Frank Martin’s Mass for Double Choir a cappella is one of the repertoire’s most widely performed monuments, and Valentin Villard’s Mass for six voices could well follow in its footsteps. Although 90 years separate these two works, there is an evident filiation between Frank Martin and Valentin Villard. Both composers develop their own harmonic language based on contemporary practices, seek lines of great vocality and explore the orchestral dimension of juxtaposing human voices. Furthermore, both put their writing to the service of an expression of interiority devoid of affectation, with total sincerity and the same ethical and artistic aim.

The Académie vocale de Suisse romande (AVSR) is a professional chamber choir that welcomes professional singers or music students from the whole of the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Renaud Bouvier and Dominique Tille, the choir’s source of inspiration and artistic directors, created the ensemble in August 2009. The choir is open to singers capable of assuming a particular function in balancing and fusing the choir’s vocal ranges. Depending on the project, this quest for alchemy enables the ensemble to obtain a rich palette of vocal colours, thanks to characteristic individual timbres.

The AVSR performs a vast repertoire, but its primary mission is to perform choral music of the 20th and 21st centuries. Such music is rarely presented at a professional level in the Romandie, which is why the ensemble prioritises recent works and premieres.