BRIDGING PEOPLES AND STORIES – TRAVELING FROM ONE LANGAGE TO ANOTHER

While every society has cultivated song, its purpose differs from one culture to another. In klezmer or Yiddish music—the traditional music of Ashkenazi Jews—song accompanies celebrations and rituals, marking the moments of life. It has its roots in the itinerant musicians who once traveled through towns, ghettos, and shtetls.

Armenian music, a blend of folk and sacred influences, evokes spirituality, philosophy, and lyricism. Gypsy (Romani) music reveals great diversity in form, source, and content, nourished by the local traditions encountered by the Roma, Gitano, and Manouche peoples throughout their nomadic journeys.

It is the echo of these songs and the essence of these cultures that the Sirba Octet brings to life in Tsuzamen. In this original musical assemblage come together the tale of an old sage sitting beneath a tree, stories of passion, of darkness, and of the massacre of Ponary that tore a father from his family. Also included are a song in tribute to Karabakh—a sad story of a region still scarred by human suffering today—a poem by Károly Bari, Le Shavore, a Hungarian Gypsy song dedicated to children, and a lighter village dance between boys and girls on the theme of the pumpkin. Songs, lullabies, and poems form the essential foundations of traditions that bind humanity together.

A VERSION WITH A CHILDREN’S OR ADULT CHOIR

For the creation of this new program in 2022, the Sirba Octet wished to offer an expanded version, where the regenerative power of a children’s choir became a natural choice. Partnering with the Orchestre de Paris, long-time supporters of the ensemble, and their children’s choir was an obvious step. The Sirba Octet and the Children’s Choir of the Orchestre de Paris performed their first concert at La Scala Provence in July 2022, followed by an exceptional concert marking the album release at the Philharmonie de Paris (Grande salle Pierre Boulez) in 2023. This concert was recorded by France Télévisions and broadcast in full throughout 2024 and 2025.

FROM ONE CHOIR TO ANOTHER

The Sirba Octet has also collaborated with the children’s choir of the Maîtrise de Cambrai during the Rencontres Musicales de Cambrai festival, as well as with the Choir of the Maîtrise of the Metz Cathedral, conducted by Christophe Bergossi, for performances at the Cité Musicale de Metz and at the Salle Poirel in Nancy.

In 2024, the Sirba Octet partnered with the adult choir of the Région Sud, directed by Michel Piquemal, for the Glanum Festival. The ensemble regularly collaborates with La Maîtrise de la Perverie, directed by Charlotte Badiou, with whom they performed at La Folle Journée de Nantes in 2024 and 2025, and at the Via Aeterna festival in 2024 and Rivage des Voix in 2025.

The Tsuzamen program was then presented in a series of concerts with the Maîtrise du CPMDT de Genève at La Cité Bleue in Geneva in March 2025. The ensemble also performed in April 2025 at the Auditorium of New University Heidelberg in Germany, in collaboration with the Collegium Musicum adult choir, conducted by Michael Sekulla. The Maîtrise of the Opéra and Conservatory Toulon Provence Méditerranée, directed by Christophe Bernollin, is actively preparing to join the Sirba Octet at the Toulon Music Festival in July 2026.

AN ALBUM ON SIRBA RECORDS

The octet version of the Tsuzamen program was released in 2023 on the Sirba Records label, created in celebration of the ensemble’s 20th anniversary. The album is available exclusively through their online store and on all digital platforms.