The Little Singers of Paris
Known as “Ambassadors for France” with crystal clear voices, The Little Singers of Paris (Les Petits Chanteurs à la Croix de Bois) is one of the most accomplished international boys’ choirs, known for their repertoire and their precision. The boys of the choir board during the week and the musical and educational curriculum that they follow is adapted specifically for them. Each year they perform approximately in seventy concerts  during national tours in France and three international tours in China, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Italy and etc.

 

In the summer of 1906, two young students, Pierre Martin and Paul Berthier, were on vacation in the abbey of Tamié in Savoy. They came up a “dream” which plans to start a maîtrise (choir school) for child choristers that would travel from church to church, town to town. Their dream came true in the next year. Despite the lack of money, their enthusiasm brought them to settle in an old dwelling in Paris suburb and they started to receive their first scholars. This was the birth of The Little Singers of Paris. The first rehearsal took place on 10 January 1907 and the first concert was held in St-Germain l’Auxerrois in October in the same year. It was well-received by music lovers in Paris. The Little Singers of Paris soon became popular throughout France. In contrast to the music style in vogue at the time, the quality of the choir’s singing and the purity of the young voices aroused astonishment and enthusiasm in the audience. The legend of this choir school commenced. 

 

In 1924, Abbé Maillet was appointed as the school’s director. A young priest with outstanding stature and full of faith, he immediately stamped his personal imprint in the life of the choir. Before that, the choir’s repertoire was the Gregorian and polyphonic music of the 15th and 16th centuries. He refreshed the choir by bringing a repertoire of popular songs in French or from foreign countries and other works by leading composers in time. Through expanding its repertoire, the Choir had reached a broader audiences.

Abbé Maillet also brought the choir out of France, initially to neighboring countries, and then, in 1931, with an audacity unheard of in those days, to North America.  The choir received a triumphant welcome in the United States and Canada. It was the beginning of the international and worldwide delegation covering today a total of 80 countries. 

 

The little singers who take part in these trips have received a period of training and preparation in school. Teachers who accompany the students teach them from time to time in the trip for a well-practiced routine and it requires the students a certain degree of discipline. The little singers will leave the choir when they reach 15 years old and continue their education in secondary school.  They may have moments of nostalgia in the beginning of their new school life but with their wealth of experience and exceptional spirit of anticipation, they are open to face the future. 

The repertoire has been transformed and enriched with profane and contemporary music since the 1960s, and the choir has collaborated regularly with various crossover artists. Through this constant artistic evolution, the choir reveals the depths of their musical uniqueness and propose an original and personal interpretation of the music.

 

 

Conductor: Vincent Thomas
Choir and orchestra conductor, Vincent Thomas is also a teacher of choral singing. Graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon in 2000, he focused his training on orchestral conducting during internships and on productions in the opera houses of Geneva, Lyon and Nice. This richness in diversity materializes successfully in the direction of great works such as the Missa di Gloria by Puccini, the Stabat Mater by Rossini, the Requiem by Mozart or even Dido and Aeneas by Purcell, and it was in 1999 that he took over the direction of the orchestra of the Hospices Civils de Lyon, thus discovering the symphonic repertoire. He is also punctually in front of professional ensembles, during creations (L'espace du cœur by Gilles Tremblay or coeur de nuit by Yumiko Hasumura) or on more specific projects (Buxtehude, Mozart, Haydn, Orff with the Camerata de Bourgogne). This rich and varied career allowed him to move towards a new career, from 2014, by agreeing to take over the management of the conservatory of Grand Autunois Morvan. Now educational director of the conservatory, he takes advantage of the arrangement of his schedule to take the musical direction of The Little Singers of Paris from September 2022.

Piano: Vincent Laissy
Pianist-accompanist of The Little Singers of Paris for all concerts in France and internationally since 2018, Vincent Laissy is a French musician active as a pianist, organist, conductor and composer. He studied at the National Conservatory of Paris and the Paris Higher National Conservatory of Music. As a pianist and organist, he has played with the great opera singers Elizabeth Vidal and Edwin Fardini and instrumentalists. He regularly gives recitals and chamber music concerts. The French magazine Opera Magazine has praised him “eloquent and virtuoso pianist”.