top of page
Composing Music

RICHARD QUESNEL COMPOSER CONDUCTOR

Home: Welcome
Home: Listen
Edeline Lee Autumn Winter 2023 Film By Zeina Durra
02:28
EDELINE LEE

Edeline Lee Autumn Winter 2023 Film By Zeina Durra

EDELINE LEE presents a guerrilla-style immersive show directed by ZEINA DURRA in which the audience are guided on a short walk through MAYFAIR filled with charming encounters. The show seeks to reveal the hidden joys that can be found in our everyday lives, the power of community, and the pleasures that her muse the inquisitive FUTURE LADY discovers in a beautiful corner of London. Your journey begins at the Piccadilly entrance of BURLINGTON ARCADE, where a troupe of gypsy jazz musicians riff on Chopin’s Mazurka in G Minor from the windows, above the crowds of shoppers. The romantic melody repeats throughout the production, reimagined in different guises, like a love song to London. Dancers prepare the scene, sweeping the floors and polishing the windows. An elegant woman is having her shoes shined whilst perusing the gossip column of THE EDELINE LEE TIMES: a fictional newspaper emblazoned in headlines about the lives of Future Ladies around the world. The newspaper covers the light-filled walls and columns of BURLINGTON ARCADE, along which a striking woman walks her Dalmatian. Emerging outside in the open air, your eyes land on tourists dancing across the street to the sounds of a child practicing the Mazurka. You keep walking and catch sight of a lovely girl reading a book against a street lamp, only you have little time to ask what she is reading, because across the road at 24 CORK STREET, a photoshoot is unfolding. FRIEZE NO 9 CORK STREET has been transformed into a newsstand and a paparazzo flirts with the proprietor. You are handed a copy of the newspaper, complete with a map to guide you. Music draws you into the passageway. Here there is a moment of stillness as two women play a tense game of chess. You stop to ponder who might have the winning streak, but their faces give little away and soon enough the sounds of Chopin coax you to 30 OLD BURLINGTON STREET where, at a grand piano, a concert pianist plays for two dancers who are falling within one another's arms. Just down the road, a distinguished couple unload their shopping outside ANDERSON & SHEPPARD, serenaded by a flugelhorn from the window. At the portico facade of the ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS, a childrens’ choir sings into the afternoon. A Future Lady strolls by with her Dalmatian, passing a young woman who is buying a single flower at a market stall. Perhaps you will be given one to take home too. ZEINA DURRA states: “Having collaborated with Edeline from the start of her career I am really excited about this show, her most ambitious yet, which brings alive the streets of Mayfair. We worked with different performance mediums to create a microcosm of the Edeline Lee world. The clothes, the team, the cast and the locations will offer a special experience for our viewers.” EDELINE LEE states: “The Future Lady exemplifies what dignity, grace, femininity, and power look like on accomplished women today. I want my audience to step into the Future Lady’s shoes, to see London as a treasure trove of possibility wherein small gestures carry great meaning and poetic adventures are only around the corner. This project has brought together the local community of Mayfair in a celebration of London. It is a homage to the city I love, to its heritage and creativity.” Within the collection, EDELINE LEE experiments with simple, yet bold silhouettes, draped asymmetrical ruffles, voluminous ruching and embellishment with the brand’s signature ivory hand-covered buttons and buckles. This season, she adds a series of tailoring to the collection, in the form of sleek, fitted jackets, cropped boleros and oversized blazers. As always, her thoughtful approach features forward-thinking concepts about femininity, precise cut and refined craftsmanship. The house’s signature Flou Bubble Jacquard fabric is shown in Pistachio, Carmine and Malachite. A heavyweight Georgette Champion is cut in Amber Green and a fluid, lightweight Georgette Crinkle in Chromium Blue and Carmine. Charmeuse pieces lend sheen to the collection and have been cut in Lime, Chromium Blue and Ivory. Recycled Cashmere outerwear are generously cut in Pistachio, Carmine, Malachite and Ivory.
Home: Videos
Home: Text

MUSICAL ACTIVITIES

People Walking
Watching a Movie

CHORAL COMPOSITION

As a choral conductor, I have always written for singers - sacred and secular, solo songs and song cycles, motets and anthems, cantatas and oratorios. Recent works include 'Raising the Roof' for 250 children across the City of London with performances in St Paul's Cathedral and London's Guildhall. My pieces are published and available on Spotify. Commissions and performances include Vox 21 (Paris 2023), Cambridge and Oxford University college chapels, Notre Dame Cathedral - Paris (TV broadcast), Singer-Polignac Foundation - Paris, Festival of Sacred Music - St Malo, Royal Naval Chapel - Greenwich...

FILM COMPOSITION

Recent scores include media work for Edeline Lee/London Fashion Week 2023,  Aurora Media on Amazon Prime (Formula E Ice Drive - choral meets electronic score) and Fugue State Films (American Preacher - small band acoustic score). American Preacher was screened at Dances with Films Festival - Hollywood in 2018.

Studio Microphone
Univeristy Auditorium

ARRANGEMENTS AND IMPROVISATION

I’ve worked as an arranger for events in London Fashion Week 2023 and on several albums with traditional musicians for commercially released albums, including Andre Le Meut (string quartet and piano), Nijadell (piano improvisation) and Yann Fanch Kemener (choral arrangements).

I have also always enjoyed arranging traditional Advent and Christmas carols for upper voices and SATB choirs

MUSIC AND EDUCATION

I have been dedicated to working with young musicians for twenty years and was appointed Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture for my services to music, culture and education. I am a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and my qualifications include the Agregation de Musique, the Diplome d'Etat in Choral Conducting and UK Qualified Teacher Status.


I am currently Director of Music - City of London Schools, working at the senior schools at Millennium Bridge and the Barbican, and in partnership with the City family of schools.  Previous experience includes Director of Music at St George's College, Weybridge, roles at University, Conservatoire and Maitrise de Caen, and choral director at the Academie de Musique & Arts Sacres in Sainte Anne d'Auray from 2000 to 2017.

Home: What I Do
Sheet Music

RECENT PERFORMANCES

RAISING THE ROOF - cantata for the City of London schools - words/music by Richard Quesnel

Premiered: St Paul's Cathedral (under the dome) June 2023

NEXT DATE: Thursday 21 September 2023, Great Hall, Guildhall

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wren300-concert-tickets-648099351607?aff=oddtdtcreator

Home: Compositions

CONTACT ME

London, UK

  • LinkedIn
  • LinkedIn
Home: Contact
bottom of page