Experiencing medieval music in the present
Bruno Bonhoure / Khaï-Dong Luong
La Camera delle Lacrime is characterised by the double artistic leadership of the singer Bruno Bonhoure and the scenic director researcher Khaï-Dong Luong.
Programme conception, repertoire choice, invitation of musicians and singers always occur after a long period of reflection and thought.
This is a key strength and creates the unique identity of this ensemble.
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Discover CIRCUM CANTUM, an educational series that uses music to transmit to children a knowledge of the world, the arts and life in community, based on materials related to the Middle Ages.
Experiencing performing art
© Heather Stone
The philosophy
Innovation and the search for meaning are the two constant challenges of this group since their formation in 2005.
With the help of specialists and academics, La Camera delle Lacrime’s vocation is the creation of dramatic practices. They fashion their shows out of historical sources from the Middle Ages, essentially from the 12th and 13th centuries, crafting a contemporary view of research-creation which is aware of the distance between the medieval source and its sonic and visual manifestation during the performances.
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La Camera delle Lacrime is supported in their research and artistic creations by the Regional Direction of Cultural Affairs and the Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The group presents their shows in France in landmark festivals and venues of classical and early music. Since 2016, the group has been recording and releasing its music on its own label, En Live, available to order on their website.
© Yann Cabello
Research-creation
Research-creation is an academic research approach in which we are interested in practice as a field of research.
Counter a certain vision of shows created from vestiges of the past, the work of research-creation of La Camera delle Lacrime has been from the very begining oriented towards reflection with artists and researchers, not only about historical aspects and musicology, but also about the stage performance, sharing with the public and transmission of knowledge to the young.
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Because artistic directors of the company are convinced meeting and sharing with the public must go beyond the simple framework of concerts, they have devised creations enabling to welcome on stage amateur choristers along the show to perform a few songs in a relevant musicological setting.
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Therefore in the contemporary experience of Medieval Music, we were the first medieval music ensemble on 2012 to propose and establish the rendition of the Red Book of Montserrat’s manuscript as a participatory show, still as an experience of medieval music today.
This approach resulted in a commitment and a reflexion on how to rethink the relationship with the early music concerts audience.
It has since spread out and the concept on this very repertory and these very same songs has been widely taken up by others ensembles.
© Issa Sawane
Bruno Bonhoure - musicale direction and solo voice
For Carlo Ossola, philologist and literary historian, Bruno Bonhoure is comparable to Bildung. This German term means working on oneself, cultivating one's talents for one's own improvement and for the good of the community. Bruno Bonhoure spent his childhood on a little farm in north Aveyron before slowly becoming an urbanite during the course of his studies which took him from Clermont-Ferrand to Paris. He polished his vocal technique with Gaël de Kerret (Conservatoire Erik Satie, Paris) and in master classes with Udo Reinemann (1942-2013). He has also obtained a Masters in musicology.
From 1996 he collaborated with the Italian musicians, Patrizia Bovi, Adolfo Broegg, Goffredo degli Esposti and Gabriele Russo. He became the French singer in the Italian ensemble Micrologus. In 1999, he participated in the project Cantico della terra with Giovanna Marini. The same year, he met Vincent Dumestre and worked with him for eight productions and about 100 concerts all across Europe for five years. In 2005, Bruno Bonhoure and Khaï-Dong Luong founded the ensemble La Camera delle Lacrime to bring into action together source study, ritual and vocal practice in order to create concert events inspired by the musical traces of the Middle Ages.
Bruno Bonhoure accompanies himself on the harp built by Yves d'Arcizas based on the seal of Guilhem VIII of Montpellier (1192).
Khaï-Dong Luong - direction, artistic conception, research
Khaï-Dong Luong was born in Cambodia in 1971. His and his family’s lives were turned upside down in April 1975 when the Khmer Rouge took over Phnom Penh. After walking into exile, going as far as Vietnam, they arrived in France in the town of Le Mans when he was five years old. Studying for double honours literary and scientific courses at university, Khaï-Dong Luong passed the competitive examination for civil service in the French education system, becoming a maths teacher in 1994. He also obtained a Bachelors in Cinema Studies. He then pursued a diploma in language, literature and foreign civilisations and a Masters in Media management.
His first collaboration with Bruno Bonhoure in 2003 led to the creation of a short animated musial film which was selected by Annecy Festival and supported by the CNC (National Centre for Cinema) in the context of funding for innovation. Together, they founded La Camera delle Lacrime in 2005. His modern vision of how to interpret ancient repertoires led him to consider new ways of transmitting this music such as in the participative project, the Llibre Vermell de Montserrat, or Red Book of Montserrat. Since 2017, he has been enrolled as a doctoral student in musicology at the University Paul Valery and the Centre of Medieval Studies in Montpellier. His topic is scenology issues in medieval music performances. In 2019, in cooperation with the International Centre of Medieval Musics - Du Ciel aux Marges (From Sky to Margins), he created a course called Ensemble école (School for ensembles).
Khai-Dong Luong is a member of the French Society of Musicology, the French Society of Ethnoscenology and the Association of Musicologists of Auvergne.
© Greg Alric
Musicians and artists
Thanks to the musicians and artists who imprint the way of the band since its inception.
Clémence Montagne
​Inès Trientz
Lucas Bedecarrax
Oua Anou Diara
Luanda Siquiera
Dalaijargal Daansuren
Cristina Alís Raurich
Valentin Bruchon
Caroline Dangin-Bardot
Pierre Hamon
Vivabiancaluna Biffi
Tiphaine Gauthier
Leah Stuttard
Michèle Claude
Yan Li
Gayané Doneyan
Christophe Tellart
Andreas Linos
Antoine Morineau
Mokrane Adlani
Sabine Devieilhe
Patrizia Bovi
Senny Camara
Michel Abraham
Stéphanie Petibon
Manon Duchmann
Julie Dessaint
Carla Catalao
Léa Grenet
Jean-Lou Descamps
Liam Fennelly
Ronaldo Lopes
Kamilya Jubran
Martin Bauer
Elisabeth Geiger
Kazumi Fuchigami
Jean-Luc Tamby
Karim Touré
Spyros Halaris
Yann Péran
Bruno Helstroffer
Véronique Daniels
Julie Hassler
Denis Lavant
Matthieu Dessertine
Camille Cobbi
Marion Noone
Marin Laurens
Gérald Déazon