With ADO, the Paris Opera and its Academy are founding the first young lyric orchestra, in partnership with the Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis conservatoires. This programme aims to support students throughout their conservatoire training and towards professional life.

For its first season, ADO will evolve with 11 conservatoires:

• The 11th arr. Conservatoire Charles Munch
• The 12th arr. Conservatoire Paul Dukas
• The CRR 93 Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional – Aubervilliers – La Courneuve
• The Erik Satie Conservatoire in Bagnolet*
• The Conservatoire in Bondy*
• The Joséphine Baker Conservatoire in Pré Saint-Gervais*
• The Jacques Higelin Conservatoire in Pantin*
• The Nina Simone Conservatoire in Romainville*
• The Conservatoire in Montreuil*
• The Nadia and Lili Boulanger Conservatoire in Noisy-le-Sec*
•  The Gabriel Fauré Conservatoire in Lilas*

*Conservatoires belonging to the Est Ensemble networke

Created for students from 12 to 18, this new orchestral experiment will focus on lyric and choreographic repertoires and is based on teaching methods developed jointly by the Paris Opera and the partners conservatoires.

In addition to rehearsals and intensive courses at the Paris Opera, conducted by Victor Jacob (see biography page 4), the students will follow singing and dance collective workshops taught by artists of the Institution. These sessions and courses are based on the Opera’s three artistic skills and make them the pillars of an innovative pedagogy:

• The orchestra, to work on collective listening,
• Choir singing, to work on breathing technique,
• Dance, to master movement.

The ADO programme also includes visits to discover the Opera, offered both to the students and their family. They will attend rehearsals of the Paris Opera Orchestra, visit the Opera’s theatres, attend ballet and opera performances during the season and meet the artists.

A socially inclusive programme, ADO is completely free and was thought to facilitate the families’ involvement. 

For the 2023/24 season, almost 150 students will embark on this new programme. They will be divided in two classes: an orchestra for beginners with students from the second cycle, and an orchestra for advanced students, who are already in their third and more specialised cycle.

These two musical courses will be directed, for the entire season, by conductor Victor Jacob for the operatic and choreographic repertoire. The chorus work sessions will be supervised by Chorus master Louis Gal.

The programmes selected for the two orchestras will require a collective and regular practice at the Opera, as well as intensive courses during the holidays and rehearsals during the weekends:

The two orchestras will be gathered at the end of the school year, on 16 June 2024, for a concert on the main stage of the Bastille Opera. Other concerts will be organised throughout the season at partner conservatoires in the Paris region.

A finalist and "Special Mention" at the 2019 Besançon International Competition, French conductor Victor Jacob is regularly invited by European and international orchestras. These include the Orchestre national de Lyon, the Orchestre national de Montpellier, the Orchestre Royal Philharmonique de Liège, the Orchestre de l'Opéra de Rouen-Normandie, the Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle-Aquitaine, the Orchestre Symphonie de Tours, the Esbjerg Ensemble in Denmark, the Moscow State Philharmonia and the Orchestre de Picardie.

For the opera, Victor is also invited to conduct or assist the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, the La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestre national de France and the ’Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. He trained in the operatic repertoire with Antonio Pappano, Nathalie Stutzmann and Paolo Arrivabeni.

Last season, he conducted the Orchestre national de Bordeaux, Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille, Orchestre Symphonique de Mulhouse and the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, as well as the Chorégies d’Orange, and performed with Khatia Buniatishvilli, Michael Spyres, Gaëlle Arquez, Julie Fuchs, Lucienne Renaudin Vary, ou encore Edgar Moreau.

This season, Victor Jacob is making debuts with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Orquestra Sinfonica Simon Bolivar, Venezuela, the Orchestre national de Lille, the Orchestre national Avignon-Provence and the Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal de Versailles.

From 2019 to 2022, he was assistant conductor to Gergely Madaras with the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, then to Alexandre Bloch with the Orchestre national de Lille.

Victor Jacob was nominated “Revelation Conductor” at the 2023 Victoires de la musique classique awards.

A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Music and Dance Paris Conservatoire, he trained with Alain Altinoglu, Sian Edwards and Colin Metters, and received advice from Paavo and Kristjan Järvi, Leonid Grin, Marin Alsop, David Zinman, Lawrence Foster and Bernard Haitink.

Louis Gal began singing with the Maîtrise des Petits-Chanteurs de Saint-Christophe de Javel at the age of 9, under Lionel Sow and Henri Chalet. A few years later, he joined the Maîtrise de Radio France conducted by Toni Ramon then Sofi Jeannin, where he studied singing, piano, musical technique, and took his first chorus conducting lessons. After studying science at the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, he joined the chorus conducting class at the Lyon Conservatoire, with teachers including Nicole Corti and Lionel Sow.

A chorus conductor with a passion for the a cappella repertoire, early music and teaching, he also takes harpsichord, composition and teaching methods classes. During his last year of his master degree, he spent a semester in Norway with Grete Pedersen and took part in several productions of the Norwegian Soloists' Choir.

He has conducted, for several years now, the Maîtrise de Saint-Christophe de Javel, and also works as assistant conductor at Radio France. He has appeared for specific projects with various ensembles and conductors, such as Mathieu Romano and the Aedes Ensemble, Geoffroy Jourdain and the Cris de Paris, or in productions for the Maison de la Radio and the Philharmonie de Paris. In 2020 he joined the Norwegian programme Dirigentløftet, inviting young conductors to perfect their technique with professional ensembles and renowned conductors, which allowed him to follow masterclasses with Daniel Reuss, Martina Batič et Kaspars Putniņš.

In September 2021, he became the conductor of the Parisian chamber chorus OTrente, working on various repertoires, both a cappella and with orchestra. This season, Louis Gal has already been working with the Choruses of Radio France and the Opéra d'Avignon, as well as alongside Mathieu Romano and the Aedes Ensemble for the opera Breaking the Waves (Missy Mazzoli) at the Opéra Comique. Next season, he will be chorus master at the Lille Opera for several productions.

CHARLES MUNCH – PARIS 11th ARR., DIRECTED BY KNUT JACQUES
The conservatoire is training students throughout their artistic studies in theatre, dance and music. This place of artistic practice also promotes training and broadcast activities, in various aesthetics and repertoire, while belonging to a network of Parsian institutions. Schooling and studies schedules are only organised to support each student's project. While the role of the conservatoire is to provide training in an artistic discipline, it is also to enable students to become independent in their future practice, even after years of training. Several courses can be followed, from long-term training (called “cycles”) to more specific classes. The development of teaching methods allows us to offer several approaches: group classes, or individual lessons, oral or writing teaching. The conservatoire’s project is both simple and ambitious: to train happy and demanding artists, throughout their training inside the establishment.

PAUL DUKAS – PARIS 12TH ARR., DIRECTED BY PHILIPPE BARBEY-LALLIA
The Paul Dukas conservatoire offers a wide range of artistic education in music, theatre and dance, and welcomes children, teenagers and adults following our various courses and workshops. The children discover dance, theatre, different instruments, sing in choirs, play in orchestras and experience the first joys of the stage. Our 1,700 or so students are taught by almost 150 teachers, from beginners to diploma level.
In addition to this specialised teaching, the conservatoire teaches at the Dance, Theatre and Music School and develops its artistic teaching mission (Musical Awareness Programme for all first-year students, dance in nursery, theatre or school orchestra in fifth year…)

More than 120 free performances are given each season by Conservatoire students, both in the auditorium and outside (Espace Reuilly, Maison des Associations, Parc Floral, libraries, etc.).

CRR 93 JACK RALITE – AUBERVILLIERS - LA COURNEUVE, DIRECTED BY ALEXANDRE GRANDE
With more than 50 years of experience, the Aubervilliers - La Courneuve CRR (CRR 93 Jack Ralite) gathers today a team of 140 teachers, passionately committed to to offering their 1,500 students a full range of courses, from discovering music, dance and theatre through to advanced practice: many of the students who graduate from CRR 93 Jack Ralite go on to higher education establishments in France and abroad.
Because access to the arts is crucial for a fully democratic education, the CRR 93 Jack Ralite has been committed to working with the French Ministry of Education ever since it was founded (the first special timetable class dates back to 1972).
This collaboration enables a large number of children - around 4,500 - to discover and train in music, theatre and dance, from nursery school to high school, during school time, by professionals from the artistic world. One of our main challenges remains to help everyone open up to themselves and to others.
Thanks to qualitative training and the establishment’s advanced teaching methods, the students of the CRR 93 Jack Ralite enjoy a genuine artistic life throughout their studies. This unique experience is strengthened with concerts, auditions and performances (nearly 180 a year), which is one of the school's distinctive features. These projects are open to all audiences and take place in a wide range of venues, both on and off the Conservatoire's various sites.

THE EST-ENSEMBLE conservatoires NETWORK
The Est-Ensemble conservatoires network, directed by Xavier Van Rechem and comprising eight establishments specialised in music, dance, theatre and visual arts, is one of the major centres for artistic education in the heart of the Grand Paris region, with over 6,000 students.

The Est-Ensemble conservatoires network has 4 main missions:

• Specialised artistic teaching provided by more than 370;
• Artistic and cultural education, particularly in schools;
• Developing and supporting amateur artistic practices;
• Hosting and presenting professional artistic works.

This network remains continuously attentive to new cultural challenges, to be always able to offer teaching that enables some of its students to reach pre-professional and professional levels, while at the same time reaching out to a wide range of audiences.
In an area where 37% of the population live in a priority urban district, the conservatoires play a fundamental role in terms of equal opportunities and access to artistic practice.

List of the partner conservatoires of the Est-Ensemble network (ADO programme):

• Conservatoire Erik Satie, in Bagnolet (CRC) directed by Antoine Sebillotte;
• Conservatoire in Bondy (CRC), directed by Marie Delbecq;
• Conservatoire Joséphine Baker, in Pré Saint-Gervais, directed by Philippe Guiot;
• Conservatoire Jacques Higelin in Pantin (CRD), directed by Michaël Mardayer;
• Conservatoire Nina Simone, in Romainville (CRI), directed by Patrice Rault;
• Conservatoire in Montreuil (CRD), directed by Marc Kurzmann;
• Conservatoire Nadia and Lili Boulanger, in Noisy-le-Sec (CRC), directed by Julien Jugan;
• Conservatoire Gabriel Fauré, in Lilas (CRI), directed by Caroline Ledru.