Sirba Octet | Ensemble

In 2003, violinist Richard Schmoucler took up the challenge of forming an ensemble that combines conventional classical music with traditional eastern European folk. He brought together five fellow musicians from the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre National de France and the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Paris, along with a pianist, a cimbalom player and arranger Cyrille Lehn to create Sirba Octet.

Richard Schmoucler, violin & artistic director

Laurent Manaud-Pallas, violin

Grégoire Vecchioni, viola

Claude Giron, cello

Bernard Cazauran, double bass

Philippe Berrod, clarinet

Christophe Henry, piano

Iurie Morar, cimbalom

Cyrille Lehn, arranger

This unique ensemble which offers a fresh perspective on the klezmer, yiddish and tzigane repertoire released their first album A Yiddishe Mame on Naïve Classic in 2005. A personal selection of acoustic music steeped in the melodies of Eastern Europe, the album is an anthology of songs with Slavic and Yiddish flavours, memories of founder Richard Schmoucler’s own family gatherings and celebrations. This music, a cornerstone of his culture and his personal consciousness, inspired him to envision an array of performances and to reintroduce this music into his life and his career as a classical musician.

While these melodies, characterized by the migrations of the communities they come from, are naturally imbued with emotion and finesse, it is the colour, depth and originality of Sirba Octet’s particular musical rewriting which sets them apart. Eight musicians with an exceptional gift for spectacular and sensitive interpretation, Sirba Octet stand out from the conventional circuit, skillfully blending genres as well as combining folk instruments with orchestral and chamber music to great effect. Whatsmore, Sirba Octet has developed this sphere of music into an entirely new genre, ‘Classical World’.

The common theme throughout the ensemble’s series of shows since 2003, has been a complete immersion into Eastern European folk music. Tantz ! which means ‘dance’ in Yiddish, provided a starting point for exploring the traditional sound of klezmer and tzigane celebratory dances from Romania, Moldova, Russia and Hungary. The album Tantz !, which came out in 2015 on Dolce Volta, was rereleased by Deutsche Grammophon in 2017. On the same label, in 2018, Sirba Octet released Sirba Orchestra ! an album recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Liège led by Christian Arming with Nicolas Kedroff at the balalaika. A three-way dialogue deeply rooted in the great Russian melodies which intermingle with a bountiful miscellany of Romanian, Yiddish, Moldovan and tzigane folk music. Later, Sirba Octet chose to produce a version without the orchestra but with the same compelling energy, giving the ensemble an opportunity to work with Alexeï Birioukov at the balalaika.