Welcome

The Ensemble Vocal de Bigorre was created in October 2013 and is made up of about thirty amateur singers from the Hautes Pyrénées and the Gers. It was conducted by Hélène Caulet until 2022. Antonio Guirao Valverde takes over direction from 2022

We rehearse at the Mairie in Tournay, where the Mayor kindly makes a room available for us. It is a central location for the choir members. We rehearse from 7.30 to 10.00 pm on Mondays every other week.

Our repertoire is mostly made up of Baroque and Contemporary sacred music, some pieces better known than others.

In 2016 we gave six concerts of our much appreciated programme of “Agnus Dei” from the 16th to the 20th Centuries. 5 of these were given in this department (65) and one in the Pyrénées Atlantiques (64).

Our project in 2017 was the “Magnificats” of Bach, Durante and Arvo Pärt. We organised three concerts with the help of the Henri Duparc Conservatoire in Tarbes, the Friends of the Colégialle at Ibos, the Conseil Départemental of the Hautes Pyrénées (Escales d’automne) and the town of Bagnères de Bigorre.

In 2018/19 we offered a programme of discovery of baroque and contemporary pieces from eight European countries.

In 2020 we worked on a programme primarily of Duruflé, including his Requiem.

He commenced his studies of singing in 1999 at the Conservatoire Professionnel de Musique and followed by studying music education at the University of Murcia, Spain, from where he comes. In 2001 he joined the vocal class at the Conservatoire de Toulouse where in 2005 he obtained the top prize by unanimous vote. A year later he finished his professional studies at the CESMD (Centre d’Etudes Supérieures Musique et Danse) and at the Department of Ancient Music at Toulouse.

He is a member of the Chamber Choir les Éléments (directed by Joël Suhubiette), the Ensemble Aubade which he also directs, the Ensemble Scandicus and he runs the Masters course at the Toulouse Conservatoire (directed by Mark Opstad).

From the age of 14, he became passionate about vocal music and ancient repertoire and in 1997 he created the ensemble “Differencia musice”. In 2008, with 4 singing friends, he created the ensemble “Il Canto d’Arione” and continued to sing with them for 5 years. In 2020 he created the “Ensemble l’Aubade” of which he is still the artistic director. He is also in charge of the musical direction for the group “Grand Airs et P’tits Bonheurs”, which entertains children who are ill in the Children’s Hospital at Purpan.

As well as his activities as performer, he has for many years been professor of singing, vocal studies and children's choir at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Départemental de l'Aveyron and at the Conservatoire de musique de Toulouse. He is frequently invited as assistant director and as singing coach at numerous choral courses and vocal assemblies in the south of France.