Ars Nova, Jean-Michaël Lavoie, Artistic and General Director.
In 1963, composer and conductor Marius Constant founded Ars Nova, the oldest French ensemble dedicated to musical creation.
Ars Nova has evolved into one of today’s most enthusiastic advocates for aesthetic pluralism in contemporary music composition; first and for over 30 years, under the baton and direction of Philippe Nahon, and as of January 2018, Jean-Michaël Lavoie took the helm. The ensemble’s 18 talented musicians contribute relentlessly to its dual mission to create and transmit by fostering, encouraging and supporting encounters and interactions among all involved: artists and audiences -alike.
In 2018, Ars Nova created a meditative “breathing space”, a pause in time, to promote a fresh momentum towards a renewed musical creativity.
What We Want
To integrate digital culture into our approach
To reveal the sensitive nature of the musical experience
To question our relationship with time, for we live in a world of immediacy
To foster creative and decisive encounters
Our Actions
Developing new ways of engaging with audiences
Revealing how we create new artistic forms
Observing how contemporary art is closely linked to our modern world
Inviting artists from all walks of life to broaden our scopes
Our Input
The opportunity to get actively involved in our productions
Access for local dwellers to our discovery labs.
Civic-conscious projects
Our time and expertise at the service of all
Our Future
An ensemble of seasoned and versatile musicians willing to share the vagaries of creation
A place dedicated to research, artistic interrelations, and the sharing of knowledge
A platform to pool together the territory’s lifeblood
A space for incubation and experimentation
Our Message
Our language will be original, resonant, and poetic
We will embody a world swept by a creative wind
We will explore change, revolution, suddenness, rupture, resonance
We will be Ars Nova, mutant by nature
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