Men’s Octet Les Vouèno

Men’s Octet Les Vouèno
The Men’s Octet Les Vouèno is a Swiss vocal ensemble that was founded in the spring of 2016 by 8 young Gruyère residents who wanted to perpetuate the choral art in their region.

The name “Vouèno” comes from the contraction of two words coming from the Fribourg patois meaning “eight young people”, thus creating a neologism, “vouète” for “eight” and “dzouno” for “young people”.

They perform at various village events, birthdays and weddings and give one or two concerts a year in collaboration with another musical ensemble.

During the Easter period of 2023, they travelled to Albania to take part in the “Albania Choral Tour”, a concert tour to promote Albanian polyphony.

Their repertoire, which is intended to be young and diversified, includes French songs, pop and country music, not forgetting traditional Gruyère pieces.

The choir has been directed since September 2020 by Florian Monney, who succeeded Vincent Richoz, director since 2016.

Florian Monney

Born in 1997 into a family of musicians, Florian Monney began his musical training on the drum at the age of 10 in the ranks of the Appel du Manoir de Gruyères.

In the spring of 2016, with a few close friends, he founded the men’s octet “Les Vouèno”, thus beginning his choral career. In autumn 2020, he took over the direction of this ensemble from Vincent Richoz.

At the age of 20, he learned harmonization on his own and regularly arranged pieces especially for his ensemble. In 2021, he produced his first composition.

In the autumn of the same year, he joined the Chœur des Armaillis de la Gruyère to broaden his knowledge of choral music. He also took singing lessons at the conservatory with Haida Housseini and Nicolas Pernet.

Since August 2022, he has also directed the Vocal Ensemble “Anacrouse”.

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