Ensemble Esquisses
Born in January 2017 in Lyon, under the leadership of Guillemette Daboval, the Ensemble Esquisses brings together twelve professional singers in the process of becoming professional.

It emerged from a common desire to explore the repertoire on equal voices with a limited number of members, with variable geometry. The demands of working with equal voices are a source of motivation for the whole: the rigor of listening, the search for a homogeneous sound, the variation of sound textures and colors, the bringing together of voices that would sound like just one, fuel the desire and dynamism of the whole

Each works to form the sound specific to the Esquisses ensemble: a sound that has weight, density, texture and character. The Ensemble Esquisses also chose its name for its link with the pictorial domain: the harmony of the colors, the textures, the vocal lines are for the whole in total relationship with the notions of lines and curves. The vocal gesture resonates with the gesture, the brushstroke guided by the painter's eye.

Guillemette Daboval's work is particularly focused on the search for line, full and sharp strokes of sound, with strength and precision, density and finesse, in order to bring together the voices of the singers in the same direction, a unique line, a style which is specific to it, “the same brush being at the service of the rarest force as well as the smallest detail” For the Esquisses set, each piece carries a landscape, an impression, an emotion.

Each sentence, each line must be understood with precision and momentum. Each harmony, each nuance allows a real search for gradations of tones and colors. One of the wishes of the Esquisses ensemble is to discover little-known composers by shedding new light on their works. The Esquisses ensemble benefited from the support of the Cité de la Voix (Vézelay) as part of its Young Ensembles program in 2021.