Millenium Orchestra, Chœur de Chambre de Namur & Leonardo García-Alarcón
Biographie Millenium Orchestra, Chœur de Chambre de Namur & Leonardo García-Alarcón
The Millenium Orchestra
brings together in a single phalanx and in a variety of forms the most talented musicians, who come from all horizons but share the same passion and desire for excellence.
Its members come from several generations of early music specialists who play on original instruments adapted to different repertoires, baroque, classical or even romantic.
Formed in 2014, Millenium Orchestra has been touring the musical seasons and festivals since February 2015 under the direction of Leonardo García Alarcón. His first production was a W.A. Mozart programme with the soprano Jodie Devos: "The Vienna Concert 1783" published by Ricercar..
In 2016, Millenium Orchestra recorded Scarlatti's St. John Passion with the Chœur de Chambre de Namur and participated in the impressive production of Donizetti's Requiem at the Saint-Denis Festival.
In 2018, the orchestra was associated with the productions marking the 30th anniversary of the Chœur de Chambre de Namur, its privileged partner: Lully's Grands Motets, Veneziano's Passion, Handel's oratorio Samson, etc.
From 2019 to 2023, the orchestra will continue its cycle of Handel's great oratorios (Saul, Sémélé, Solomon, Theodora) in the company of the Chœur de Chambre de Namur, and will focus on the sacred works of Antonio Vivaldi (Vespro a San Marco).
Millenium Orchestra receives support from the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (music and dance department), the National Lottery, the City and Province of Namur. It benefits from the Tax Shelter of the Federal Government of Belgium and Wallonie-Bruxelles International.
Chœur de Chambre de Namur
Since its foundation in 1987, the Chœur de Chambre de Namur has been committed to cultivating the musical heritage of its region of origin, and is dedicated to the great works of the choral repertoire, ranging from the Middle Ages to contemporary music. The artistic director since 2010 has been the Argentinian conductor Leonardo García Alarcón, with whom the choir has performed on many occasions in Europe and South America. The ensemble has made numerous recordings and performs at many prestigious festivals. It works with conductors such as Peter Phillips, Richard Egarr, Christophe Rousset and Julien Chauvin and will continue to collaborate with ensembles such as Les Talens Lyriques, Reinoud Van Mechelen and A Nocte Temporis as well as Alexis Kossenko and Les Ambassadeurs in the coming seasons. Highlights of the last season include Georg Friedrich Händel's »Saul« in Namur and Beaune, »La Vie Parisienne« by Jacques Offenbach at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Jean-Philippe Rameau´s »Indes galantes« at the Opéra national de Paris.
The Chœur de Chambre de Namur is supported by the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (service de la musique et de la danse), the Loterie Nationale as well as the City of Namur. It also receives support from Wallonie Bruxelles International.
Leonardo García-Alarcón
s a harpsichordist, conductor, choirmaster and composer, who also has vast experience in opera. He sets himself apart with his in-depth knowledge of the repertoire, as well as the genius and audacity of his interpretations, as he constantly strives to rekindle the elemental force of music and transmit emotion.
After studying piano in his native country, Argentina, in 1997 Garcia-Alarcón moved to Geneva in order to continue his studies as a harpsichordist and specialise in early music. He performed with Ensemble Elyma, where he became assistant conductor to Gabriel Garrido.
As a conductor and harpsichordist, Garcia-Alarcón performs at festivals and in concert halls all over the world, preferrably with lesser known repertoire. With Cappella Mediterranea he gave much acclaimed performances of largely forgotten early Italian operas, including Francesco Cavalli’s Elena, Erismena, Eliogabalo and Il giasone. Hen composed a highly acclaimed new third act to Antonio Draghi’s opera El Prometeo, the original score having been lost to history.
Garcia-Alarcón teaches the harpsichord and vocal interpretation of Baroque music at the Geneva University of Music.
In October 2022, Garcia-Alarcón made an impressive debut with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducting Mozart’s version of Handels’s opera Acis and Galatea, in a mise-en-espace by Pierre Audi. Two years later he returned with a unique pastiche consisting of episodes from worldly cantatas by Bach and Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks.
“Above all, he is a great conduit of emotion. He has many identities and is at once a learned musicologist and a showman. He can elicit the enthusiasm of an entire hall with the most varied repertoire, from a street dance version of Indes Galantes to the St. Matthew Passion.” - Charles Sigel for Forumopera in June 2022
“Rarely have I met a conductor who is as interested in theatre, dramaturgy, schools of thought, and the relationship between music and text.” - Jean-Yves Ruf, stage director
“Like certain physicists, I believe that time does not exist and music allows us to resurrect the souls of composers.” - Leonardo García-Alarcón
