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Press Release May 2025

The Roy Hart Voice Centre enters a new era

With its jubilee anniversary, a new name, and a new direction, the Roy Hart Voice Centre (formerly the Centre Artistique International Roy Hart) is undergoing a major transformation.

Nestled amidst the rolling Cévennes hills of the Gard region in southern France, voices from all over the world echo here at the Château de Malérargues. In 1974, a London-based company known as the Roy Hart Theatre took up residence here. The young members of the company nurtured the dream– born in the trenches of the First World War– of an eight-octave human voice. This dream survived Hitler and the Second World War, flourished in the 1960s, and eventually moved to France. Fifty years on, the Château de Malérargues has become a haven for exchange, teaching, training, and creation. As darkness descends on the world once again, more than ever we must nurture the legacy of the Roy Hart Theatre and their dream of the human voice.

Established in 1991 as the Centre Artistique International Roy Hart (Roy Hart International Artistic Centre), the non-profit association will continue to operate under the new name Roy Hart Voice Centre as an “international centre dedicated to the research and transmission of the work of Alfred Wolfsohn, Roy Hart, and the Roy Hart Theatre”. The decision to change the name of the centre was driven by a desire to highlight the human voice, which is at the heart of the work at Malérargues. Here, we embrace the human voice ‘without borders’, which includes, but is not limited to, our approach to singing. The practice is rooted in the deep connection between the human voice and the body, the breath, the imagination, and the emotions, with every voice valued for its uniqueness and multiplicity.

More than simply undergoing a name change, the organisation is developing in new directions and for several years now has worked to strengthen its local foothold. The Roy Hart Voice Centre is forging links with local institutions and has developed a summer artistic performance programme with six shows scheduled for 2025. There are also plans to offer artistic residencies and a call for proposals will be issued shortly for a writing residency.

Located in a hamlet in the commune of Thoiras-Corbès, this artistic centre comprises self-catering accommodation with dormitories, a theatre with a capacity of up to ninety, two large studios for movement and dance, and four medium-sized studios. Until now, the use of these facilities has been mainly reserved for the centre’s activities. However, in a bid to open up to the region, the Roy Hart Voice Centre is hoping to increase its rental activity and is currently working on redesigning its website, which will include a new “rentals” tab. The studios can be used for workshops, meetings, seminars, and so on.

The Roy Hart Voice Centre draws on a history of over a hundred years of research, study, and practice of the human voice. To ensure the preservation of its print, audio, and video archives, it has embarked on an ambitious digitisation project, which will make them accessible to the general public in June 2025. This programme was funded notably through crowd funding efforts and in addition to charitable donations being tax-exempt in France, a partnership with the Fondation de France means that donations from Germany, Italy and Spain are also tax-exempt.

June 2024 saw the return of many of the first 49 members of the Roy Hart Theatre to settle in Malérargues. A week of festivities featured workshops, performances, and plenty of social events, including a traditional village dance in the château courtyard. The Roy Hart Voice Centre is a place where the past is honoured while looking forward to the next fifty years. The team of passionate volunteers is in constant evolution. Long-time administrative manager Béatrice David has recently been joined by development officer Stéphanie Roy, who brings a wealth of creativity to the role as well as a deep knowledge of the region and its challenges.

Last but not least, the association is supporting the development of a new player in the Malérargues ecosystem, the Malérargues Endowment Fund. At present, the estate is managed by a Société Civile Immobilière (non-trading property company), most of whose members are founders of the centre. By acquiring the shares of the partners in this SCI, the Malérargues Endowment Fund will thereby assume ownership of the estate with a view to its preservation as a safe haven in which to explore voice and creativity.

For further information about the Roy Hart Voice Centre, please contact Stéphanie Roy stephanie.roy@centreroyhart.org 06 76 66 14 42