top of page

About Samuel Cattiau

Singer and songwriter, attracted in his young life by early and traditional music discovered singing when he was student of design. It was in his workshop in the heart of an old textile factory in the North of France he began to train his voice which had a high, precise range, and very unusual sound. He decided at this time to developpe his stage presence and vocal technique.

Photo © Fred Debacker
Samuel Cattiau countertenor

Several meetings and intense work with professional singers and choral conductors would decisively mark his career. While developing his skills internationally as a designer and consultant, he studied lyrical singing and early music at the conservatory. He performed solo roles (J.S. Bach, Henri Purcell, John Dowland, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Georg Friedrich Haendel, Mozart,...) and collaborated with a baroque music ensemble (L'Académie de Lyon).


In his research, he discovers the depth of the medieval songs of Northern Europe, monody and polyphony; he expended his repertoire from the Renaissance to the 19th century, both in his countertenor range and baritone.


Now devoting himself entirely to music, he combines his passion for heritage and music with a growing interest in composition and improvisation.

He develops a voice timbre over several octaves, around the sound identity and acoustics of the places he crosses.


His repertoire - composed of sacred and secular texts from the West and the East - aims to give a contemporary and lyrical artistic sense to texts, poems and certain scores from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Baroque period, in ancient languages: Latin, French, English, Italian, Spanish, Gallaïco-Portuguese, Ladino,...


For several years now he has been meeting musicians of instrumental and vocal practices from different traditions and cultures (Mediterranean basin, India,...) and monastic communities practicing singing.

Starting in 2011, he will create a non-standard musical repertoire linking Music & Heritage: "Resonance". In collaboration with the guitarist and composer Quentin Dujardin, he invites musicians to join this adventure.


In 2014, he stays at Villa Medici for the event "Il Teatro". In 2016 the first album "Resonance" is released. A tour of 100 dates over two seasons will present this programme in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Morocco, India,... He also becomes "Musician Ambassador" for the International Yehudi Menuhin Foundation.


In 2018, new musicians of international renown are invited for Resonance's 2nd opus, "Illuminations": percussionist Bijan Chemirani, American cornettist Doron David Sherwin, young violinist Léo Ullmann. The album was recorded in the beautiful Cistercian abbey of Noirlac (France) and is released in spring 2019. It was previewed at the Festival "Les Traversées" of the same abbey, then at the church of La Madeleine in Paris, at the festival of sacred music in Pordenone in Italy, at the Solvay Library in Brussels and then in numerous heritage buildings.


His musical creations are presented in buildings of our religious and secular heritage, remarkable for their architecture and sound; in prestigious festivals such as the Festival of Sacred Music of Fez (Marocco) or the World Sacred Spirit Festival of Jodhpur in Rajasthan (India).

His research and interpretations are based as much on "written" music as on oral transmission. He regularly conducts research in old library collections, former seminaries, private collections, in France and abroad, and works with researchers in the humanities.

98 vues0 commentaire
bottom of page