Anne-Lise Foy

 

Vielle à roue

France

Anne-Lise Foy, a passionate musician and singer, immersed herself from childhood in traditional Auvergne music in Paris, which has profoundly shaped her artistic identity. Since 1988, she has led numerous singing workshops and supervised courses and masterclasses in France and abroad, sharing her expertise in singing, the hurdy-gurdy, and traditional dances. In 1995, she became a member of SACEM as a singer-songwriter, marking her professional recognition. A specialist in the music of Central France, she has multiplied collaborations and recordings, exploring a wide variety of genres: from jazz to contemporary music, including blues, French chanson, world music, and baroque music. She has worked with Steve Waring, Duo Bertrand, Bagad Kevrenn Alré, Syndrôme de l’Ardèche, Compagnie Hervé Koubi, Roland Becker & Oyoun Musik, Duo TTC, Compagnie Maurel et Frères, Long Way, and Zagayak. Her curiosity and openness have led her to perform on prestigious stages, such as with Jean-François Zygel on France 2 and France Musique, or at the Théâtre du Châtelet alongside Richard Galliano, Didier Malherbe, Michel Godard, Olivier Ker Ouri, and Yaron Herman. She does not hesitate to venture into new repertoires, such as medieval and polyphonic music with Compagnie Outre-Mesure, or to collaborate with neo-trad groups like Djal and Antiquarks.

Driven by her creative energy, Anne-Lise Foy has founded and led several notable groups: Trio DCA (with Dominique Paris and Hervé Capel) to revisit Haute-Auvergne, Tend’M (an urban string quartet), Vénus Vox (a vocal quartet), Bopiano (French chanson), toctoctoc (European song-based dance), Trio Foy Raibaud Simonnin (Auvergne and musette). She is also involved in creating shows for children, such as “Nini a Moumou” for Compagnie Loulou et Joséphine, and “Le Petit Bal Ratamouche” in a duo with Catherine Faure and Jean-Pierre Sarzier. Her recent stage creations, such as “Paroles De Planches,” “De la Tête aux Pieds,” and “A cop del pé,” blend dance, singing, music, mime, and improvisation around the three-beat bourrée. In 2012, she was given carte blanche for the Nuit Trad Actuelle, where she designed and curated an exceptional evening, performing in each ensemble. Her discography includes albums for children with Les Ogres de Barback (“Les aventures de Pitt’oCha”), to which she contributed as a performer and author, and she joined their anniversary tour in 2015. She has also been invited as a soloist by the Orchestre d’Auvergne under the direction of Arie Van Beek for a program dedicated to Vivaldi, and has collaborated with choreographer Sidi Graoui at the Déboulés de mai festival. More recently, she has performed alongside pianist François-René Duchâble and the Musiciens de Saint-Julien, under the direction of François Lazarévitch, at the Auditorium of the Musée d’Orsay, the Académie Bach, the Campo de Jao Festival, in Galway, at Château Sanssouci, in Istanbul, and in Warsaw.

Since 2015, Anne-Lise Foy has taught the hurdy-gurdy at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Départemental (CRD) in Châteauroux, where she has gradually expanded her activities to include teaching traditional singing and dance training. She coordinates the traditional music department, contributing to the programming of the conservatory, the municipality, and local associations. She has developed fruitful partnerships with classical and contemporary music classes, as well as with primary schools, to promote traditional music “beyond the walls.” At the same time, she is regularly invited to serve on juries for exams and international competitions, and participates in awarding national diplomas or validating prior learning in prestigious institutions such as Regional Conservatories or Higher Education Centers. In 2016, she collaborated with visual artist Jean-Marc Rohart at the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival for the English translation of the film “La danse des mots.” She continues her involvement with FAMDT and ADAMI, serving on expert committees for traditional music mentorship grants. She has multiplied collaborations, notably with Duo Brotto-Lopez, and contributes to topics of composition and arrangement in traditional music at professional gatherings such as the Eurofonik festival. In 2022, she joined Guillaume Lopez’s Lo Bal del Pop project and contributed to the album of the duo ThouxAzun. In 2023, she released a solo album centered on the hurdy-gurdy in Auvergne, the result of a collection project for AEPEM. Top of her class in the 2024 Civil Service exam, she became a tenured Professor of Artistic Education at the CRD in Châteauroux.

Anne-Lise Foy is renowned for her mastery of the hurdy-gurdy, an instrument she plays in several models (alto-tenor, soprano, baroque), all electro-acoustic and crafted by the Boudet workshops or Thomas Norwood, a luthier specializing in historical instruments. She uses specific strings for each model, adapted to her artistic needs, and also plays a copy of a hurdy-gurdy that belonged to Marie Leszczynska, wife of Louis XV. Her current activities are rich: she performs in concerts, dances, and residencies in France and abroad, with groups such as Traucaneù (music from the Massif Central), Viellés à Ellés, Toctoctoc, and as a soloist. She is preparing the release of educational videos on learning the hurdy-gurdy, in collaboration with Sébastien Tron and Mydriase, and is working on the creation of a new trio with Julien Cartonnet and Fabien Villeneuve, exploring the aesthetics of the Morvan and the Grand Centre. She continues to compose with tenderness and delicacy for the ensembles she is part of, such as Trio Patrick Bouffard and Transept, Transhumance et Migration Morvandelle, Freyja, Viellistic Orchestra, Compagnie Jardin d’Amours, and Banda Europa. Very active on social media, she shares her news and projects on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, and remains a key figure on the traditional music scene, combining transmission, innovation, and fidelity to her roots.