Caroline Charrière, composer

Choeur de Jade – Martine Grandjean, flute – Christine Fleichmann, harp

Born in Fribourg, Caroline Charrière completed her flute studies in the Conervatory of Lausanne, then with Aurèle Nicolet and at the Royal Northern College in Manchester. Parallel to her flute studies she studied orchestration and composition with Jean Balissat. In 1994 she obtained her diploma in orchestral conducting at the Conservatory of Lausanne in the class of Hervé Klopfenstein.

From autumn 2000 she principally devotes her time to composition. Her music is regularly played in Switzerland and abroad. She teaches flute and musical culture in the Conservatory of Fribourg.

Ondine

Water, principal theme of this concert, inspired many composers. Passing from the source to the stream, from a mountain torrent to the sea, imaginary characters who inhabit the streams, the water-sprites and undines cross our paths.

The water-sprite, or undine, is illustrated by Robert Schumann in his fantastic work Der Wassermann, while the undine is the subject of two creations of Caroline Charrière, Swiss composer. The first creation, Undine, is for flute, harp and feminine voices interpreting the poem of Friedrich de La Motte Fouqué and closes the first part of the programme a cappella. The second part unites several pages of Fauré, Delibes, Barber and Holst for feminine voices and harp. This part terminates with another composition ‘Ondine’ for flute, harp and feminine voices. This time the language is totally imaginary – possibly the languages of the water-sprites? – and seeks to intimately combine the breath of the song and that of the flute.