Schola de Sion

Founded in 1930, the Schola des Petits Chanteurs de Notre-Dame de Valère was initially a choir made up exclusively of male voices. With the creation of a girls’ choir in September 2003, it now welcomes into its ranks all young people interested in choral art.

Schola de Sion draws inspiration from the tradition of the old choir schools attached, from the early Middle Ages onwards, to a cathedral, an abbey, or even a simple town church. These choir schools were in fact scholae which, through high-quality musical training, provided a comprehensive education to children from all backgrounds.

Schola pursues a similar aim by offering its singers, under the impetus of its director Marc Bochud, musical instruction in small groups, focused mainly on solfège, vocal work and music reading. This patient training work is supported throughout the year by an intense programme of liturgical music, mainly in the Parish of the Sacred Heart in Sion, with the high point of this commitment being the provision of music for all the services of Holy Week. Various concerts a cappella or with orchestra also constitute an important part of Schola de Sion’s activities.

The large number of performances (more than thirty per year) enables the singers to become familiar with a rich and varied musical repertoire, based mainly on sacred music: while Gregorian chant, Victoria, Palestrina, Lassus, Bach, Haydn or Mozart regularly feature in the programmes of Schola’s various choral ensembles, it also makes a point of including many contemporary composers, notably Swiss composers such as Carlo Boller, Heinrich Sutermeister, Caroline Charrière, Pierre Mamie, Pierre Chatton, François-Xavier Delacoste, etc.

In addition to its regular choral activities, Schola maintains frequent contacts with other similar ensembles. Thanks to the regular hosting of choirs from Basel, Fribourg, Solothurn, Lyon, Montreal, Quebec, Saint Petersburg, and also thanks to numerous tours (France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Israel, Belgium, Russia), all the singers of Schola benefit from a profoundly original human experience that brings together all members of Schola, from the youngest to the oldest, around a shared ideal.