Producing and presenting new work around classical music

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Based in Briare, in the Loiret, Autrement Classique has, since its founding, developed a singular artistic project — rooted in the vocal repertoire and chamber music, yet resolutely turned towards creation and the invention of new formats.

Chamber opera, French art song (mélodie), German Lied, melodrama, music theatre, lecture-concert, cross-disciplinary performance: these forms are the bedrock of our work. We approach them not as fixed heritage objects but as living material, able to resonate with contemporary questions. Our ambition is clear: to reweave a strong bond between classical music and audiences who sometimes feel distant from it, by offering experiences that are at once demanding, accessible and deeply embodied.

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An aesthetic of encounter

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Autrement Classique’s artistic vision rests on one conviction: encounter creates meaning. Encounters between disciplines (music, literature, theatre, dance), between artists of different generations and backgrounds, between heritage and new creation, between places and works.

To date, the association has run a musical season built around creative residencies, bringing together musicians from various corners of the classical world around a shared theme. These residencies gave rise to hybrid forms — from musical theatre to film-concert, from choreographic performance to introduced concert — fostering artistic experimentation.

From 2027, this momentum is redeployed in a more concentrated and more visible format: the festival becomes the privileged setting for these encounters and creations. It is no longer a matter of adding concerts together, but of asserting a coherent artistic line, built around a strong thematic axis in which each proposal converses with the others.

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Musical excellence at the heart of the project

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Artistic rigour remains the foundation of our work. Autrement Classique collaborates with artists of national and international renown — such as Julie Mathevet, Anne Le Bozec, Sophie Marilley, Juliette Mars, Sabine Toutain, Michael Malviček and the Quatuor Anches Hantées — while opening the stage widely to young performers.

This intergenerational transmission is essential: it allows young singers and instrumentalists to take their first steps in demanding productions, alongside established artists, within a supportive professional framework.

In 2017, the association acquired and restored a parallel-strung Érard baby grand piano (series 1, 1904). This heritage instrument has become one of the emblems of our approach: it embodies both the historical roots of the Romantic repertoire and the desire for a living dialogue with the works. Around it has grown an itinerant programme of lecture-concerts and audience outreach across the Loiret, in the Centre-Val de Loire region and beyond.

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Heritage as a living stage

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Autrement Classique now situates its work in close relationship with the territory’s remarkable heritage. The Pont-Canal de Briare, the canals, the port, the locks, the gardens, the châteaux and the churches of the intercommunal area are all potential stages.

These places are not mere backdrops: they become dramaturgical partners. The beauty of the setting, the presence of water, the memory held in stone and the movement of audiences transform the concert experience. Here music recovers a sensory, immersive dimension that helps broaden audiences and extend the territory’s reach on a regional, national and even international scale.

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Cultural outreach and community education

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Outreach is one of the pillars of the project. Throughout the year, Autrement Classique leads workshops in schools across its intercommunal area: discovering instruments, meeting artists, vocal practice, writing, and the development of shared projects.

These actions are not merely educational support; they aim to make the artistic encounter a formative experience. Pupils become participants, experience creation first-hand and take part in collective projects that extend the work of the stage.

More broadly, the association pursues a mission of community education: introduced concerts, cross-cutting themes, historical and aesthetic perspective. Audiences learn by listening and understand by feeling.

The itinerant festival Les Journées du piano romantique fully illustrates this approach: by placing instruments — their making, their restoration and their history — at the centre, it opens a concrete and sensory gateway into the repertoire. It satisfies both the curiosity of newcomers and the discernment of seasoned music lovers.

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A clear commitment to the voice

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Already strongly committed to the vocal repertoire — notably through its annual lyric singing course — the association is affirming, for the years ahead, an even more pronounced focus on the voice.

In-depth collaborations are under way with Anne Le Bozec around French art song and German Lied, and with Sophie Marilley around the operatic repertoire. A new lyric production will be created each year, offering young artists the opportunity to join a full staged production and to take part in a demanding professional dynamic.

Autrement Classique thus asserts a comprehensive artistic project:

• rooted in heritage and territory,

• structured around creation and encounter,

• founded on musical excellence,

• and resolutely turned towards transmission and the broadening of audiences.

It is not only about presenting concerts, but about building artistic experiences that lastingly transform our relationship with classical music.