Accentus - Laurence Equilbey
Laurence Equilbey is best known as the music director and conductor of the popular chamber choir Accentus. She has led this Paris-based, 32-member group in both a cappella repertory and orchestral/choral fare, but Equilbey has also branched out, especially in the new century, regularly leading operatic performances and also conducting such well-known orchestras as the Orchestre de Paris, Lyon National Orchestra, and the Orchestre National de France. In addition, she has expanded the repertory of Accentus to include transcriptions, offering such disparate fare as Wagner and Mahler lieder, Debussy's Les Angélus, Prokofiev's "Field of the Dead" from Alexander Nevsky, and many others. In 2012, Equilbey founded the period-instrument Insula Orchestra. Her recordings are available from Erato, Naïve, and Naxos, among others. In 2021, she led the Insula Orchestra in a recording of Louise Farrenc's Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3.
Equilbey was born in Paris on March 6, 1962. She studied choral conducting with Eric Ericson at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and also studied at conservatories in Paris and Vienna. Among her later teachers was famed conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Active mainly as a choral conductor throughout the '80s, Equilbey founded the chamber choir Accentus in 1991. Almost from the beginning, the ensemble drew critical acclaim, and its first a cappella recording, a Virgin Classics release of works by Brahms and Schumann, appeared in 1995. That year, Equilbey founded a second ensemble, the Jeune Chœur de Paris.
In 2000, Equilbey was named Music Personality of the Year by the Syndicat Professionnel de la Critique. In November of that year, she took Accentus on an acclaimed 11-city debut tour of the U.S. In the new century, Equilbey has been especially active with Accentus on records, often turning out music to great critical acclaim, as with the 2001 recording of Figure Humaine and other works by Poulenc and 2007's Liszt's Via Crucis, both issued on the Naïve label. At the 2010 St. Denis Festival (near Paris), Equilbey led Accentus in an acclaimed performance of Fauré's Requiem, recorded live by Medici.
In the orchestral/choral realm, Equilbey has led performances of works by Mozart, Mendelssohn, Brahms, and scores of others. In opera, she has conducted Mozart as well as rarely encountered fare like Britten's Albert Herring. Equilbey has also conducted many other well-known choirs, including the Berlin RIAS Kammerchor, Chapelle Royale, and the Collegium Vocale Ghent. In 2012, she founded the Insula Orchestra, a period instrument orchestra focusing on presenting orchestral and choral music from the Baroque through Romantic periods. To that end, Equilbey led Accentus and the Insula Orchestra in a 2014 recording of Mozart's Requiem on Naïve, the orchestra's debut release. On the Erato label, Equilbey and the Insula Orchestra issued Magic Mozart in 2020 and followed with a recording of Louise Farrenc's Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3 in 2021.
© Robert Cummings & Keith Finke /TiVo
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Louise Farrenc: Symphonies Nos. 1-3, Overtures Nos. 1 & 2
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 21 Apr 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Franz Schubert : Nacht und Träume
Lieder (German) - Released by Erato on 3 Nov 2017
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Requiem
Masses, Passions, Requiems - Released by naïve classique on 29 Sep 2014
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Johannes Brahms : Un requiem allemand
Sacred Vocal Music - Released by naïve classique on 2 Mar 2004
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Triple Concerto & Choral Fantasy
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 29 Mar 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Nuit Sacrée
Sacred Vocal Music - Released by naïve classique on 4 Jan 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: "Coronation" Mass & Vespers
Classical - Released by Erato - Warner Classics on 14 Apr 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice / Orpheo - Highlights Of The Versions For Vienna (1762) And Paris (1774) (Live)
Franco Fagioli, Malin Hartelius, Emmanuelle de Negri, Accentus Chamber Choir, Insula Orchestra, Accentus - Laurence Equilbey
Classical - Released by Archiv Produktion on 11 Sep 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Gounod: St François d'Assise - Liszt: Légende de Ste Cécile
Sacred Vocal Music - Released by naïve classique on 15 Jan 2018
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Lucio Silla, K. 135
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 8 Apr 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Sacred Voices
Accentus, Accentus - Laurence Equilbey, Orchestre National de France
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 24 Nov 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franz Schubert : Œuvres vocales profanes
Accentus - Laurence Equilbey, Choeur de Chambre Accentus, Edouard Garcin
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on 1 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pascal Dusapin : Requiem(s)
Sacred Vocal Music - Released by naïve classique on 1 Sep 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Magic Mozart
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 24 Apr 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Louise Farrenc: Symphonies Nos 1 & 3
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 9 Jul 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Felix Mendelssohn : Christus - Cantates chorales
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by naïve classique on 7 Nov 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gluck : Orfeo ed Euridice (Live)
Franco Fagioli, Malin Hartelius, Emmanuelle de Negri, Accentus Chamber Choir, Insula Orchestra, Accentus - Laurence Equilbey
Classical - Released by Archiv Produktion on 11 Sep 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Freischütz Project
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 26 Feb 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Triple Concerto & Choral Fantasy
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 29 Mar 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Choeurs Profanes
Choeur de Chambre Accentus, Accentus - Laurence Equilbey
Classical - Released by Pierre Verany on 1 Jan 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Nacht und Träume
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 3 Nov 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo