Singer – Harper – Performer
Early and Traditional Music
from Medieval times to Contemporary creations
Music
Wilt þu, fus hæle, fremdne monnan,
wisne woðboran wordum gretan,
fricgan felageongne ymb forðgesceaft,
biddan þe gesecge sidra gesceafta cræftas cyndelice cwichrerende, þa þe dogra gehwa þurh dom godes
bringe wundra fela wera cneorissum !
“Are you willing to trade talk with a stranger, Give a seer or singer, poet or prophet, a greeting, a welcome with wise words, question the far-traveler about creation, its natural power, its bodying forth through God's grace, its life-quickening capacity and clout, its marvelous moving among men”
The Order of the world, Exeter Book, 10th c.
Projects
“I was in many forms before my release :
I was a slim enchanted sword, I believe in its play.
I was a drop in the air, The sparkling of stars
A word inscribed, A book in priest's hands,
A lantern shining For a year and a half.
A bridge for crossing Over threescore abers..."
The Battle of the Trees, Book of Taliesin, XIVth c.
Gallery
Biography
Born in an art-loving family in Poitou, France, Aurore Gontard starts performing on stage as a child, through violin, dance and choir.
She begins opera voice lessons at 18 and is quickly noticed for her clear and natural voice by Fabrice Maurin (La Rochelle, Polymnie), Jean-Yves Gaudin (Niort, CoReAM) and Rolandas Muleika (Toulouse, Antiphona).
After completing violin studies and a double-masters in history and english literature in Paris Sorbonne, she decides to pursue a full-time musical career, specialising in baroque singing with Julie Hassler, Brigitte le Baron and Monique Zanetti. She then starts playing harp in Versailles, and soon discovers the early gaelic harp in Ireland with Dr. Siobhan Armstrong. Her interest for earlier repertoires is only heightened :
In 2020, she enters the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis to specialise in Medieval and Renaissance music, with Kathleen Dineen and Katarina Livjlanic. She will finish her performance masters there in June 2025.
She has participated in numerous masterclasses, with Claire Lefilliâtre, Marc Mauillon, Margreet Honig, Serge Cyferstein, Anne Grapotte, Patrizia Bovi… and is a laureate of the Fondation Royaumont.
She sings regularly in solo or with vocal ensembles such as the Basler Madrigalisten, les Voix Animees, Polymnie, les Incidences… as well as with the young ensembles for medieval music Olla Vogala (Caroline Sordia), Analogion (Michael Eberle) etc.
Interested in developping pluridisciplinar creations, and in making early music more accessible to a broad audience, she creates in 2019 the ensemble “Poétiques de l’Obscurité” with the lutenist Sebastian Vargas, and in 2021 Dicitur with Michael Eberle.
Looking at musical performance also from a theatrical perspective, she works as a directing assistant with Deda Cristina Colonna in 2024.
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Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Basel
Kathleen Dineen, Katarina Livjlianic
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Paris Conservatoires, Julie Hassler, Brigitte le Baron, Monique Zanetti
Versailles, Baroque harp, Nanja Bredijk
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Université Paris IV Sorbonne
Massey University, Auckland, NZ
Université Toulouse II Jean Jaurès
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Music School in Mauléon (79)
Conservatoire de Niort, La Rochelle, Toulouse
