Marilou

United by a shared passion for sonic metamorphosis and expressivity, the musicians of Marilou approach works as living, malleable matter, shaped by harmonic tension and resolution, dissonance, sighs, and lament. With a flexible configuration, the ensemble ranges from two to five musicians, reinventing its instrumentation with each programme. Around a core blending treble instruments, harpsichord and bass lines, additional voices join depending on the project (theorbo and baroque guitar, organ, oboe, voice and treble viol). This instrumental freedom sustains an ongoing exploration of colour and texture, giving rise to richly contrasting soundscapes.

Driven by deep curiosity and a strong artistic commitment, Marilou strives to bring singular, rarely heard voices into the light. Through its programmes, the ensemble sheds light on works by composers such as André Chéron, Robert Burns and William Corbett, setting them in conversation with better-known figures from the repertoire. In doing so, it explores a broad musical landscape, from Bach to French music of the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as written and oral traditions from England, Ireland and Scotland.

Present on many stages across France (including La Folle Journée de Nantes, the Festival Baroque de Pontoise and Bach en Combrailles) as well as abroad, in Albacete (ES) and at the Midis-Minimes in Brussels, Marilou released its debut album, Doux Silence, in February 2024 on the label Les Belles Écouteuses. Currently in residence at the Fondation Singer-Polignac, the ensemble is deepening a core artistic ambition: to move beyond interpretation and embrace creation as a natural extension of its practice. Arrangements of organ pieces, the crafting of additional voices, instrumentations conceived from scratch — these are all gestures that root their practice firmly in the present. For Marilou, transmission is not merely a matter of performance, but of reinvention: making this music a living, felt experience, fully alive in our own time.