Sébastien Wonner studied harpsichord and basso continuo with Aline Zylberajch and Martin Gester at the Strasbourg Conservatory. As an organist, he studied with Raphaële Garreau de Labarre, André Stricker and Christophe Mantoux. His interest in improvisation led him to work with Freddy Eichelberger as a mentor. He has also received lessons from Pierre Hantaï.
His musical tastes have frequently led him to repertoire from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and vocal repertoire, often collaborating with ensembles such as La Chapelle Rhénane, Doulce Mémoire, La Rêveuse, L’Ensemble Clément Janequin, Consonance, Les Witches, Les Sacqueboutiers and Akâdemia. With these ensembles he has made numerous recordings: H. Schütz’s Symphoniae sacrae, Magnificat d’Uppsala, Musikalische Exequien, and Weihnachtshistorie, S. Capricornus’ Motets, Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri, Sonatas and Cantatas, P. Verdelot’s Dolci Affetti and Madrigaux, as well as Heureux qui comme Ulysse incorporating texts by J. du Bellay, the Saint John Passion by J.S. Bach, Haendel’s Messiah, the Manuscrit de Suzanne van Soldt, and La Morte d’Orfeo by S. Landi on the labels K617, Alpha, Zig-Zag Territoire (Outhere), Mirare, and Ricercar. His recording of solo harpsichord works by J.P. Sweelinck has been received with critical acclaim. As a soloist and a chamber musician, he seeks diversity in his musical experiences, playing a variety of keyboard instruments (including historical organs and clavichord), pursuing forgotten repertoire, and using improvisation.
While his performances have allowed him to travel to the Americas, Japan, and many European countries, Sébastien is a passionate professor of harpsichord at the conservatory of music (Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional) in Tours, France, where he is currently Head of the Early Music department.
Far from the beaten track and modes, the harpsichordist Catherine Zimmer likes to explore unknown territories.
After studying piano and harpsichord in Marseille, Aix-en Provence and Geneva, she decided to look into the origins of early music texts for her own conception of the performing of early music, and went in search of forgotten scores of French repertoire. This led her to manage the collection "the unpublished of the harpsichord" at the Music Society of Languedoc
She is co-founder of the ensembles Mens Sonoris and Salamandre which have performed in many festivals. Her first soloist recording devoted to lesser-known composers of the Age of Enlightenment, has been praised by critics. Holder of the French DE and CA harpsichord degrees, Catherine taught for several years at the Marseille and Beziers conservatoires and currently teaches at the Conservatoire of music “Henri Tomasi” in Corsica.
From behind her harpsichord, Aline Zylberajch has been making her presence felt on the Baroque scene for some considerable time now. After studying on both sides of the Atlantic, in Paris (CNSMD) and Boston (New England Conservatory), she contributed to the early work of ensembles such as La Chapelle Royale, Les Musiciens du Louvre and Le Parlement de Musique, with whom she recorded numerous operas and oratorios. These concerts fostered her predilection for vocal music and the way it is echoed in works written for keyboard instruments.
She later came across the music of C.P.E. Bach, and also that of many Central European composers who are often still overlooked nowadays, and as a result she took up a number of other equally expressive keyboard instruments. For instance, she then began exploring the hugely diverse soundscapes of 18th century music, using a whole host of different instruments, such as Cristofori, Silbermanns, Pantalonflügeln, and a range of different pianoforte mechanisms as varied as the ones on which Mozart performed during his travels across Europe. This period, which also saw the increasing popularity of duos, trios and quartets all with prerequisite keyboard instruments, opened up a whole new field of research into chamber music, another of her passions.
On her musical journey, Aline then came across the psaltery/dulcimer, whose leather or flannel-covered wooden hammers set the strings vibrating with a kind of poetry which is ripe for rediscovery. So, naturally enough, the tangent piano and the magical palette of colours it offers became the ideal medium for her work with longstanding musical partner Alice Piérot, sharing all the melancholy, fiery passion, humour and tenderness found in the music of C.P.E. Bach. Although based in Strasbourg, where she teaches the harpsichord at the Conservatoire, Aline frequently travels abroad to give classes in the performing arts in Germany, Australia, Austria, Spain, the United States, Japan, Mexico and Poland.
Her recordings have been reviewed very favourably, including a “Diapason d'Or”, a score of 10 awarded by Répertoire, a “Choc du Monde de la Musique”, Recommended by Classica, Gramophone, Early Music Review, etc.