Background
Led by Serge Baudo, conductor of the Orchestre de Lyon, Bernard Tétu created the Chœur de l'Orchestre de Lyon in 1980.
Alongside the chamber choir composed of professionals, the future oratorio choir is formed of "great amateurs" and young people in training, the two ensembles being brought together in particular for symphony concerts with choir.
As the activity of the two choirs increased with the growing number of collaborations with the ONL, in 1992 Bernard Tétu entrusted the direction of the Chœur d'Oratorio to Elisabeth Renault, within the structure that became the Chœurs et Solistes de Lyon Bernard Tétu in 1993.
In 1998 Catherine Molmerret was entrusted by Bernard Tétu with the direction of the oratorio choir and the preparation of all the choirs for symphonic programmes.
In 2014, the Chœurs et Solistes de Lyon and the Ensemble Britten merged to become Spirito.
Since then, the Chœur d'Oratorio has continued its development and, in 2019, has become an independent association under the name Chœur d'Oratorio de Lyon. Catherine Molmerret is its musical director and Bernard Tétu its honorary president.
Renowned for the consistency of her preparations of major works with orchestra, and for her tireless musical demands, Catherine Molmerret is continuing the adventure with the choir, which is opening up to new partnerships.
In 2023, the choir continues this dynamic by welcoming Philippe Forget as Artistic Director. Together with Catherine Molmerret, they are responsible for the musical direction of the ensemble, enhancing its capacity for adaptation, flexibility and responsiveness.
Major works
Since 1980, the Choeur d'Oratorio has performed alongside professional singers in a number of productions by the Lyon orchestra: Szymanowsky's Stabat Mater, Verdi's Requiem, Requiem, Great Mass in C and Vespers for a Confessor by Mozart, Mass by Cherubini, St Matthew Passion, St John Passion and Christmas Oratorio by Bach, Creation by Haydn, Dido and Aeneas by Purcell, Handel's Messiah, Puccini's Messa di Gloria, Mendelssohn's First Night of Walpurgis, Schumann's Paradise and the Periode, Honegger's Joan of Arc, Mahler's symphonies, Beethoven's 9th symphony, and many other works...
Outstanding experiences
Some of these productions have been recorded, such as Poulenc's Stabat Mater, which won a Diapason d'Or, Liszt's Christ on the Mount of Olives and Fauré's Requiem. The choir also performs regularly as part of the Berlioz Festival (L'Enfance du Christ, Roméo et Juliette, Requiem, Te Deum, Lélio, etc.). It has sung under renowned conductors including Serge Baudo, Emmanuel Krivine, Gianluigi Gelmetti, John Elliot Gardiner, Jun Märkl, Eliahu Inbal, Leonard Slatkin and François-Xavier Roth.
The "COL" is a unique choir in Lyon's choral world.