Hélène Duret
Origin: France
A passionate and exciting clarinetist and composer, Hélène Duret is one of those instrumentalists who stand out and make their mark on the young European jazz scene.
About us
Hélène Duret is a French clarinetist, singer, and composer born in 1988. With a background in theater, cinema, and traditional music, she currently focuses her artistic expression on musical composition, which she links to the exploration of improvisation, both instrumental and vocal, and the perception of sound as malleable textures. After studying cinema/theater at Paul Valéry University and classical music at the CRR in Montpellier, she divides her time between France and Belgium, where she studied jazz at the Royal Flemish Conservatory in Brussels.
In search of new forms, Hélène Duret created the BRUT Ensemble in 2025, for five wind instruments and drums. Supported by Nevers Djazz Festival, Tricollectif, AJMI le Petit Faucheux, and Sons d'Hiver.
Hélène Duret is also interested in the worlds of the senses and perception, which led her to create the European quintet Synestet in 2017, with which she signed with the Brussels label Igloo Records. Four albums will be released between 2019 and 2026, the latest of which, entitled “Perception,” features German trombonist Nils Wogram.
Project co-produced by Jazz sous les pommiers, BOZAR, Igloo Records, and La Nageuse.
From Synestet, the trio FUR was born in 2019, winning the Jazz à Porquerolles springboard competition and signing with the BMC label in 2024 with the album “Bond,” produced by Tricollectif.
At the same time, Hélène Duret co-founded the indie pop duo with Quentin Biardeau. Couple Sympathique. Their album “Le monde qui tombe” was released on the Tricollection label in 2024.
In 2021, Hélène Duret was named Jazz Migration #7 winner (Suzanne trio), became a member of Tricollectif, and joined the Cité internationale des arts in Paris, where she developed a solo project around the theme of water. Since 2019, committed to promoting and providing access to adventurous music, she has been devising, co-founding, and programming the Brussels-based “The Pool Sessions” evenings with musicians Théo Lanau and Camille-Alban Spreng.
Hélène Duret also performs internationally with artists such as Daniel Erdmann, Théo Ceccaldi, Vincent Courtois, Eva Klesse, Robert Lucaciu, Emile Parisien, Monica Akihari, Mike Reed, Hunter Diamond, Théo Girard, and others.
Associated Projects
Line-up: Hélène Duret - Clarinet, bass clarinet, compositions: Delphine Joussein - Flute, effects: Léa Ciechelski - Alto Saxophone: Quentin Biardeau - Tenor Saxophone: Jessica Simon - Trombon: Ariel Tessier - Drums
Five wind instruments resonate with a drum kit. A passionate and organic fusion between melody and rhythm, each responsible for the other. This sextet explores an atypical musical form, where the roles of the instruments are reimagined, influenced by the sounds of Max Cilla, Ellen Arkbro, Ornette Coleman, Carla Bley, and Jimmy Giuffre.
Line-up: Hélène Duret - Clarinet, bass clarinet, compositions: Sylvain Debaisieux - Tenor saxophone: Benjamin Sauzereau - Guitare: Fil Caporali - Double bass: Maxime Rouayroux - Drums + guest Nils Wogram - Trombone
The European quintet Synestet aims to activate our senses: It’s all about evoking a tangible texture, form, colour and even scent. Directed by the French clarinettist Hélène Duret, who also composes most of their pieces, the quintet improvises with full attention to each other. Simplicity and inventiveness go hand in hand in Synestet’s music, which blooms at the intersection of influences including Ornette Coleman, Duke Ellington and Jakob Bro. At Bozar’s request, the quintet is joined by the celebrated trombonist Nils Wogram.
Initiated by the french clarinet player and composer Hélène Duret, Synestet is a franco-belgian quintet, born in Brussels, who released three albums with the belgian label Igloo Records.
Thanks to the participation of BOZAR Brussels, the festival Jazz sous les pommiers in Coutances, Igloo records and the french company La Nageuse, the quintet becomes a European sextet with the trombone player Nils Wogram as a special guest.
The 4th album « Perception » is out from the 24th of April 2026.
Line-up: Hélène DURET / Clarinet Benjamin SAUZEREAU / Guitar Maxime ROUAYROUX / drums
The exploration of soundscapes of unexpected breadth is carried out at will. The journey is crafted by the three of them, and improvisation constantly redefines its course. This trio knows exactly what story it is going to tell you, but it doesn’t yet know how it is going to tell it; it discovers this alongside you, as they go along.
With this album, the trio presents a constant interplay of breaks that renders the music elusive in form. It’s jazz. But it has a pop feel too, thanks to the abundance of simple melodies that set the tone for the harmony. Want more? You’ll be in for a treat with its unlikely fusions of style and genre. Throughout, written and improvised language come together or trip each other up. This construction through disruption is achieved in a thousand different ways.
On this album, the three hypnotic musicians often dispense with obsessive repetitive motifs, which they constantly short-circuit. This cut-up effect, found on many tracks, makes the music psychedelic. The laws governing the musical sequences belong more to the world of dreams than to rational logic. It leaps and bounds; the threads of sound are broken or diverted from their original intentions.
Noise occasionally breaks the line to plunge us into the timbre. Emotion flows through sensation. The abstract weaves its way into melodic riffs. Counterpointing dialogues, collages of opposing energies that glide into moments suspended by arpeggios brushed by the guitarist’s nimble fingers, whilst the clarinet weeps and lets the damp sound of its membranes be heard. The drums, meanwhile, capsize the groove until the pulse’s reference points are blurred and obliterated. Space reigns supreme, offering a glimpse of a dark, silky night. Jeanne SUSIN
“FUR is playful, because that’s how life is—nothing is stable. And to stay alive, you have to bounce from one situation to another, from a ballad to an oppressive ostinato, from a drone to a wandering melody. Together, they weave a musical fur coat with the help of a wild beast that claws, protects and tracks with its noisy, rocking melodies.”
