Le Poème Harmonique

Since 1998, under the direction of its founder Vincent Dumestre, Le Poème Harmonique has brought together a group of passionate musicians dedicated to performing music from the 17th and 18th centuries. Its repertoire embraces both celebrated masterpieces and hidden gems that accompanied daily life and ceremonies in France, often at Versailles (with Lully, Couperin, Charpentier and others), in Baroque Italy from Monteverdi to Pergolesi, and in Purcell’s England. These inventive and demanding programmes re-connect the secular and the sacred, weaving together classical music and popular sources, but also combining music with theatre, dance and circus. In opera, the ensemble is recognised as a world leader for its interpretations of works by Lully, Cavalli and Monteverdi, and its long-term artistic partnership with director Benjamin Lazar has yielded performances that have been unanimously acclaimed by critics and audiences alike.

Le Poème Harmonique continues to surprise audiences by revealing forgotten treasures (in autumn 2024, L’Uomo femina, an irresistible comedy by Galuppi, directed by Agnès Jaoui, Dijon Opera House, Théâtre de Caen and Opéra Royal de Versailles), offering a unique approach to great masterpieces (Il Nerone and L’Incoronazione di Poppea, first with the Académie de l’Opéra National de Paris, then with the Teatro Mayor de Bogota), or incorporating processions and striking spatial effects into its concerts. 

With around sixty performances a year, Le Poème Harmonique is a familiar sight at the world’s greatest festivals and venues: Opéra-Comique, Opéra Royal de Versailles, Philharmonie de Paris, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Ambronay, Beaune and Sablé festivals, Teatro Real (Madrid), Wigmore Hall (London), NCPA (Beijing), Philharmonie de Berlin, Wiener Konzerthaus, Concertgebouw de Bruges, BOZAR (Brussels), Oji Hall (Tokyo), Columbia University (New York), Teatro San Carlo (Naples), Accademia Santa Cecilia (Rome), Saint Petersburg Philharmonic and the BBC Proms, all while remaining deeply committed to Normandy, its home region, the birthplace of many of its creations and the setting for its educational and social outreach work, as well as for the career development of emerging professional musicians. 

Le Poème Harmonique’s discography now includes approximately fifty recordings that have been regularly praised by critics and enjoyed great public success. Highlights include the world premiere of Cavalli’s L’Egisto released by Château de Versailles Spectacles, which received a Choc de Classica and the prestigious Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, and Lully’s Armide (2024). Its latest recording, Monteverdi Testamento – Vespro della Madonna 1643 (2025), has been unanimously praised by critics and awarded the TTTT from Télérama and the Diapason d’Or.