Hélène Escriva

Euphonium

Participated in the 2019 edition

At the age of three, she attended her first concert and left completely enchanted. In a hall with red seats, the wind instruments of a quintet resounded. Hélène remembers leaving her numbered seat to go up to the stage and point out to the entire audience what had captivated her: a tuba player as imposing as his instrument. Little did she know that he would present her with an award years later, but she felt compelled to grab any object she could blow into. Starting with a watering can, the girl soon began playing her first tuba. She embraced this family tradition, which saw the house transform into a veritable wind orchestra: her mother on the saxophone, her father on the clarinet, her older brothers on the French horn and trombone, and the youngest on the trumpet.

The years flew by, punctuated by trips to the library to borrow dozens of CDs, alternating between salsa and Zappa’s rousing melodies; the years resonated with the rhythm of road trips, her mother’s music playing in the background—opera arias, volume turned up all the way, windows open. Hélène pursued her calling through an adapted school curriculum, imposing on herself a discipline as rhythmic as a metronome. The ABCs of becoming a euphonium virtuoso.Her awe at the power of a hundred musicians performing Shostakovich, the countless hours of rehearsal; the auditions, competitions, and victories; the days spent poring over sheet music and the nights devoted to studying Bach—all of this enabled her to enroll at the Paris Conservatory.

There, she came to understand the immutable rules of that microcosm where, to succeed, one had to follow only one path: participate in more competitions, more auditions, and repeat. The musician began to break free from the routine by founding Saxback, a chamber orchestra in which she played for ten years. Having specialized in an instrument too recent to have a place in symphony orchestras, she managed to carve out a niche for herself and perform all over the world, from Asia to the United States. Determined to explore and push beyond limits, Hélène added the bass trumpet to her repertoire. But it was by embarking on a four-year adventure alongside James Thierrée that she turned her back on that life as a soloist, a life she was beginning to tire of.

With the Compagnie du Hanneton, the euphonium player discovered what she had been missing all along: the experience of being part of a troupe, playing classical music while at the same time breaking free from conventional sheet music. By exploring pantomime, dance, and theater, she realized that her instrumental talent could support creative works at the intersection of various disciplines. A wilder, somewhat untamed tone. Influenced as much by Pink Floyd’s riffs as by Toulouse-Lautrec’s brushstrokes, Hélène remains true to her reputation for never standing still and to her beloved instrument—flourishing in new spaces, she promises herself vibrant and colorful performances.