January 28—February 7, 2026
Dance, performance, visual arts
Festival of international emerging artistic practices
Marseille and Aix-en-Provence
Marseille and Aix-en-Provence
Mona Varichon & Chouf
Chœurs à cors
2026
February 1 at 16:00
February 1 at 17:15
Conservatoire Pierre Barbizet
Performance musicale
Duration: 40 min
Book your ticket
Free admission with reservation
In partnership with Conservatoire Pierre Barbizet de Marseille, un établissement Campus art Méditerranée
The performance will be followed by a DJ set and a karaoke session
Over the course of a year, Chouf and Mona Varichon led workshops with students from the horn class of the Marseille Conservatory and three of its choirs—the middle school choir, the high school choir, and the Boras Choir. Chœurs à cors is the outcome of this work. The piece is structured around an original text by Chouf, Here the Wind Does Not Die, which explores themes of migration, exile, and memory.
Over the year, the students’ words and sounds intertwined, giving rise to a collective performance reflecting their intimate and shared present. Conch shells, ancestors of the horn, respond to contemporary instruments, celebrating the power of breath and the crossing of ages and horizons. The piece also incorporates an expanded musical setting of a Comorian lullaby, Hamba, drawn from the Boras Choir’s repertoire.
Biographies
Mona Varichon is an artist and filmmaker. After studying horn at the Charles Munch Conservatory and earning a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Paris Descartes University, she pursued fine art studies at the San Francisco Art Institute and at ArtCenter College of Design in Los Angeles. She was a member of the Paris Universities Orchestra and Choir from 2006 to 2008 and of the San Francisco Civic Symphony from 2013 to 2015, and performed with various independent music groups in Canada between 2009 and 2011. Her work questions where and for whom artworks live, whether art can exist online or within a community before entering a museum, and whether this is where its most perceptive audiences are to be found. Using everyday materials and tools, her works form a chronicle of the present that seeks to pay homage to it while revealing the sociological realities that shape and intensify it. Her photographs, videos, and performances have been exhibited at the Centre Pompidou and the Palais de Tokyo (Paris), the Vincent Van Gogh Foundation (Arles), CAPC Musée d’art contemporain (Bordeaux), Villa Arson (Nice), the Egyptian Theatre and REDCAT Theatre (Los Angeles), and Les Chichas de la Pensée (Pantin). She is the recipient of the 2024 Prix Ricard and teaches at the École cantonale d’art de Lausanne.
Chouf is an artist who began her career as a specialized educator in 2014. Her musical project can be defined as a genre-bending exploration that blends spoken word and sentimental raï, which she deconstructs and modernizes by incorporating various electronic sounds. This hybrid form is accompanied by politically engaged poetic texts, often focused on women’s emancipation and the melancholy of exile. Her work is also marked by a strong collaborative dimension, notably with visual artists, dancers, and musicians. Overall, Chouf’s musical productions embody an innovative and socially engaged artistic approach. She has recently performed at the Villa Medici (Rome), Théâtre de l’Usine (Geneva), La Flèche d’Or, Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, Palais de Tokyo, Fondation Cartier, and the Centre Pompidou (Paris). In September 2025, her first novel, Vie Mort Vie, was published by Éditions Tumultes.
Crédits
Distribution
A piece co-written by: Chouf and Mona Varichon, with the collaboration of the students and teachers of the horn class and choral program at the Pierre Barbizet Conservatory, and the Boras Choir (Anne Périssé-dit-Préchacq and Vincent Robinot).
Arrangement: Brian Alecki
Photo
© Jean Kader
