“Great chamber music, on a larger scale”: a pleasant oxymoron that sounds like an ideal, where numbers don’t hinder freedom of play. Interplay, as theorized by pianist Bill Evans, who spoke of improvising together in a relationship of interactivity — and therefore interdependence — served as a guide for the creation of this orchestra, which produced spectacular results from its very first encounter: made up of professional quartet players (members of the Ebène, Belcea, Voce, Varèse, Zaïde, Hanson quartets, among others) and a leading wind quintet (Aquilon), the chamber musician’s reflex — transmitter-receiver, never a follower, never a leader, but always a co-producer — worked wonders. Later on, the other miracle of this adventure revealed itself during the first major bike tours, where the grueling work of carrying symphonic music as a small team into remote areas and for unusual audiences gave us the best possible feedback: a breath of discovery, made euphoric by the kilometers covered together between each concert. Today the ensemble specializes in versatility: the programs combine classical, new creations, and jazz, and the musicians and staff of Forces Majeures are far from done exploring and delivering all their facets.

After a quarter of a century under the direction of pianist J-F Heisser, l’OCNA has become a vessel of fraternity, a generous team determined to carry out a very broad mission. Here, excellence is heard on stage and measured by the reach of the tours undertaken; the territory of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, as large as Austria—based out of TAP de Poitiers—hosts large-scale concerts that give pride of place to new creations and novelty, and bring extensive experience in cultural outreach. From the very first meeting, the joy of pushing each other to excel together in the work was palpable, and reward came in listening to the schoolchildren of Marennes-Oléron singing the theme of the Variations Rococo with delightful lyrics, before the very first concert. How could one resist such a wave of shared beauty? All along the Atlantic coast and across the lands of Poitou, Limousin, and Bordeaux, a new chapter begins.