PROJECTS
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SCHEHERAZADE,
A TALE
K and Simone Menezes
Golshfiteth Farahani and Kristian Winters - Actress
Simon Scardfield and Lynn Sefarty - Texte
Orchestration under the auspices of Vincent Paulet
“Ensemble K, conducted by Simone Menezes with passion and fluidity, gave an outstanding performance. The concert, performed in a well-attended Pierre Boulez Hall, was warmly acclaimed!” (Berliner Morgenpost)
This concert offers an intimate rediscovery of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sheherazade. Her image, often distorted by the Orientalist vision, regains its profound essence. By revisiting Korsakov’s work, we have created two versions of this performance: a traditional instrumental version and one enriched by an original narration written by Simon Scarfield and Lynn Sefarty.
It aims to reimagine the archetype of this legendary brillant women, an arquetype of heroine, who was willing to risk her life to save the women of her people.
The project has been recorded as a double CD for Alpha and is also available for streaming on Medici TV and Mezzo TV. Sheherazade, A Tale premiered at Boulez Hall in Berlin, offering audiences a unique immersion into this timeless story.
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https://www.medici.tv/fr/concerts/sheherazade-simone-menezes-ensemble-k
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Mezzo :
https://www.mezzo.tv/fr/Classique/K-Simone-Menezes-Rimski-Korsakov-Sheherazade-14570
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AMAZONIA
Simone Menezes - Conductor
Villa-Lobos and Philip Glass
Sebastiao Salgado - Photography
“A vivid evocation filled with beautiful moments; the over-the-top exuberance of the score is more vivid than ever!” (The Guardian)
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“Amazonia” features a CD recording with the Zurich Philharmonia, inviting listeners to rediscover the significance of Heitor Villa-Lobos’s masterpiece “Floresta do Amazonas,” presented alongside the captivating music of Philip Glass.
This unique concert has been performed with over ten major orchestras around the globe, gracing prestigious venues such as the Philharmonie de Paris, Barbican Hall in London, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Zurich Opera, Sala São Paulo, and the Auditorium Nacional in Madrid, among others. This collaboration between Simone Menezes and Sebastião Salgado brings a concert with photo projections, creating a uniquely powerful experience.
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METANOIA
Simone Menezes & K – A Music Documentary
A film by Paul Smaczny
Metanoia won the prize for the best “PERFORMANCE & DOCUMENTARIES” at the International Classical Music Awards 2023 !
"Together they created magic in the film, some astonishing performances. Such daring concepts could only come from a deep and free artist and thinker" - BBC Music Magazine ​
The concert features various works for choir and orchestra from the sacred repertoire, ranging from Puccini to Arvo Pärt, centered around a journey through Italy that fosters encounters and discussions about art and music.
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The awards wrote: “The music documentary ‘Metanoia’ sets new standards in terms of content and form. Alongside original musical selections, a trip to Italy and prominent interlocutors, the protagonists explore basic philosophical aspects of music and music reception. By linking the subject with other disciplines such as visual arts, sociology, architecture, dance or technology, they generate new ways of thinking around the topic.”
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K-ACCENT
Ensemble K and Simone Menezes
“Founded in 2020 by the Italian-Brazilian conductor Simone Menezes, Ensemble K describes itself as ‘Klassique, Kosmopolite, Kontemporain, Kréatif, Konnecté.’ And it’s true! It is engaged with both musical and social realities.” - Le Monde
“The original chamber music of Copland’s Appalachian Spring is the highlight here—the enchanting penultimate section, a set of variations on the Shaker melody ‘Simple Gifts,’ has rarely sounded so ingeniously seductive.” - BBC Music Magazine, April 2021
“This invigorating debut album from Menezes’s France-based collective could be just the pick-me-up you need in the depths of this particularly dark midwinter: effective chamber arrangements bring out the folk colors of Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances and, in particular, Copland’s Appalachian Spring, which really sounds like country music here. And everything truly dances.” - Presto Classical, January 2021
“The sound journey invited by its first recording is refreshingly unique. Its poetic breath finds its source in the shimmering and glistening of timbres, particularly those of the woodwinds and accordion—the airy sound capture reflects this ideally. Innocence and candor are combined [in Copland’s Appalachian Spring] with a sense of form and a sharpness of contrasts (in tempo, attack, and atmosphere) that is very appealing. A brilliant entry into the world of recordings.” - Diapason
“With her Ensemble K, recently created in 2020, conductor Simone Menezes offers a profound interpretation of musical works by Borodin, Debussy, Copland, Villa-Lobos, and Lacaze, emphasizing their influences.” - France Musique
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RAVEL
London Philharmonia
François Xavier Poizat
Simone Menezes
“Simone Menezes ensures that we hear every detail of Ravel’s amazing orchestration in ideal perspective” Gramophone
This first Ravel recording with Francois Xavier Poizat and Philharmonia London belongs to a project of Ravel recording.