Anna Besson

Flutist Anna Besson is noted for her expertise on a variety of contemporary and historical instruments. In addition to modern and Baroque flutes, she has performed on Irish wooden flutes and explored the repertory written for that instrument. Besson was born in France in 1988. She attended the Conservatoire de Perpignan (CRR) and the Conservatoire de Versailles Grand Parc before entering the Geneva Conservatory in 2008. There, she studied both the transverse flute with Michael Ballavance and the traverso (an Italian Baroque flute) with Serge Saitta. Besson continued to study both instruments at the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSMD), where she earned a certificate of aptitude for transverse flute. She made her recording debut in 2013 on the Born Rocker Tour album by rockabilly star Johnny Hallyday; her classical debut came three years later as a member of the Baroque chamber music Nevermind, which she co-founded with three other Conservatoire students. That group performed at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris and at the Festival d'Auvers sur Oise and Folle Journée de Nantes festivals, as well as touring the U.S. That was only one of the Baroque ensembles with which Besson performed after finishing her schooling. Others included A Nocte Temporis, of which she was also a co-founder, and the durable Baroque group Les Arts Florissants, directed by William Christie. On modern flute, Besson has appeared with the Paris National Opera Orchestra, Ensemble Contraste, and the Debussy Quartet. As a soloist, Besson has performed both with early music ensembles such as Le Concert Spirituel and Le Concert d'Astrée and with modern-instrument groups such as the Insula Orchestra. She has performed at such major festivals as the Salzburger Festspiele in Austria, the Utrecht Early Music Festival, and the Boston Early Music Festival. She has done research on 18th and 19th century Irish music for wooden flute, and with Nevermind, she released the album The Dubhlinn Gardens: 18th Century Irish Music. Besson made her solo debut in 2020 on the Alpha label with pianist Olga Pashchenko, releasing the album Variations on Folk Songs: Beethoven, Kuhlau, Doppler. She returned on Alpha in 2024 with an album of flute sonatas by Jean-Baptiste Quentin and Arcangelo Corelli.
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