MUSIC OF THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD COLLOQUIUM
Participant Biographies

Anne Azéma

Anne Azéma, the newly appointed Artistic Director of The Boston Camerata, is one of the world's leading interpreters of early vocal music. She has been acclaimed by critics on four continents for her original, passionate, and vivid approach to songs and texts of the Middle Ages. De Volkskrant, an Amsterdam publication, noted that “Azéma is, in her genre, as great as Callas or Fischer Dieskau.” Ms. Azéma has also been widely praised in many other repertoires, from Renaissance lute songs to Baroque sacred music to twentieth century music theatre.

Since 1993, Anne Azéma has been not only the performer but also the creator of her programs. She researches and edits the repertoire, frequently transcribing the material herself from original sources. Ms. Azéma’s most recent work is the production of The Night’s Tale: A tournament of Love, the result of a residency at the Arsenal.Metz during the 2005-2007 seasons and based on Le Tournoi (Tournament) de Chauvency written circa 1310 by the French poet Jacques Bretel. The CD of this production was issued late in 2007 in France, to critical acclaim.

Anne Azéma has sang and co-directed programs for the Boston Camerata. She has been a soloist with numerous ensembles, large and small, early and contemporary. She is also the co-founder of the Camerata Mediterranea, and currently directs her European based ensemble, AZIMAN. Her recent festival invitations as a soloist, recitalist or director include Amsterdam, Graz, Dresden, Leipzig, Utrecht, Spoleto, Seville, Versailles, Jerusalem, Berlin, Boston, Bergen, Ambronay, Utrecht, Casablanca, Perth, Wellington, Kyoto, Tanglewood and Tokyo.

Among her teaching activities are master classes, seminars and residencies at conservatories and universities in France, Holland, Mexico and the U.S. She has contributed articles to scholarly and general audience publications. Recent U.S. residencies include semesters as Distinguished Artist in Residence at both the University of Oregon, Eugene, and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She has been guest lecturer at Boston University, McGill University, the University of Georgia (Athens), the University of Wisconsin (Milwaukee), and the Boston Conservatory of music. In Europe, she has taught and directed master classes at conservatories in Amsterdam, the Hague, and Tilburg (Netherlands), Metz and Strasbourg (France). In the company of philologist and Professor Emeritus Pierre Bec, and colleagues Joel Cohen and Shira Kammen, she co-directed the well-known summer course in medieval monody at Coaraze (France, 1997-2006).

Ms Azéma's current discography numbers about thirty five recordings on the Erato, Harmonia Mundi, Virgin, Nonesuch, Bridge, Calliope, Atma, K 617 and Warner labels (Grand Prix du Disque, Edison Prize).

Benjamin Braude

Prof. Benjamin Braude is the founding co-director of the program in Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies at Boston College. He has been a visiting professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, Corso de verano, Universidad Complutensa de Madrid, and Harvard University. He has been a research fellow at Princeton University and the Insitute of Advanced Studies at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem.

Among his publications is Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire, the Functioning of a Plural Society. Currently he is completing a major project on the history of the exegesis and iconography of the story of Noah and his sons in the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions.

Mohamed Briouel

Born in 1954 in the region of Fes, Mohamed Briouel began studying music in 1963 at the side of Hadj Abdelkrim Raïss, one of the undisputed masters of Andalusian music in the Maghreb. Mohamed Briouel was the first Moroccan to receive the first prize for music notation and the prize of honour for Andalusian music. He is director of the Music Conservatory of Fes where he also teaches music notation. (sol-fa).

Along with Tlemcen, Tangier and Oujda, the city of Fes is one of the places where Arab-Andalusian music has been most preserved since the fall of Granada and the end of the Kingdom of Al Andalous in 1492. Mohamed Briouel, a violist by training and a great specialist in Arab-Andalusian music, is the direct heir to the late Hadj Abdelkrim Raïss. Mohamed Briouel participated in the recording of the anthology "Al Ala" the purest form of Arab-Andalusian music with Quaddam Bouaquir Al Maya and Quaddam Ejjadid.

In 1986 he received the Prix du Maroc for the publication of his work entitled "Moroccan Andalusian Music: Nouba Gharibat al Husayn" in which the eleven Andalusian noubas are retranscribed into Western music notation for the first time. In 1991 the Ministry of Culture of Morocco entrusted him to set up a new ensemble of Andalusian music called "Al Ala" placed under the administrative authority of the Ministry, and with whom he has given numerous concerts all over the world.

During these past years Mohamed Briouel has performed in Morocco and abroad with his own orchestra "The Arab-Andalusian Orchestra of Fes" in the double context of Arab-Muslim music and also of Sephardic music, accompanied by musicians of Jewish traditions such as Albert Bouhadana, Emil Zrihan or again Françoise Atlan, faithful to this ancient Moroccan tradition of openness and tolerance.

(en français)

Dès 1963, Mohamed Briouel étudie la musique, aux côtés de Haj Abdelkrim Raïs, l'un des maîtres de la Musique arabo-andalouse au Maghreb. Il est le premier marocain à recevoir le premier prix de solfège et le prix d'honneur en musique arabo-andalouse. Mohamed Briouel est le directeur du Conservatoire de Musique de Fès, où il enseigne également le solfège.

En 1986, il obtient le Prix du Maroc pour la publication de son ouvrage d'étude, Musique Andalouse Marocaine : Nouba Gharibat Al Husayn, dans lequel sont retranscrites en notation occidentale et pour la première fois, les onze noubas andalouses.

Ces dernières années, c'est avec son propre orchestre, l'Orchestre arabo-andalou de Fès, que Mohamed Briouel se produit au Maroc et à l'étranger, dans le double contexte de la musique arabo-musulmane et aussi de la musique sépharade, en compagnie d'artistes de traditions juives tels que Albert Bouhadana, Emile Zrihan, ou encore Françoise Atlan[2], fidèle en cela à cette vieille tradition marocaine d'ouverture et de tolérance.

Il a regroupé depuis quelques années de jeunes chanteurs de Fès, au sein d'une chorale qui s'est déjà produite avec succès dans les éditions passées du Festival de Fès des musiques sacrées du monde."

Joel Cohen

In early 2007, Joel Cohen and a group of associates incorporated the Camerata Mediterranea as a non-profit association located in Chaville, France, near Paris.

Mr. Cohen is a leading authority in the field of medieval and Renaissance musical performance. He has received widespread acclaim as performer, conductor, and writer/commentator in his chosen field, and his unique style of program building has made the Boston Camerata ensemble famous on five continents.

Mr. Cohen studied composition at Harvard University. Awarded a Danforth Fellowship, he spent the next two years in Paris as a student of Nadia Boulanger. He has taught and lectured at many East Coast universities, including Harvard, Yale, Brandeis, and Amherst. Abroad, he has given seminars and workshops at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, at the Royal Opera of Brussels, in Spain, Singapore, and Japan. With soprano Anne Azéma, he has co-directed an annual workshop in medieval song in Coaraze, France. His professional honors include membership in Phi Beta Kappa, the Erwin Bodky award in early music, the Signet Society medal from Harvard, the Georges Longy Award, and the Howard Mayer Brown Award for lifetime achievement in early music. He is an Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the French Republic.

In 1990, Mr. Cohen founded a new ensemble, the Camerata Mediterranea, devoted to the performance of early-music repertoires from the Mediterranean basin. The ensemble's initial tour season took place in France, Italy, Spain, and Morocco; further tours from 1992 to 2004 brought the group's music to audiences in France, the United States, Morocco, Germany, and Holland. Jointly with the Moroccan musician Mohammed Briouel, Mr. Cohen was awarded the Edison Prize in 2000 for the Camerata Mediterranea's recording of Cantigas by King Alfonso el Sabio.

Gisèle Clément-Dumas

Docteur en musicologie, agrégée de musique, 1er prix d’histoire de la musique et 1er prix de musicologie du Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, Gisèle Clément-Dumas est maître de conférences à l’université Paul-Valéry – Montpellier III où elle enseigne l’histoire des musiques médiévales.

Auteur d’une thèse sur Le processionnal en Aquitaine (IXe-XIIIe siècle). Genèse d’un livre, constitution d’un répertoire (à paraître aux éditions Brepols), et de l’ouvrage Des moines aux troubadours, IXe-XIIIe siècle. La musique médiévale en Languedoc et en Catalogne (Montpellier, Presses du Languedoc, 2004), ses travaux de recherche portent sur le chant liturgique et sur le motet, qu’elle explore depuis deux ans en collaboration étroite avec l’ensemble vocal Mora Vocis.

Alice Colby-Hall

Alice Colby-Hall, Professor Emerita of Romance Studies at Cornell University, was named a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1997. She is the author of a book entitled The Portrait in Twelfth-Century French Literature and of twenty articles on the chansons de geste of the William of Orange Cycle. At present, she is writing a book on William of Orange and the epic legends of the lower Rhône valley.

Géraldine Mallet

Maître de conférences en histoire de l’art médiéval à l’université de Montpellier. Conservateur adjoint du Musée des Moulages de Montpellier (Université de Montpellier, Campus Paul-Valéry). Spécialiste de l‘architecture et de la sculpture du haut Moyen Âge et des âges romans en Catalogne et en Languedoc Méditerranéen.

Auteur de nombreux articles, notamment dans les actes des journées d’études de Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert et des Cahiers de Saint-Michel de Cuxa, et d’un ouvrage collectif, sur le Maître de Cabestany (Zodiaque, 2000).

Elle a publié sa thèse sur les cloîtres médiévaux du Roussillon victimes de démantèlement: Les cloîtres démontés de Perpignan et du Roussillon (XIIe-XIVe siècles), Perpignan, 2000 et d’un livre sur Les églises romanes oubliées du Roussillon, Montpellier, 2003. Ses travaux actuels de recherches portent sur la production artistique en marbre au Moyen Âge en Catalogne et Languedoc Méditerranéen (IVe-XVe siècles).

Elle participe aux travaux de réhabilitation du Musée de l’Abbaye à Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, qui ouvrira ses portes en juin 2009.p>

Vanessa Paloma

Vanessa Paloma is active as a soloist, performance artist, writer and lecturer. She is currently a Research Associate at the Hadassah Brandeis Institute at the Women’s Studies Research Center of Brandeis University. Ms. Paloma was a Fulbright Senior Research Scholar for 2007-2008 in Morocco. She founded and co-directs Flor de Serena, a Judeo-Spanish ensemble based in Los Angeles.

Paloma has appeared on US national television (Hallmark Channel) and on National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Radio International (PRI) as well as on Moroccan national television (2M) and radio and Colombian radio and television. Paloma has published in OLAM magazine and in Hadassah’s anthology on women’s prayer: Pray Tell. She recently published her first book entitled Mystic Siren: Woman’s Voice in the Balance of Creation.

Paloma began her musical studies at a young age at the San Juan Children’s Choir in Puerto Rico and later continued at the Andes University in her native Bogotá, Colombia. After moving to the United States, Paloma studied at Indiana University’s School of Music where she received a Master of Music in Early Music performance, specializing in the music of medieval Spain. She studied Jewish Mysticism in the Old City of Jerusalem and continues her studies with Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburgh.

Paloma’s recent projects are focusing on the links between women, spirituality and creativity. She is currently writing a book on gender relationships in Sephardic Romances from Northern Morocco and its connection to women’s spiritual expression.

Christian Poché

Ancien membre de l’Institut des musiques traditionnelles de Berlin (1970–1974), ancien membre de l’Institut du Monde Arabe de Paris (1985–1991), Christian Ponché est producteur à Radio France depuis 1980 (France Musique et France Culture).

Il est auteur de nombreux ouvrages sur la musique arabe et arabo-andalouse — Musique arabe écoute et découverte (IMA 1994), ainsi que la Musique arabo-andalouse (Actes Sud, 1995) — et rédacteur de nombreuses notices d’encyclopédies prestigieuses (Universalis, Larousse, Bordas, Grove, Garland, Encyclopaedia of World Music…), ainsi que directeur de collections de disques (Ocora, Unesco).

Antoni Rossell

Antoni Rossell es Llicenciat en Filologia Clàssica i en Filologia Romànica, Doctor en Filología Romànica. Professor Titular de Literatures Romàniques de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

Des de 1993 està becat per la Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung (Alemania) per a realitzar estudis de etnomusicologia comparada sobre les èpiques contemporàneas i oralitat. És Director de L'Arxiu Occità de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

Mehmet Sanlikol

Mehmet Sanlikol started giving piano recitals at the age of 5. Until the year 1992, he constantly performed classical and contemporary music. Later on he studied with Aydin Esen and won a scholarship to Berklee College of Music. In 1997, he founded the band “AudioFact” with Onur Türkmen and toured Mexico, Argentina, the USA and Europe. The same year, he received Berklee College of Music's Clare Fischer Award and completed his degree in Jazz Composition and Film Scoring.

In the year 2003 Sanlikol has released the second CD entitled “Asitane” with AudioFact. In the year 2004 Sanlikol completed his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Composition at the New England Conservatory and helped find the organization “Dünya” based in Boston, Massachusetts. Since then he has produced and performed at over seventy Dünya concerts. This organization has also released 5 CDs (“Come See What Love Has Done To Me”, “Psalms of Ali Ufki”, “Music of Cyprus”, “The Tulip and the Sword” and “The Language of Birds”) as well as a DVD (“Wisdom and Turkish Humor”) featuring Mehmet Sanlikol both as a director/performer and a composer. The Music of Cyprus project is the first and the only one that brings Greek and Turkish Cypriot musicians together to present the musical traditions of the island of Cyprus. The unique nature and the success of this project resulted with Dr. Sanlikol going on the air with NPR’s Robin Young and PRI’s The World.

Dr. Sanlikol has composed for, performed and toured with international stars and ensembles such as Tiger Okoshi, Bob Brookmeyer, Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez, Okay Temiz, Erkan Oiur and The Boston Camerata at numerous prestigious International Music Festivals, the Blue Note Jazz club in New York and etc. He has also composed, arranged, produced and performed for Turkish pop stars such as Fahir Atakoilu, Burcu Günei, Ümit Sayin, Edip Akbayram and Nil Karaibrahimgil.

Dr. Sanlikol taught at Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory. He is currently a faculty member at Emerson College and Tufts University.