Les Talens Lyriques

The founder of the ensemble Les Talens Lyriques and internationally recognised harpsichordist Christophe Rousset is a musician and conductor inspired by a passion for opera and the rediscovery of the European musical heritage.

His studies (harpsichord) with Huguette Dreyfus at the Schola Cantorum in Paris, then with Bob van Asperen at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague (winning the coveted First Prize in the Seventh Bruges International Harpsichord Competition at the age of twenty-two), followed by the creation of his own ensemble, Les Talens Lyriques, in 1991, have enabled Christophe Rousset to obtain a perfect grasp of the richness and diversity of the Baroque, Classical and pre-Romantic repertoires.

Christophe Rousset is now invited to appear with Les Talens Lyriques all over Europe (Opéra National de Paris, Opéra Comique, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Philharmonie de Paris, Opéra Royal de Versailles, Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Lausanne Opéra, Teatro Real Madrid, Vienna Staatsoper and Theater an der Wien, Théâtre Royal de La Monnaie and Bozar in Brussels, London’s Wigmore Hall and Barbican Centre, and so on), as well as on tour in other parts of the world (Mexico, New Zealand, Canada, United States, etc.).

At the same time he continues to pursue an active career as a harpsichordist and chamber musician, playing and recording on some of the world’s finest period instruments. His recordings of the harpsichord works of Louis and François Couperin, Rameau, D’Anglebert, Royer, Duphly, Forqueray, Balbastre and Scarlatti, and those devoted to J. S. Bach (Partitas, Goldberg Variations, Harpsichord Concertos, English Suites, French Suites, Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann, Well-Tempered Clavier) are regarded as references.

Teaching is of paramount importance to Christophe Rousset, who organises and gives many master-classes and academies (Paris Conservatoire CNSM, Ambronay, Fondation Royaumont, Operastudio Vlaanderen-Ghent, OFJ Baroque, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie-Berlin, Accademia Chigiana-Siena, Amici della Musica in Florence, Britten-Pears Orchestra at Snape Maltings) and, together with members of Les Talens Lyriques, plays an active part in introducing young secondary school students in Paris and the Île-de-France to music.

He is active too in the field of research and writing, through critical editions, the publication of monographs devoted to Jean-Philippe Rameau and François Couperin (Actes Sud, 2007 and 2016, respectively).

2017 saw the publication of a series of interviews by Camille de Rijck in which Christophe Rousset shares his thoughts on music: L’impression que l’instrument chante, Éditions de la Cité de la Musique – Philharmonie de Paris (La rue musicale – Entretiens).

Christophe Rousset is a Knight of the French Legion of Honour, a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, and a Knight of the National Order of Merit.

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 first Prize, audience prize and the Deutsche Gramophone prize at the Paris Opera Competition, first duo prize at the Nadia and Lili Boulanger International Competition in 2017, with the pianist Qiaochu Li, and third 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 the 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 previous 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 joined Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques for performances in Paris, Lausanne, Leipzig and at the Festival St Denis.

Learn more at AmbroisineBre.com.

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.

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.