La Symphonie has a story: it began in December 2020 in Burgundy, at the Château de Monthelon. I hosted a celebration around music — nearly all the invited friends were musicians — and within 48 hours we had transformed the gathering into an impromptu, intimate festival.
In just a few hours, the château became a musical playground full of surprises — a concert in the dovecote, a dance party in the chapel…
The name Symphonie stuck, along with the idea of an improvised, collective creation, though the place and means evolved. Since 2021, this symphonic spirit has taken root at the Monastery of Ségriès, envisioned as a playground for musician friends. The encounter with the Bhandari family (Ilikaa, Noé, and their parents) was like a magic wand. They opened the doors of the monastery wide, allowing us the freedom to invent a hybrid format— something slightly outside the world's usual hustle.
A space for exploration, for trial and error, for breakthroughs — a place to reconnect with the very essence of “play,” to reaffirm our poetic and collective desires, to learn from one another. With no financial motives, just for the joy of planting seeds.
Originally developed with Priscilla Telmon, then joined by Julien Colardelle and later Julie Henoch, La Symphonie has always been filled with kindred souls — mostly people previously filmed during various sonic journeys. It’s composed like a cosmic soup with wildly diverse ingredients. Some have even called it an exploration of our “imaginary folklores.”
Within just a few days, encounters take place, hearts open, bodies begin to move (we deeply believe in the body), all culminating in a day created together — the Symphonie proper. It’s the public opening (about 250 attendees) of the magical monastery for an afternoon and evening of shared performances born from the week’s collaboration.
This is probably not a residency like any you’ve known — it’s as much a playground as an improvised research lab, a space for encounters with fellow makers and transmitters, mainly musical (about twenty), but occasionally reaching into other forms — dance, photography, writing…
By learning from each other, we gain strength and inspiration for future forms yet to be invented. The experience concludes with one final day of rest and integration, in the grand natural setting of the Verdon.
We now know, after four editions: creating this kind of space outside the demands of touring or recording gives profound meaning to our poetic lives. Joyfully, we invite you to reconnect with the very origin of human connection—shared experience.
So welcome, one and all, to the wonders yet to come, the sparks we will summon together.
Thank you, and see you soon.
