The Choir of the French Army (), commonly known as the Armed Forces Choir, is an official academic ensemble of the Republican Guard of France. Its current director is Major

Aurore Tillac Aurore Tillac (born in 1980) is a French choir conductor. Since 2007, she has been directing the Choir of the French Army and the Republican Guard. Biography Born in Miélan in the Gers department"Auch. Cette chef d'orchestre ne manque pas d'é ...

. This male-voice choir is composed of 46 professional singers.

History

It was founded in 1982 by then

Minister of Defense A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

Charles Hernu Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...

. The first choirmaster of the unit was Hugues Reiner. It became a unit of the Republican Guard in 1994. Its main role is to provide musical accompaniment for state ceremonies and official commemorations. It has given performances at the Champs-Elysées, at the

Opéra Comique ''Opéra comique'' (; plural: ''opéras comiques'') is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged from the popular '' opéras comiques en vaudevilles'' of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent (and to a l ...

, and at the imperial theater of

Compiègne Compiègne (; pcd, Compiène) is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. It is located on the river Oise. Its inhabitants are called ''Compiégnois''. Administration Compiègne is the seat of two cantons: * Compiègne-1 (with 19 c ...

. It sometimes accompanies the Band of the Republican Guard during concerts in France and abroad. The repertoire of the choir consists of traditional music, hymns, military songs, religious songs, and partisan songs. Members of the choir performed the

French National Anthem "La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. The song was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by France against Austria, and was originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du R ...

during the Bastille Day military parade in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

on July 14, 2014.http://www.musiques-et-patrimoine.com/2013/?p=970

References

External links

* {{Authority control French Army French choirs Military choirs