Christophe Rousset
Both as a harpsichordist and as a conductor, Christophe Rousset is a leader in the contemporary revival of French Baroque music. He is exceptionally prolific as a recording artist, with well over 100 albums to his credit.
Rousset was born on April 12, 1961, in Avignon, France. After studying piano as a boy, he became deeply interested in the harpsichord at age 13. He studied with Huguette Dreyfus at the Schola Cantorum in Paris and, from 1980 to 1983, with Bob van Asperen at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague. He won a special certificate of distinction at the Schola Cantorum and, in 1983, the first prize at the International Harpsichord Competition in Bruges. Rousset rose quickly through the ranks of the world's harpsichordists. He soon appeared at some of the most prestigious early music festivals, including those of Aix-en-Provence, Utrecht, and Les Printemps des Arts de Nantes, among others. He recorded for the Decca label and its early music imprint L'Oiseau-Lyre, and a recording of the Piéces de clavecin of Rameau won the 1992 Gramophone Award for Best Baroque Non-Vocal Release and the Belgian Cecilia Prize. During his time as a specialist in Baroque harpsichord, he often performed the harpsichord continuo parts in ensemble music. It was natural that Rousset's harpsichord appearances with such established authentic instrument ensembles as La Petite Bande, Musica Antique de Cologne, and the Academy of Ancient Music led him to an interest in leading a Baroque ensemble, and he founded Les Talens Lyriques in 1991. The group was primarily interested in reviving French Baroque music and exploring the connections between the distinct national styles of France and other major European nations. An important introduction of Les Talens Lyriques to the wider world came in 1993 at the Festival de Beaune when the group performed Handel's opera Scipione. It has also played ballets and operas of Cimarosa, Berutti, and Mondonville and experienced popular success with the soundtrack for the movie Farinelli, which had extraordinary sales for an early music classical release, moving well over 600,000 copies worldwide.
Rousset has continued to record as a solo harpsichordist, often exploring the rich fund of French Baroque harpsichord music beyond Rameau and Couperin. The explosion of interest in Baroque opera in the 2010s has stimulated a busy schedule of performances and recordings of operas with Rousset as director; he has recorded, mostly for the Aparte and Ediciones Singulares labels, such novelties as Lully's Amadis (2014), Antonio Salieri's Les Danaïdes (2015), and, in 2017, Etienne-Nicolas Méhul's early Romantic Uthal. By that time, Rousset ranked as one of the most prolific performers of Baroque repertory on the European scene. Between 2018 and mid-2020, he released no fewer than 13 albums, mostly on Aparte, and he remained vigorously active through the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, he moved to the Château de Versailles label for a recording of Lully's opera Psyché. Rousset is noteworthy as a teacher and mentor, with countless "graduates" from Les Talens Lyriques populating European early music orchestras and stages. In 2004, he was honored by the French government as Officier des Arts et Lettres and Chevalier dans l'Ordre National du Mérite.
© James Manheim & Joseph Stevenson /TiVo
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Amadeus & Vienna
Roberto Scaltriti, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 17.02.1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mondonville : Pièces de Clavecin (MONDONVILLE J.C. )
Florence Malgoire, Christophe Rousset
Klassik - Erschienen bei Arion am 01.01.1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Martin Y Soler: La Capricciosa Correta
Klassik - Erschienen bei naïve classique am 09.03.2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Méhul: Joseph: "Champs paternels"
Michael Spyres, Christophe Rousset, Les Talens Lyriques
Klassik - Erschienen bei Warner Classics am 02.02.2024
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Cimarosa: L'Olimpiade
Klassik - Erscheint am 10.05.2024 bei Château de Versailles Spectacles
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Lully: Phaéton (Édition 5.1) (Christophe Rousset, Les Talens Lyriques and Chœur de Chambre de Namur)
Klassik - Erschienen bei Aparté am 16.10.2013
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Multicanal 5.1 -
Jacques Duphly : Pièces de clavecin (Édition 5.1) (Christophe Rousset)
Klassik - Erschienen bei Aparté am 16.10.2012
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Multicanal 5.1 -
Antoine Dauvergne : Hercule mourant (Édition 5.1) (Andrew Foster-Williams, Véronique Gens, Emiliano Gonzales-Toro, Les Chantres du Centre de musique baroque de Versailles, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset)
Gesamtaufnahmen von Opern - Erschienen bei Aparté am 16.10.2012
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Multicanal 5.1