Arezzo attributed a particular note to each articulation of the palm face of the hand, thus conceiving the "guidonian hand". When the later musicians wanted to widen the scale thus proposed, they added an additional note in the bass, to which they assigned a position at the back of the thumb: the note called "retropolis" was born.
By adopting this name, the Ensemble Retropolis wishes to signify its attachment to medieval music and its desire to reach out to both the diversity of artistic disciplines and the diversity of audiences.
Born in 2019 from the alliance of three musicians who met at the Centre de Musique Ancienne of the Haute École de Musique de Genève, the Ensemble is dedicated to the interpretation of music from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, addressing both the secular and the sacred repertoire within varied thematic programs.
Angelo Chardonnet
Flutes
Angelo Chardonnet began his musical studies with the recorder at the age of six in Rome, then at the CRR in Annecy and finally at the National School of Music in Villeurbanne, where he obtained his Diploma Musical Studies (DEM). He also holds a Master's degree in Musicology from the University of Lyon 2 (2017). He continued his studies at the HEM in Geneva, in the class of Daniele Bragetti (2017 to 2022), where he obtained a Bachelor's degree in recorder and a Master's degree in Musical Pedagogy.
He has participated in numerous masterclasses and festivals with internationally renowned artists: Giovanni Antonini, Michael Form, Han Tol, Dan Laurin, Walter Van Hauwe.
Besides the recorder, Angelo also studies the baroque bassoon. He is passionate about traditional Chinese music and plays the xiao and dizi. He plays in concert with the HEM Ensemble Soie Bambou under the direction of Linling Yu and Xavier Bouvier. He received the prize from the Swiss-Asia Association for Musical Studies in June 2022.
Gaëlle Fourré
Singing, psaltery, flutes
After initial training in modern flute, Gaëlle Fourré studied music history, analysis and writing in various institutions.
Holder of a degree in music and musicology from Paris-Sorbonne University, she subsequently joined the department of Musical Culture at the Conservatoire National Supérieur Musique et Danse de Lyon.
There, she developed a particular interest in medieval repertoires, which led her to pursue training in historical flutes and ancient music at the Haute École de Musique de Genève with Serge Saitta.
She is currently pursuing a master's degree in medieval music first with Pierre Hamon then Norbert Rodenkirchen, while conducting research on the liturgical repertoires of the High Middle Ages.
Alexandre Jaques
Organetto, clavicymbalum
Holder of a concert diploma from the Haute École de Musique de Trossingen, as well as a higher certificate as liturgical organist, Alexandre Jaques is a member of several chamber music groups, such as Les Lumières Médiévales or Ensemble Entre Temps . He also plays in duet with several partners, accompanies choirs and performs regularly as a soloist.
He created pieces by composers Rudolf Meyer, Yukio Lenz and Rachelle Cohen and wrote educational works for the concert accordion published by Wunn Verlag (Germany).
He teaches accordion and music theory in different music schools and is organist in the parishes of Neukirch-Egnach and Sitterdorf-Zihlschlacht.
Since 2018, he specializes in medieval music at the Haute École de Musique de Genève with Francis Biggi.