Savitri de Rochefort, conductor: a force that comes from the East

2 April 20203 April 2020 Bertrand de Foucauld 0 Comments

Savitri, daughter of the sun god in Sanskri, created the musical ensemble Zoroastre in 2012, a realization of her childhood passion: music!

Born in India in 1972 in Nagpur, a musician since the age of five under the influence of her adoptive parents, she was initiated into the study of the violin. In 1983, when she was back from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (CNSM), a Parisian scooter struck her violently in the arm and fled. Savitri then opted for singing (soprano colorature voice) a few years later after studying music theory. In 1989, returning from the USA where she continued her training as a musician in Oberlin (OH) and Tanglewood (MA), she succeeded in joining the Choir of the Paris Orchestra while continuing her writing studies, and won three First Prizes at the CNSM, while flirting a bit with electronic music. A bit, certainly, but with a hidden talent that few people had been able to detect at the time, due to the compartmentalization between the classical and contemporary musical worlds.

Below, Tat Savitur (prayer dedicated to the sun god), an electronic composition by Romano Serra and Savitri, with oriental chords. Vocals: Savitri. (publication courtesy of Savitri de Rochefort)

Below, a threnody, by François Castello and Savitri. Vocals: Savitri. Instruments: François Castello. (publication courtesy of Savitri de Rochefort)

She would not discover her vocation as a conductor until much later by studying choir conducting first at the Châtillon Conservatory (Paris Region) and then in the City of Fano, among the Italians, these masters of music. Finally, Savitri embarked on the creation of the musical ensemble Zoroastre, which she has been brilliantly directing for eight years, while pursuing her career as a professor at the Conservatoire in the 11th arrondissement of Paris.

Today, Zoroastre gives concerts mainly in Normandy, and in particular in the famous Abbey of Bec-Hellouin where music and soul come together in a celestial chord.

Contrib’City invites you to listen to a performance by the orchestra, given on May 11, 2018, in Bec-Hellouin Abbey: The Coronation Mass by W.A. Mozart.