Carmen Lefrançois

A member of several ensembles, including the improvisation orchestra ONCEIM, Carmen Lefrançois thrives on a plurality of practices. She performs regularly as a soloist (in Helsinki, Riga, Rome, Paris, Bangkok, Brasilia, Montecarlo, Milan, Saint Petersburg, etc. ) and with groups such as the Opéra de Rouen, Ensemble InterContemporain, L'Itinéraire, Cairn, Orchestre Français des Jeunes and Orchestre National d'Harmonie des Jeunes, and works closely with eminent artists of her generation, Alvise Sinivia, Olivier Stankiewicz, Rémi Durupt, Pierre Cussac, Anna Besson, Vassilena Serafimova, Edgar Moreau, Nicolas Van Kuijk, Matthieu Acar, Tatiana Probst, etc.

Chamber music has accompanied her throughout her training, and Carmen was soprano in the Sostenuto saxophone quartet, then baritone in the Quatuor Osmose. At the same time, the twists and turns of improvisation have also led her to share the stage with Alexandros Markeas, Médéric Collignon, Vincent Lê Quang, Nicolas Nageotte, Leïla Martial, Christophe Girard, Amaryllis Billet, Bruno Ducret, François Merville, Julien Loutellier, sculptor Will Menter and dancers Sara Orselli and Louise Hakim, to name but a few.

Carmen Lefrançois graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris with a Master's degree in saxophone (unanimously, with congratulations), a Master's degree in pedagogy (as well as the CA), a Bachelor's degree in Chamber Music and a Prize for Generative Improvisation, summa cum laude. She was admitted to the 3e Cycle Supérieur, 1ère nommée, in 2012, where she developed a personal language intrinsically linked to the hybrid nature of her instrument; her research led her to consider it as a single meta-instrument made up of four saxophones and an electronic control device.

Her sensitivity has led her to examine the act of composing and building, and she has worked with composers such as Stefano Gervasoni, Laurent Durupt, Philippe Leroux, Guillaume Hermen, Jean-Marc Singier, Gérard Pesson, Hugues Dufourt, Karl Naegelen, Franck Bedrossian, Januibe Tejera, Juan Arroyo and Naoki Sakata.

A prize-winner in national and international competitions, Picardie (1st Prize), Gap (Special Prize), UFAM (1st Prize), Fondation Cziffra (Chamber Music), Società Umanitaria (1st Prize), Boulogne (Special Prize), and supported by the Mécénat Musical de la Société Générale, in 2014 she produced a DVD in the "young soloists" collection of the Meyer Foundation, Espaces Sonores. In 2015, she recorded 3e Round (Bruno Mantovani's concerto for four saxophones played in succession) with the the CNSMDP prize-winners' orchestra under the direction of the composer. And more recently, the 1st album of her duo MAMIE JOTAX with Camille Maussion was released on the WARN!NG label (2020). In 2022, the duo won the Jazz Migration springboard.

Carmen Lefrançois co-founded the WARN!NG cooperative in 2010. Now based in Burgundy, the organisation brings together musicians and performing artists to explore humanist ideas on the habitat and evolution of our society. The groups formed in recent years are all members of the association: the SuperNova creative ensemble, trio Les Honnêtes Gens, duo oTolipo, and WARN!NG Ball. Recordings of the duo and trio are forthcoming, and a SuperNova CD devoted to the music of Alexandros Markeas will be released in April 2024 (WARN!NG - InOuïe Distribution label).

A self-taught clarinettist with a CFEM in percussion and a DEM in flute, Carmen Lefrançois teaches saxophone, improvisation and chamber music at Pantin Conservatoire and Pôle Sup'93.

Photo credit: Or Katz