Les Talens Lyriques

From: Avignon, France. LA Opera: From Light to Darkness concert (2018); The Sound of Music in Versailles concert (2024)

Founder of the ensemble Les Talens Lyriques and an internationally acclaimed harpsichordist, Christophe Rousset is a musician and conductor inspired by his passion for opera and the rediscovery of Europe's musical heritage.

Studying the harpsichord at the Schola Cantorum in Paris with Huguette Dreyfus, then at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague with Bob van Asperen (at the age of 22 he won the prestigious first prize at the 7th Bruges Harpsichord Competition), followed by the creation of his own ensemble, Les Talens Lyriques, in 1991, gave Christophe Rousset a perfect grasp of the richness and diversity of the Baroque, Classical and pre-romantic repertoires.

Christophe Rousset is now regularly invited to perform with Les Talens Lyriques throughout Europe: Opéra National de Paris, Opéra-Comique, Théâtre du Châtelet, Netherlands National Opera, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Philharmonie de Paris, Opéra de Lausanne, Theater an der Wien, Staatsoper de Vienne, Opéra Royal de Versailles, La Monnaie de Bruxelles, Wigmore Hall and Barbican Center in London, Bozar Brussels. ...as well as tours all over the world to Mexico, New Zealand, Canada, the USA, etc.

At the same time, he pursues an active career as a harpsichordist and chamber musician, performing and recording on the finest historical instruments. His recordings of works for harpsichord by Louis and François Couperin, Rameau, D'Anglebert, Royer, Duphly, Forqueray, Balbastre, Scarlatti and the various recordings devoted to works by J. S. Bach (partitas, Goldberg Variations, harpsichord concertos, English Suites, French Suites, Klavierbüchlein, Well-Tempered Clavier) are considered to be benchmarks.

The educational dimension is of paramount importance to Christophe Rousset, who conducts and leads masterclasses and academies: CNSMDP in Paris, Académie d'Ambronay, Fondation Royaumont, Opera Studio in Ghent, OFJ Baroque, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Amici della Musica in Florence, Piccola Accademia in Montisi, and the Britten-Pears Orchestra. 

Christophe Rousset also pursues a career as a guest conductor: Liceu de Barcelona, San Carlo de Naples, Scala de Milan, Opéra Royal de Wallonie, London's Royal Opera House, the Spanish National Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre du Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and others.

He also devotes himself to musical research and writing, through critical editions and the publication of monographs devoted to Rameau (2007, Actes Sud) and François Couperin (2016, Actes Sud). His book of interviews on music conducted by Camille de Rijck (2017, La Rue Musicale / Philharmonie de Paris) was published under the title L'impression que l'instrument chante.

One of his latest recordings, L'art de la Fugue (Aparté, 2023), was hailed by the critics: " Rousset, who has already recorded large parts of Bach's piano works, masters this pinnaclework of polyphonic art with astonishing aplomb." (Concerti, January 2024).

Other recent Aparté releases include Le manuscrit de Madame Théobon (Lully and others), Pièces de Viole with Atsushi Sakai and Marion Martineau (Marin Marais), and The Sphere of Intimacy with Cyrille Dubois (François Couperin and others).

The 2024/25 season will see the release of a superb digital reissue of the complete François Couperin harpsichord works (Harmonia Mundi - August 2024), and Christophe Rousset will conclude his exploration of J.S. Bach's keyboard corpus with the Complete Toccatas (Aparté - October 2024).

Christophe Rousset is a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres and Officier de l'Ordre national du Mérite.


Photo:  Eric Larrayadieu

French mezzo-soprano Ambroisine Bré started singing at a young age, joining Yves Sotin's class at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris in 2013. She has attended masterclasses with Michel Plasson, Sophie Koch, José Van Dam, Teresa Berganza, Anne le Bozec, Jeff Cohen, Susan Manoff, Felicity Lott , Dietrich Henschel and Christoph Pregardien, Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier.

Ms Bré has won several awards, including 1st Prize, Audience Prize and the Deutsche Gramophone Prize at the Paris Opera Competition, 1st Duo Prize at the Nadia and Lili Boulanger International Competition in 2017, with the pianist Qiaochu Li, and 3rd Prize at the 2019 Portofino International Opera Competition. She is a laureate of the Royaumont Foundation, was named a ‘Revelation Classique’ at the Adami Media Prize 2017 and nominated as ‘Révélation Lyrique’ at the Victoires de la Musique Classique 2019.

Ambroisine Bré’s career has already taken her to various European stages, including Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito in Prague, under Marc Minkowski, and Rameau’s Le berger fidèle and Montéclair’s La Morte di Lucrezia with Les Talens Lyriques at the Philharmonie Luxembourg and Staatsoper Berlin. More recent performances in France include a program of French songs at the 2018 Radio France Festival and Actéon by Charpentier and Dido and Aeneas by Purcell at the 2018 Menton Festival, with Les Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset. She has also worked with conductors such as Thomas Hengelbrock, Laurence Equilbey and Leonardo Garcia Alarcón.

Last season she performed Annio in La Clemenza di Tito for the Atelier Lyrique of Tourcoing, conducted by Emmanuel Olivier, gave her debut at Lille Opera as Second Lady in The Magic Flute staged by Romeo Castelluci, performed the roles of Iris, Syrinx and Calliope in Lully’s Isis at the Beaune Festival, with Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset, French song repertoire with the Hanson Quartet at the Deauville Easter Festival and the solo program “Tears of the Virgin", featuring works by Rossi, Monteverdi, Perti, Vinci, Handel, at the Festival of the Chaise Dieu and the Sinfonia Festival in Périgord, with Les Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset.

Highlights of recent seasons include Mozart arias in season opening concerts with the orchestra of the Opéra national du Rhin Strasbourg, conducted by Giuliano Carella, Isis at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Opera Royal de Versailles and Theater an der Wien, Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte at Opéra national du Rhin in Strasbourg, Lazuli in Chabrier’s L’étoile for the Atelier Lyrique Tourcoing, Dorothée in Massenet’s Cendrillon in Limoges and recitals in France and Switzerland. In concert, she also joined Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques for performances in Paris, Lausanne, Leipzig and at the Festival St Denis.

A recording of Mozart’s Mass in C with Les Musiciens du Louvre under Marc Minkowski is due to be released on the Pentatone label later this season.

A graduate of the Bordeaux Regional Conservatory, Gilone Gaubert studied the violin with Robert Papavrami, and subsequently studied with Maryvonne Le Dizès at the Boulogne-Billancourt Regional Conservatory. To complete her musical studies, she also joined Solange Chiapparin's piano accompaniment class at the Fontenay-sous-Bois Conservatory.

Admitted to Devy Erlih's violin class at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (CNSM), she left in 1995 rewarded with the Higher Training diploma.

Passionate about the interpretation of the early music repertoire on period instruments, she deepened this specialization with Patrick Bismuth and Christophe Rousset at the CNSM in Paris and obtained the Higher Training diploma there in 1998.

Since 2005 she has been concertmaster of the ensemble Les Talens Lyriques directed by Christophe Rousset, with whom she collaborates regularly. She has also been concertmaster for Le Parlement de Musique, led by Martin Gester, and plays regularly with La Petite Simphonie led by Daniel Isoir and Les Passions led by Jean-Marc Andrieu.

After studying violin in Aix en Provence, Benjamin Chénier turned to practicing the early repertoire at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Lyon (CNSMD) with Odile Edouard and in Barcelona in the class of Manfred Kramer.

Called by many French and foreign ensembles such as Le Concert Spirituel (H. Niquet), Les Talens Lyriques (C. Rousset), Gli Incogniti (A. Beyer), Le Concert d'Astrée (E. Haim), Les Ombres, Le Poème Harmonique (V. Dumestre), Les Folies Françoises (P. Cohen-Akenine), Les Nouveaux Caractères (S. d'Hérin), Le Center de Musique Baroque de Versailles, La Fenice (J. Tubery), Elyma (G . Garrido), Cappella Mediterranea (L. Alarcon) etc……, he also holds the Teaching Certificate, and currently teaches at the CRR in Paris and at the CRR in St-Maur. Driven by the desire to transmit, he regularly directs orchestral academies (Orchestra Barroca de Malaga, Orchestra of the higher schools of Porto, Lisbon, Paris, at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Young European Baroque Orchestra, etc.)

Passionate about 17th century music, he invested himself in a cycle of research and experience about the practice of diminution, “ornamental instruments” in the basso continuo and Italian sacred vocal music and Venetian in particular.

Thus, with his rich experience of playing with most French baroque ensembles and his stylistic research, Benjamin Chénier decided to found the Galilei Consort, an ensemble dedicated to the expression of a certain idea of ​​humanism in music, with whom he recorded, among others, the Ceremonial Masses of Rovetta and Cavalli.

Born in 1974, Emmanuel Jacques gained a premier prix in Baroque cello in Christophe Coin’s class at the Conservatoire national Supérieur de Musique in Paris. He is now principal cellist of Christophe Rousset’s ensemble Les Talens Lyriques, and is a frequent guest with Café Zimmermann (Céline Frisch/Pablo Valetti), Le Concert des nations (Jordi Savall), Les Basses Réunies (Bruno Cocset), Accademia Bizantina (Ottavio Dantone), Stradivaria (Daniel Cuiller), Le Parlement de Musique (Martin Gester), and La Petite Symphonie (Daniel Isoir).

Since 2012 he has also been principal cellist of Insula Orchestra, conducted by Laurence Equilbey. His repertoire ranges from the music of the seventeenth century to that of the Romantic era, all played on gut strings. He is a founder member of the Quatuor Ruggieri, formed in 2007, which made its first recording, of quartets by George Onslow, in 2012 (released on the agOgique label).

Emmanuel Jacques plays a cello by Jacques Boquay made in 1726 and a bow by Alexandre Aumont after François Xavier Tourte.