Nothing predisposed to the association of a viola da gamba and an accordion. That of Lucile Boulanger and Théo Ould nevertheless seems obvious. The two artists met during an ON/OFF podcast hosted by the accordionist. The theme was the history of interpretation: how to remain faithful to the composers’ thoughts? It was following this particularly exciting exchange that the two musicians decided to go further and perform as a duo.
More than three centuries separate the invention of these two instruments. One is a stringed instrument, the other a wind, but with Lucile and Théo the oppositions attract each other. The sound of the accordion has that slightly nostalgic patina that fits perfectly with baroque music. He evokes the sound of the organ or the harpsichord, enriched by the expressiveness of the bellows. At the same time, Lucile Boulanger knows how to pull her viola da gamba towards modernity, not hesitating to commission new works from composers, or collaborating with the choreographer Mourad Merzouki for the ballet Phenix.
Their explorations lead them to revisit the Italian, German (with Johann Sebastian Bach of course) or French (Jean-Philippe Rameau or Marin Marais) baroque repertoires, but also to approach the contemporary repertoire, in particular through the works of Philippe Hersant.