André Manoukian

On 14 January 2027 at La Bouche d’Air – Salle Paul Fort, Nantes, André Manoukian continues his dialogue between Armenian music and modal jazz. For five albums he has drawn on this heritage to nourish a piano language that sounds intimate, where improvisation interlocks with memory. Between East and West, he weaves supple motifs, allows silences to breathe and lets melodies flow with patient clarity.

Around him, a delicately balanced lineup: Mosin Kawa on tablas, providing rhythmic cycles that shift the points of reference; Gilles Coquard on double bass, a backbone with a deep, resonant tone; Anissa Nehar on cajón, sober, earthy pulses; and the strings of the Orchestre Appassionato conducted by Mathieu Herzog, carried by arrangements by André Manoukian and Simon Cochard. The voice of Arpi Alto appears on two lullabies, like a counterpoint from Yerevan. A through-line of the programme, "Ma Sultane" evokes those tender words passed down in Armenian families, a simple way of naming attachment. The concert is conceived as a melodic journey, unforced, where each timbre finds its place.