Gérard Lesne
Gerard Lesne has led a unique career: largely self-taught, he began as a jazz and rock singer who not only converted to more serious music, but became identified as one of the leading countertenors in the early music genre. He has sung with several early music ensembles, including the Clemencic Consort and with the group he founded, Il Seminario Musicale. The sound quality of Lesne's voice has been described as the male counterpart to the female contralto. His admirers will define him further, noting the many subtle gradations of volume and the nuances and color he is capable of imparting to an otherwise earthbound phrase. Many listeners, critics included, have asserted he is the finest French countertenor of his time. Lesne has made numerous recordings for a variety of labels, including EMI, Harmonia Mundi, Virgin Classics, and Accord.
Lesne was born in Montmorency, France, on July 15, 1956. He had little formal training in his early years, though he did study music for a time at the Sorbonne. Until 1979, when he was 23, Lesne performed as a jazz and rock singer. At that time Belgian tenor Zeger Vandersteene became impressed with Lesne's vocal talents and introduced him to composer/conductor René Clemencic, founder and leader of early music ensemble the Clemencic Consort. Clemencic was immediately won over by the 23-year-old countertenor.
From 1979 Lesne began singing with the Consort, touring Europe usually to enthusiastic critical and audience response. From 1984 to 1990 he sang with Les Arts Florissants under William Christie, delving mainly into French Baroque repertory. In 1985 Lesne founded Il Seminario Musicale and explored Italian Baroque music (A. Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Stradella, and others) and made many recordings.
From 1988 to 1992 Lesne sang with Philippe Herreweghe and his ensembles (La Chapelle Royale and Collegium Vocale Gent). In 1990 he made two acclaimed recordings of J.S. Bach sacred works with Herreweghe that appeared on the Harmonia Mundi label.
Since 1993 Lesne has given vocal classes at the Royaumont Abbey in France, and throughout the 1990s and into the new century remained active on the concert scene, particularly with Il Seminario Musicale. Among the group's recordings is a 2005 five-CD set of French sacred music on Virgin Classics. Lesne's freelance recording activity includes the 2006 Harmonia Mundi issue Messe de Noël with conductor Marcel Pérès.
© TiVo
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Stabat Mater - Pergolesi
Música coral (para coro) - Editado por Warner Classics el 6 oct. 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Arias & Cantatas
Clásica - Editado por naïve classique el 12 mar. 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Trois Histoires Sacrées
Música vocal sacra - Editado por naïve classique el 20 mar. 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Marc-Antoine Charpentier : Leçons de Ténèbres
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics el 3 mar. 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Scarlatti: Motets - Infirmata vulnerata, De tenebroso lacu, Salve Regina & Totus amore languens
Véronique Gens, Gérard Lesne, Il Seminario Musicale
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics el 1 ene. 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
François Couperin: Office des Ténèbres
Gérard Lesne, il seminario musicale
Clásica - Editado por Cantus Records el 3 dic. 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi/Galuppi: Motets
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics el 3 may. 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Alessandro Scarlatti : Stabat Mater & autres œuvres sacrées
Gérard Lesne, Sandrine Piau, Il Seminario Musicale
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics el 1 ene. 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
D'Amours loial servant - French and Italian Love Songs of the 14th-15th Centuries
Gérard Lesne, Ensemble Alla Francesca
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics el 30 ago. 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
O Solitude
Recitales vocales - Editado por naïve classique el 29 abr. 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pergolesi: Salve Regina - Stabat Mater
Mieke van der Sluis, Gérard Lesne, Clemencic Consort, René Clemencic
Clásica - Editado por Universal Music Division Decca Records France el 1 ene. 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
With Lilies White. Byrd's Consort Songs & Music for Viols
Gérard Lesne, Wieland Kuijken, Ensemble Orlando Gibbons
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics el 23 jun. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi - Salve Regina: Sacred Works for Countertenor and Double Orchestra
Gérard Lesne, Il Seminario Musicale, Fabio Biondi
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics el 1 sept. 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Scarlatti, A: Sedecia, re di Gerusalemme
Gérard Lesne, Virginie Pochon, Philippe Jaroussky, Peter Harvey, Mark Padmore, Il Seminario Musicale
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics el 4 oct. 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Amarilli: Sonates et cantates pour alto seul de Bononcini
Gérard Lesne, Il Seminario Musicale
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics el 1 ene. 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Caldara & Stradella - Cantatas & Motets
Gérard Lesne, Sandrine Piau, Il Seminario Musicale
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics el 8 jun. 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel & Alessandro Scarlatti: Italian Cantatas
Gérard Lesne, Sandrine Piau, Il Seminario Musicale
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics el 15 jun. 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi - Stabat Mater, RV 621
Gérard Lesne, Myriam Gevers, Il Seminario Musicale
Clásica - Editado por Send - Alia el 16 nov. 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Colors
Gérard Lesne, Jean-Philippe Viret, Bruno Angelini, Ramón López
Jazz - Editado por Zig-Zag Territoires el 1 sept. 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dans un bois solitaire (Cantates françaises)
Gérard Lesne, Il Seminario Musicale
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics el 26 abr. 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi - Nisi Dominus, RV 608
Gérard Lesne, Jacques Maillard
Clásica - Editado por Send - Alia el 16 nov. 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo