Founded in November 2008, Le Balcon is a flexible amplified orchestra based at Athénée Louis-Jouvet Theatre in Paris. Composed of a wide range of artists, Le Balcon produces crossover shows, from modern music to the classical repertoire, including contemporary music’s most disturbing experiences. They define a specific musical action, getting rid of the boundaries between the audience and the artists. Amplifying the orchestra is part of their vision of a musical show, which has to be a radical and striking experience for the audience.
Le Balcon’s artistic committee unites musical director Maxime Pascal, sound engineer Florent Derex, composers Juan-Pablo Carreño and Pedro Garcia-Velasquez and pianist and singing coach Alphonse Cemin. They have worked with composers such as Pierre Boulez or Michaël Levinas; while bonding with artists of its own generation such as Marco Suárez-Cifuentes and Arthur Lavandier, and directors such as Benjamin Lazar, Nieto and Damien Bigourdan.
Among future projects, Le Balcon launched in 2018 the complete production of the LICHT cycle, starting with Donnerstag aus Licht in November 2018 at Opéra Comique in Paris and Southbank Centre in London (May 2019), and Samstag aus Licht in June 2019 at the Philharmonie de Paris. Le Balcon will continue the LICHT cycle, with Dienstag aus Licht in 2020 and Montag aus Licht in 2021.
Other futur projects include new operas (Frédéric Blondy, Arthur Lavandier in 2021, Sivan Eldar in 2022), a new production of Olivier Messiaen’s Saint-François d’Assise and symphonic performances at Radio-France, Philharmonie de Paris and Salzburger Festspiele.