Catalina Skinner & the Ensemble Stella d’Oriente, conducted by Pierre-Yves Binard, will
release their new album Alta va la luna on November 6th, 2026 (CD and digital) on Mundo Azul /
Inouïe Distribution. The album will be presented on Thursday, December 3rd, 2026 on stage at the Studio de l’Ermitage (Paris, 20th arrondissement) during a launch concert, featuring a special
guest appearance by Laurie Billotet (oriental dance).
A musical journey to the heart of the medieval Mediterranean
The songs featured on this debut album originated in the medieval Mediterranean region, where
Jewish, Christian and Muslim cultures coexisted, engaged in dialogue and enriched one another.
The programme weaves three threads into a single tapestry: the Judeo-Spanish songs passed
down after the expulsion of 1492, the Occitan and Catalan troubadours singing of courtly love,
and the spiritual dialogue between the Cantigas de Santa Maria and Sufi chants. Amidst love laments and sacred chants, the voice of mezzo-soprano Catalina Skinner is accompanied by a rare ensemble of instruments – the oud, qanun, ney flutes, saz, medieval lutes, viols, violin bass, Indian harmonium and percussion – in which instruments from the Arab world and medieval European instruments echo one another, as if the two shores of the Mediterranean had always spoken the same language.
An ensemble with multiple identities
The Stella d’Oriente ensemble embodies, in its very composition, the dialogue between cultures
that it celebrates. The French, Colombian, Syrian, Lebanese, Occitan and Catalan origins of its six
musicians form the living fabric of their performance.
Line-up:
– Catalina Skinner: mezzo-soprano, percussion
– Pierre-Yves Binard: baritone, percussion, Indian harmonium, musical direction
– Iyad Haimour: qanun, oud, ney flutes, vocals
– Jodël Grasset-Saruwatari: medieval lutes, qitara, oud
– Guillem Gironès: treble viol, bass viol
– Mahdi Hachem: saz, flutes, vielle, riq.
In concert, the ensemble is joined by Laurie Billotet (oriental dance).
A note on the programme
This programme arose from a simple insight: the repertoires we perform separately – Sephardic,
troubadour, Christian sacred and Sufi – share not only themes but also modes, phrasing and ways
of embellishing a melody. Yet simply placing them side by side is not enough; we must perform
them as we are. We have not sought to reconstruct anything. Each piece is approached through the lens of our own cultures: certain Sephardic songs take on an Arabic flavour; a ‘canso’ by Bernart de Ventadorn is carried by the phrasing of a ney flute; a violin bass improvises in the Baroque style over a Sephardic lament. What this album conveys is not a restored repertoire, but the way in which these pieces circulate amongst six musicians from different cultural backgrounds. The instruments do the rest – the oud responds to the lute, of which it is the ancestor; the qanun to the viola; the qitara to the saz – and the five improvisations that punctuate the album allow each musician time to speak for themselves before the others join in. We recorded in October 2025 in a small church in the south-west of France, all in the same space, live to tape. It was the only way to achieve what we were looking for: voices and timbres blending
together, musicians breathing as one.
Pierre-Yves Binard, Musical direction
