The third and penultimate concert of ModComFest, “Sept, les anges de Sinjar” (Seven, the Angels of Sinjar), will take place on 3 October 2025 at the Saint-Maur Theater. This spellbinding collaboration between music and dance brings together six dancers and twelve musicians. Commissioned by the Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo Festival for its 2022 edition, this piece was composed by Michael Petrossian and Aram Hovhanissyan, who will be honoured by ModComFest. Drawing inspiration from the imagination and mythology of the Yazidi community, the piece will be conducted by the renowned French conductor and composer, Bruno Mantovani, and choreographed by Michel Hallet.
The ballet recounts the creation of angels by Xwede (God) over the course of a week, a timeframe reflected in the title. Each day sees the birth of an angel, beginning with Malek Tawus, the Peacock Angel. The chronology of the ballet follows the reverse path of the Yazidi myth, beginning with the last angel, Nouraïl. The story then moves on to Chemnaïl, Anzazil, Machaël, Israfil and Dardaïl. Six solos dedicated to the first angels are interspersed with interludes, building up to a grand finale illustrating the creation of Malek Tawus in his dual form of light and dark, good and evil.
The performance will be presented by the Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain and dancers from the Hallet-Eghayan company. It offers a profound meditation on history and humanity, inspired by the rich and secret spirituality and the resilience of the Yazidi people. Prior to the concert, there will be a discussion between the creators and performers of the ballet and the audience.
Bruno Mantovani
Conductor
Bruno Mantovani was born on October 8, 1974. After receiving five first prizes from the Paris Conservatory (analysis, aesthetics, orchestration, composition, music history) and attending the computer music Cursus at Ircam, he began an international career. His works have been performed at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Philharmonie in Cologne, the KKL in Lucerne, La Scala in Milan, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Centre in New York, the Cité de la musique and the Salle Pleyel in Paris. Faithful to his preferred performers, he collaborates with prestigious soloists (Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Alain Billard, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Antoine Tamestit, Tabea Zimmermann), conductors (Pierre Boulez, Sir Andrew Davis, Peter Eötvös, Laurence Equilbey, Gunter Herbig, Emmanuel Krivine, Susanna Mälkki, Jonathan Nott, Pascal Rophé François-Xavier Roth), ensembles (Accentus, Intercontemporain, TM+) and orchestras (Bamberg Symphony, BBC Cardiff, Chicago Symphony, WDR Cologne, La Chambre Philharmonique, Frankfurt Radio Orchestra, Liège Philharmonic, BBC London, Lucerne Academy, Orchestre de Paris, Paris Opera Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio France, Sarrebrücken Radio Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, NHK Tokyo, RAI Turin, Sinfonia Varsovia, RSO Vienna).
He is the headmaster of the Paris Conservatory since September 2010.
Compagnie Hallet-Eghayan
A Historic Company
In 1977, after several years of study in New York, Michel Hallet Eghayan founded his Company as well as the Professional Training School (now a Choreographic Center). This dual creation reflects the ongoing connection between creation and training that defines its founder's work.
Since then, the Company and its Artistic Director have created over 100 choreographic works. Retour en avant, Orlando Furioso, Hommage à Kandinsky, Which Side Story, and Pour Giselle are today recognized as landmark pieces of contemporary French dance. Drawing on the heritage of human movement, Michel has developed his own language, focusing on choreographic form and movement. After an initial period of compositions centered on the theme of Variation (1977–1990), he began exploring roots and the connections between our origins and contemporary thought (1990–2000).
The Arts-Science Connection
Since 2000, the Company has ventured into new spaces at the intersection of arts and sciences. It has notably collaborated with Pascal Picq, a paleoanthropologist at the Collège de France, and astrophysicist Roland Bacon.
This dual work, combining artistic implicitness with scientific explicitness, has resulted in spectacular dance conferences where scientists share the stage with artists. It has also led to choreographic works that retain only the symbols of this shared exploration between arts and sciences.
Building on this experience, enriched by its artistic and scientific potential and with a magnificent Theater-Studio in Lyon at Les Échappées Belles, the Company’s future appears bright.
The founder continues to delve into the core repertoire of the Company, with Retour en avant (1983), recreated in 2008 as the opening of the Lyon Dance Biennale, for which it gave its title. This work continued with Pour Giselle (1982), which the choreographer revisited in 2011 as a commission for the Maison de la Danse. Works created in collaboration with Roland Bacon and Pascal Picq—13 heures et des poussières… and Which Side Story—have now become integral to the repertoire, with their success confirmed season after season.
This original project at the crossroads of arts and sciences led to the creation of the "Arts Sciences Society Hub" in 2012, as well as the establishment of a "Scientific Committee." This Committee includes all the universities of the Lyon Academy and certain prestigious schools. Its aim is to foster true “Investments for the Future.”
Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain
Founded in 1989 by conductor Daniel Kawka, the Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain was one of the first independent French ensembles dedicated to contemporary music. Over the years, the EOC’s creative output and tours in France and abroad have helped it forge a unique place in the musical landscape.
The Ensemble is renowned for being a key interpreter of 20th and 21st century music and an important player in musical creation. Composers of all generations have placed their trust in us. Today, the EOC counts more than 700 works in its repertoire, including 300 premieres.
The EOC is an instrumental ensemble home to around 15 musicians, who may also play a solo role. Bruno Mantovani is at the helm of the ensemble, as artistic director and principal conductor. The EOC stages concerts of large- and medium-sized formations, championing pure instrumental concerts, as well as a mix of instrumental and electroacoustic sounds paired with other artistic expressions (dance, opera, literature and visual arts).
With a repertoire spanning more than one hundred years of music, the internationally renowned ensemble has helped make a name for its hometown region, the Loire, playing in some of the most acclaimed cultural and arts venues in France and abroad.
The EOC is committed to engaging, involving and developing a wider musical community in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Along with its local partners, the EOC encourages learning, discovery and creativity, for audiences of all ages and from all backgrounds. It reaches deep into the regional landscape, fully contributing to enhancing the local arts and cultural scene.
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