First cousin of the Roi Soleil’s organist, Marguerite Louise Couperin he was described by Titon de Tillet as one of the most celebrated musicians of her time, who “sang with a great lightness in her voice and a marvelously good taste”. Engaged in Versailles in 1702 as a soprano, she became one of the very first women to be able to sing at the tribune of the royal Chapel. It was thus that François Couperin was destined to write the most moving music for her, as part of very lofty instrumental ensembles, which particularly highlighted her voice: two flutes and no deep bass (this was given to the violin).
It is therefore from the name of this sweet muse that Marguerite Louise was born, today made up of the best musicians of the Baroque repertoire under the direction of the organist Gaétan Jarry. In 2015, Marguerite Louise released his first record Motets pour une Princesse (L’Encelade), dedicated to the unpublished masterpieces of Charpentier. Highly praised by critics, this record marks a turning point for the Ensemble then described as one of the most “promising of his generation”.
Since 2016, Marguerite Louise has had the pleasure of collaborating with the Château de Versailles, at the heart of which it performs the sacred music, chamber music and operatic repertoires. In 2018 the ensemble will celebrate the three hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the birth of François Couperin by giving at the church of Saint Gervais. The Ensemble also performed at the Cité de la Musique, the Saint Gervais church in Paris, the Sinfonia Festival in the Perigord, the Sacred Music Festival in Saint Malo and the Palazzo Farnese in Rome. The ensemble distinguished itself in several opera productions such as Pygmalion of Rameau, Charpentier’s Médée and Actéon alongside Tafelmusik and the Opéra-Atelier of Toronto at the Royal Opéra of Versailles, as well as in Berlioz’s Damnation de Faust in collaboration with the Orchestra Les Siècles (François-Xavier Roth). In July 2017, Marguerite Louise interpreted the emblematic Les Arts Florissans by Charpentier at the Château de Versailles, which was made into a recording on the Château de Versailles Spectacles label in September 2018 (5 Diapasons, 5 Classica’s stars, Opéra Magazine Diamond).
Marguerite Louise is a member of the Fédération des Ensembles Vocaux et Instrumentaux Spécialisés. He is supported by the Orange Foundation and the City of Versailles.
Yoann Moulin began his apprenticeship in music with Robert Weddle at the Maîtrise de Caen. There, he came across the harpsichord, which he studied with Bibiane Lapointe and Thierry Maeder and then, after spending some time at the Académie de Villecroze with Ilton Wjuniski, he continued his studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris, attending classes taught by Olivier Baumont, Kenneth Weiss and Blandine Rannou. At around the same time he discovered the clavichord thanks to Étienne Baillot, taught himself to play the organ, studied improvisation alongside Freddy Eichelberger and learned enormously from the teaching of Pierre Hantaï, Skip Sempé, Blandine Verlet and Élisabeth Joyé.
He has since performed recitals and chamber music at various seasons and festivals such as the Philharmonie de Paris, La Roque d'Anthéron, the Folles Journées de Nantes, Oude Muziek - Utrecht, Ambronay, the Fondation Royaumont, Lanvellec, Contrepoint 62, the Venetian Centre for Baroque Music, the Cervantino - Mexico, the Chaise-Dieu, the Palais Jacques Coeur - Bourges, the Académie Bach in Arques-la-Bataille, Saint Riquier, the Philharmonie du Luxembourg, the Actus Humanus festival in Poland and the International Tropical Baroque Music festival in Miami. He has also played with a number of ensembles such as Les Arts Florissants, Le Concert Spirituel, the Clément Janequin ensemble, Cappricio Stavagante, La Fenice, the L’Achéron viol consort, Le Concert Étranger, La Tempête, La Maîtrise du Centre de Musique Baroque in Versailles, Les Musiciens du Paradis, the Les Fêtes Galantes baroque dance company, Das Klub - Cabaret Contemporain and the Jazz La Forge collective.
He has been involved in a number of recordings made for the Alpha and Ricercar labels, including "Au Sainct Nau" with the Clément Janequin ensemble. Samuel Scheidt’s "Ludi Musici" was recorded with L’Achéron and "The Tempest", a record based around Shakespeare’s play, with the La Tempête ensemble, and each of these won a Diapason d'Or. Finally, Freddy Eichelberger, Pierre Gallon and Yoann Moulin recently formed "Une Bande de Clavecin", an old keyboard consort performing both written and improvised Renaissance music..
Alice Piérot is a graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon and has won several international chamber music competitions. She began to take an interest in Baroque music in 1988, became a member of the Musiciens du Louvre (conducted by Marc Minkowski) and was their solo violinist for many years. Since 2004, she has been First Violinist of Le Concert Spirituel (conducted by Hervé Niquet), a role which has seen her perform at the world's finest concert halls.
As a special guest of the Amarillis ensemble, she spends a great deal of her time playing chamber music with, amongst others, Les Veilleurs de Nuit, the Anpapié string trio and, both as a duo and as part of a quartet, with Aline Zylberajch, as the pair of them passionately explore the late 18th-century repertoire together.
Alice gives orchestra and Baroque violin classes at Aix-en-Provence Conservatoire, records for many French and European radio stations, and her extensive discography features more than forty recordings, including Rosaire de Biber’s sonatas (on the Alpha label), which won a Diapason d’Or for the year in 2003.
As she is a country girl at heart, and also has a taste for building projects, in 2002 she took over a former factory near Avignon and turned it into La Courroie, a huge musical venue for concerts, residencies, premiers and recordings (including this one), experimenting with new ways of sharing and performing all kinds of music, from the oldest to the most contemporary.
A man of many artistic sensibilities, Guillaume Rebinguet-Sudre has developed his own musical vision. He studied the baroque violin with Hélène Schmitt and Enrico Gatti, and also plays the harpsichord.
In concert, he aims for a lively and spontaneous performance, respectful of the works' historical context, and enjoys original projects. It is in the same spirit that he founded the "Ensemble Baroque Atlantique". He is invited to many festivals, and took part in Jean Pierre Derrien's "Sur tous les tons" program on France Musique in 2006. This CD of Tomaso Albinoni's sonatas is his first solo recording.
His passion for early instruments is also reflected in his work as a harpsichord maker. Philippe Humeau and Emile Jobin have provided valuable advice for the manufacture of rare instruments. With the violin maker Christian Rault, he has researched early violins and suggested new approaches to sound and repertoire. With Aurélien Delage, he has been promoting a project for a new Renaissance organ at the Abbey of Saint-Amant-de-Boixe in south-west France.
Guillaume also enjoys sharing his artistic experiences and teaches baroque violin and chamber music. He also conducts the Baroque orchestra at the Bordeaux Conservatoire. In 2010, he was a guest at the musical academy in Nìs (Serbia). He also works for the Musée de la Musique in Paris.
Virginie Thomas was unanimously awarded a first prize from the Conservatoire de Toulouse in 2005. In 2006, she was unanimously awarded her professional degree in Early Music, with the judges' congratulations.
She has sung with conductors such as Joël Suhubiette, Emmanuel Krivine, Jérémie Rhorer, Emmanuelle Haïm, Leonardo Garcia Alarcon, Marc Minkowski, Raphaël Pichon, Sébastien Daucé, etc.
She played the Nymph in Lully’s Armide at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées (W. Christie / R. Carsen) and took the role of Céphise in Rameau’s Pygmalion (W. Christie) both in Europe and in New York. She sang, with Christophe Rousset conducting, in Lully’s Phaëton (One of the Hours, the Egyptian Shepherdess) in Beaune, Lausanne, Paris and London. She played Daphné in Charpentier’s Actéon both in France and in the USA (W. Christie), and was a shepherdess and one of Urgande’s lady’s maids in Lully’s Amadis in Versailles and Beaune (C. Rousset). She played Thalie in Rameau’s Platée (W. Christie / R. Carsen), Poetry in Charpentier’s Les Arts Florissans (G. Jarry), Actéon in Charpentier’s Actéon Changé en Biche (G. Jarry), a Nymph in Mondonville’s Titon et L’Aurore (W. Christie / Basil Twist), and Cloris in Lully’s George Dandin for thirty dates at the Athénée theatre in Paris and all over France (Michel Fau / G. Jarry)
In 2023, she played the 2nd woman and the 2nd witch in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (Blanca Li / William Christie) in Madrid, Barcelona, Compiègne and Versailles.
Alice Trocellier discovered the viola da gamba when she was six years old, before joining the CRR de Paris with flexible school hours. She was then able to make the most of her international experiences to explore the various aspects of an instrument by which she is fascinated: musicology and the Elizabethan consort at the Bristol University and the Royal Academy of Music in London, then eighteenth-century German repertoire at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. On returning to France, she appeared with ensembles such as Alia Mens, La Tempête, Le Concert Spirituel and Les Ambassadeurs, and regularly plays and records as part of Le Poème Harmonique. She has recently become a junior artist associated with the Singer-Polignac foundation as part of Théodora, an ensemble that she co-founded in 2019. Alice is keen to pass on her skills and has been appointed as a teacher at the CRR Maurice Ravel Pays Basque with effect from September 2023.
Nicolas Wattinne discovered his vocation for the lute and the theorbo after studying biology and winning a recorder prize at Marseilles conservatoire. He thus began studying at the CRR de Versailles, in Benjamin Perrot’s class, and then took master-classes with teachers such as Rolf Lislevand, Eric Bellocq, Pascale Boquet, Claire Antonini and Eduardo Egüez.
He has performed as a continuo player and soloist for a few years, with various ensembles such as Le Concert Spirituel, Le Poème Harmonique, Pygmalion, Elyma, Les Épopées, La Tempête, Correspondances, La Palatine, Voz Latina, Il Buranello, etc. These collaborations have given him the opportunity to work with eminent conductors such as Raphaël Pichon, Hervé Niquet, Sébastien Daucé, Vincent Dumestre, Gabriel Garrido, Simon-Pierre Bestion, etc.
As he is keen on the performing arts, he has taken part in various different theatrical productions as part of the Ah! company (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, conducted by A. Herbez), the À Demi-Mot company (La Rue Sans Tambour, conducted by L. Carudel) and the company of the Comédie-Française (D’où Rayonne la Nuit, conducted by Y. Gasiorowski & V. Leterme).