Bruno Bonhoure / Khaï-Dong Luong
Experiencing performing art
La Camera delle Lacrime is characterized by a dual artistic leadership led by singer Bruno Bonhoure and stage director & researcher Khaï-Dong Luong. This is what defines the ensemble's strength and unique identity.
The ensemble’s distinctiveness lies in the simple, modern dialogue it maintains with its audience. Spectators are invited to travel through space and time, rediscover ancient poetry, and sometimes even perform on stage alongside the artists.
Discover CIRCUM CANTUM and KARAOKÉ MÉDIÉVAL, an educational series that uses music to pass on to children a knowledge of the world, the arts, and community life, based on resources connected to the Middle Ages.
© Heather Stone
Creator of medieval music events in the present
Innovation and the pursuit of meaning are the two ongoing challenges for this ensemble since its formation in 2005.
With the contribution of specialists and academics, La Camera delle Lacrime is dedicated to creating medieval music events in the present, drawing from heritage sources of the Middle Ages—mainly from the 12th and 13th centuries—within a contemporary research-creation perspective.
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 in Medieval Music
La Camera delle Lacrime is affiliated with Université Montpellier Paul-Valéry and the Centre International des Musiques Médiévales for its research-creation work in medieval music. Research-creation is an academic research approach that considers artistic practice as a field of inquiry. Moving away from a vision of performance built strictly upon remnants of the past, La Camera delle Lacrime’s research-creation process has been driven since the ensemble’s inception by an ongoing dialogue between artists and researchers—focusing not only on historical and musicological aspects, but also on the raison d'être of the stage performance, on audience engagement, and on transmission to younger generations. Convinced that connecting with the audience must extend beyond the conventional concert format, the company’s artistic directors have designed creations that allow amateur choristers to join the professional performance for selected songs within a musicologically sound framework. Thus, within the contemporary experience of medieval music, we were the first specialized ensemble to propose, back in 2012, performing the repertoire of the Llibre Vermell de Montserrat manuscript in a participatory format. This approach grew out of a commitment to rethink and reinvent the relationship with audiences during early music concerts. Since then, this pioneer work has set an educational precedent, and the concept—applied to the very same repertoire and songs—has been widely adopted by other ensembles.
Bruno Bonhoure - musicale direction and solo voice
Bruno Bonhoure spent his childhood on a small farm in northern Aveyron before moving to the city. His musical studies led him from Clermont-Ferrand to Paris, where he refined his practice under Gaël de Kerret (Erik Satie Conservatory, Paris) and earned a Master’s degree in Musicology from Université Paris 8 Saint-Denis. In 1996, he began collaborating with the Italian artists of Ensemble Micrologus. In 1999, he took part in the production Cantico della terra with singer and ethnomusicology researcher Giovanna Marini. That same year, he met Vincent Dumestre and worked alongside him on the Baroque repertoire. In 2005, Bruno Bonhoure co-founded the ensemble La Camera delle Lacrime with Khaï-Dong Luong to create stage events based on medieval musical traces, jointly bringing together the study of sources, rituals, and vocal practices. Bruno Bonhoure has also developed a drawing practice, taking part in publishing projects and exhibitions. During the Covid pandemic, he launched online collaborative drawing sessions, an initiative he has continued ever since. Since January 2019, Bruno Bonhoure has coordinated the content for La Camera delle Lacrime’s quarterly journal—a standalone editorial project at the intersection of several genres: an artistic document (extending the universe of their performances), a research notebook (featuring interviews, as well as historical and musicological insights), and a cultural mediation journal (bridging the works and the audience). For philologist and literary historian Carlo Ossola, Bruno Bonhoure can be compared to the concept of Bildung—a German term referring to the cultivation of oneself, the development of one’s talents for personal self-improvement and the good of the community. Bruno Bonhoure accompanies himself on a medieval harp reconstructed by Yves d'Arcizas based on the seal of Guilhem VII of Montpellier (1192).
Khaï-Dong Luong - direction, artistic conception, research
Khaï-Dong Luong was born in Cambodia in 1971. His life, along with his family's, was turned upside down in April 1975 when Phnom Penh fell to the Angkar regime. Following an exilic journey that led him through Vietnam, he arrived in France, settling in Le Mans in 1976. After studying at Sorbonne University and Université Paris-Cité, he passed the competitive Agrégation in Mathematics, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Film Studies, and a degree in Foreign Languages and Civilizations. He also holds a Master’s degree in Media Management from Audencia Business School. Khaï-Dong Luong co-founded La Camera delle Lacrime in 2005 with Bruno Bonhoure, following an initial collaboration on an animated short music film that was selected for the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. His approach brings together stage creation, research, and pedagogy: he develops participatory projects such as the Llibre Vermell de Montserrat in 2012, and created the "Ensemble-School" program in 2019 in partnership with the Centre International de Musiques Médiévales de Montpellier and Université Montpellier Paul-Valéry. Khaï-Dong Luong conducts research at the Centre d’Études Médiévales de Montpellier focusing on the issues and performative dimensions associated with medieval music as sound, using an approach that blends research-creation, ethnoscenology, and complex thought. In April 2025, he earned his PhD in Arts, with a specialization in Musicology, receiving the "Research-Creation" designation. He is a member of the French Musicological Society (Société Française de Musicologie), the French Ethnoscenology Society (Société Française d'Ethnoscénologie), and the Association of Musicologists of Auvergne. The educational web series Circum Cantum: A History of the Middle Ages Through Song, co-created by Khaï-Dong Luong, was awarded the 2024 Stéphane Bern Foundation Prize at the Institut de France "for History and Heritage."
© 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