Ensemble Variances

Since its founding in 2009 by French composer, Thierry Pécou, Ensemble Variances has focused
intensively on current issues in their music, like ecology, migration, colonization or medical-ethical
matters. The ensemble uses the contemplations of the French philosopher and poet Édouard
Glissant (Martinique) about cultural diversity and the enrichment of life through diversification as
a guideline. The programs of Thierry Pécou and Ensemble Variances are primarily focussed on
contemporary music, but – in the spirit of Glissant – embrace all musical aesthetics.

Thierry Pécou founded Ensemble Variances in search of new ways to draw the listeners into the
concert. By enfolding the audience musically and sometimes even theatrically, each Ensemble
Variances concert becomes a story of its own, binding the sequence of works together. These
stories, inspired by Amerindian, Afro-American and Indian cultures and told by this close-knit
group of musicians, lend the performances a sense of ritual enactment.

The ensemble has been invited to festivals and institutions such as Cité de la Musique Paris,
Festival Présences de Radio France, Auditorium de Lyon, Musikfestspiele Potsdam, the Lux Aeterna
Festival of the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg (Germany), Wigmore Hall London (UK), Bourgie
Hall Montréal and Ottawa Chamberfest (Canada).

Both Ensemble Variances and Thierry Pécou are based in Rouen: the heart of Normandy.

Ensemble Variances (France)
Thierry Pécou, electric piano & direction
Anne Cartel, flute
Carjez Gerretsen, clarinet
Nicolas Proust, saxophone
David Louwerse, cello
Laurene Durantel, double bass
Irini Aravidou, percussions

This page was last updated in February 2022.