Axelle Fanyo
Rising Stars – Open Doors
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Date
- / Cancelled / Sold out
Location
Grand Auditorium Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation- Soprano
- Piano
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Axelle Fanyo
Soprano
After studying musicology at the Sorbonne and winning awards as a violinist at the Conservatoire La Courneuve, Axelle Fanyo studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (CNSMDP) with Glenn Chambers and obtained her Master’s Diploma. She also took part in the lyric workshop Opera Fuoco, led by David Stern, and was a member of Renée Fleming’s Song Studio at Carnegie Hall in 2019.
In 2023/24 she will make her debut in two major roles: Tosca at the Théâtre Imperial in Compiègne, then on tour in France, and Verdi’s Luisa Miller at the Opéra Grand Avignon. She will also sing the role of the Mother in the world premiere of Hèctor Parra’s contemporary opera Justice at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. In concert and recital she sings Berg’s Sieben frühe Lieder, Schoenberg’s Lieder op.2 and String Quartet No. 2 (L’Abbaye de Royaumont), and narrates Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat, with musicians from the Orchestre de Paris conducted by Samy Rachid.
Recent highlights include her debut at the Philharmonie de Paris singing the title role in Debussy’s La Damoiselle élue with Orchestre de Paris, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. The latter then invited her to sing at Davies Symphony Hall the role of Refka in Kaija Saariaho’s opera Adriana Mater with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, staged by Peter Sellars. She also made her debut at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, sang at Opéra de Massy, Opéra de Dijon and Opéra de Caen and recitals at the Orangerie du Parc Bagatelle, Festival des Nuits Romantiques, Opéra Comique and Paris Music Factory.
In concert Axelle Fanyo has been heard in Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem and Mahler’s Rückert Lieder with the Orchestre Les Siècles and in repertoire ranging from Respighi’s Il tramonto, Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder and Poulenc’s La Dame de Monte-Carlo. She performs in recital with pianists such as Julius Drake, Tanguy de Williencourt, Kunal Lahiry, and Adriano Spampanato, in venues such as the Wigmore Hall, La Seine Musicale, La Philharmonie de Paris, and the Musée d ‘Orsay. Her recordings include Saint-Saens’ Les Mélodies Persanes for Palazzetto Bru Zane with the Orchestre de Capitole de Toulouse, conducted by Leo Hussain, and several melodies of Henri Duparc for B Records, in association with l’Académie Orsay-Royaumont.
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Kunal Lahiry
Piano
Indian-American pianist Kunal Lahiry is a current BBC New Generation Artist and recipient of the 2021 Carl Bechstein Foundation scholarship. Recent performance highlights include recitals at Wigmore Hall, Kennedy Center, Pierre Boulez Saal, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Carnegie Hall Weill Recital Room, Musée d’Orsay, Ludwigsburg Festival, Life Victoria de Los Angeles Festival, and at the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute. He has been broadcasted on BBC Radio 3, Icelandic National Public Radio RÁS1, Austrian Radio Ö1, and RBB Kultur, and was featured on ARTE’s ‘Hope@Home’ and ‘Europe@Home’ series hosted by violinist Daniel Hope. This season includes appearances at Stoller Hall, Bristol St. George’s, Aldeburgh Festival, Opera Holland Park, Cheltenham Music Festival, Harpa Concert Hall, Schubertíada Comillas, Hugo Wolf Academy, Heidelberg Neulied Festival, Philharmonie de Paris.
Kunal has commissioned and premiered works by Nico Muhly, Errollyn Wallen, Nahre Sol, Héloïse Werner, Pablo Campos, Molly Joyce, Viktor Orri Árnason, Guðmundur Emilsson, Zachary Radler, Zubaida Azezi, and Edo Frenkel. He received grants from the Musikfonds and the Center for Musical Excellence to finance and co-produce an interdisciplinary video project called ‘Homescapes’ with Icelandic soprano and visual artist Álfheiður Erla Guðmundsdóttir, and created a music video with Boomtown Media Productions exploring queerness in classical music through the support of the Liedzentrum Heidelberg. He frequently collaborates with pop singer Lie Ning in Berlin and they performed together at the 2020 Reeperbahn in Hamburg.
Kunal has been invited to participate in several young artist programmes for pianists specializing in art song. In 2018, he was selected for the inaugural Royaumont-Orsay Academy, culminating in a live album recording released by B Records. He also joined Carnegie Hall’s first Song Studio, mentored by Renée Fleming, was invited by Thomas Hampson to participate in the Heidelberg Lied Academy, and received the Sam Hutchings prize at Malcolm Martineau’s Oxenfoord International Summer School.
Originally from Gainesville, Georgia, Kunal was a Schulich Scholar at McGill University and graduated with distinction in song interpretation from the Hochschule for Müsik “Hanns Eisler”. He is an Equilibrium Young Artist, Samling Artist, Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Artist, and Britten Pears Young Artist. Kunal is currently based in Berlin.
Kurt Weill
Three songs:
Complainte de la Seine
Je ne t’aime pas
Youkali
Arnold Schönberg
Brettl-lieder:
Galathea
Der genügsame Liebhaber
Seit ich so viele Weiber sah
Sofia Avramidou
Entre les miroirs *
George Gershwin
The Man I Love
(arranged for solo piano by Earl Wild)
Tradicional
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
Florence Price
Songs to the Dark Virgin
Margaret Bonds
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
William Bolcom
Cabaret Songs:
Song of Black Max
Toothbrush Time
George
Amor
* Commissioned by Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Philharmonie de Paris and Auditorium de Lyon, with the support of ECHO.
Axelle Fanyo is presented by Philharmonie de Paris and Auditorium de Lyon.
As a member of the ECHO – European Concert Hall Organisation network, comprising a group of prestigious concert halls across Europe, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is once again opening its doors to receive the Rising Stars cycle.
Throughout a musically intense day, the focus will be on the rising stars of contemporary interpretation and music creation, and the public will be able to see live the exceptionality of some of the youngsters selected to be part of the Rising Stars. Once again, the programme privileges the diversity of proposals, with performances by musicians of exceptional talent. In the context of Open Doors, a varied programme and a festive musical atmosphere is provided in an informal setting.
Sponsor Gulbenkian Music
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation reserves the right to collect and keep records of images, sounds and voice for the diffusion and preservation of the memory of its cultural and artistic activity. For further information, please contact us through the Information Request form.
