Chamber Choir of Morocco

Amine Hadef, Director

Sopranos: Sophie Ripoche, Fatima Zahra Bakka, Tiphaine Retnani, Miryam Kanaan Dusausoy, Myriam Sif, Hanane Boussellam

Altos: Fatima Belhaj, Aurélie Cazala, Cécile Salgues, Marjolaine Voirpy, Géraldine Casha, Fatima Khalouk, Soukaïna Fawzi, Hala Bendefa

Tenors: Ghali Serghini, Otman Eladi, Michel Toupo, Mourad Abdeljawad, Armand Mabou, Abdelilah Khamlichi

Basses: Karim Benmoussa, Darius Bendjo, Gaétan Rouyer, Charles Dusausoy, Saad Mankou, Pierre Ongolo Zogo

Like its home town of Casablanca, the Chamber Choir of Morocco is dynamic and cosmopolitan, performing for the first time at the 100-year anniversary of the Saint Pierre Cathedral in Rabat. Led by the excellent Amine Hadef who was trained in choir direction by Nicole Corti at Notre Dame in Paris, it is made up of twenty-five singers and presents a programme of western sacred music – Bruckner, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky – but also pays tribute to traditional Moroccan music.

The Chamber Choir of Morocco is mainly composed of Moroccan singers but French and Sub-Saharan members bring different musical aspects. They are auditioned, carefully selected and trained by director Amine Hadef, adapting to the chosen repertoire that is performed with strict professionalism.

The Chamber Choir of Morocco performs music by composers of different nationalities – Moroccan, German, French and British. Varying in numbers, the choir changes depending on the repertoire it is singing: a choir of twenty-five singers for a cappella chamber music of the 19th and 20th centuries but also an ensemble of sixteen singers accompanied by instruments for ancient music, such as the cantatas of JS Bach or the motets of Henrich Schütz.

As well as the concert to be performed at Dar Adiyel, the Chamber Choir of Morocco will be taking part in the great spectacle of the opening concert with a repertoire of sacred songs timed for the mapping dedicated to Notre Dame Cathedral.