Les Talens Lyriques

The ensemble Les Talens Lyriques, taking its name from the subtitle of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s opera Les Fêtes d’Hébé (1739), was formed in 1991 by the harpsichordist and conductor Christophe Rousset.

Championing a broad vocal and instrumental repertoire, spanning the period from early Baroque to the beginnings of Romanticism, the musicians of Les Talens Lyriques aim to throw light on the great masterpieces of musical history, while providing perspective with rare or little-known works that are important as missing links in the European musical heritage. This musicological and editorial work, which contributes to its renown, is a priority for the ensemble.

The repertoire of Les Talens Lyriques includes works by Monteverdi (L’incoronazione di Poppea, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, L’Orfeo), Cavalli (La Didone, La Calisto), Landi (La morte d’Orfeo), Pallavicino (Le amazzoni nell’isole fortunate), Handel (Scipione, Riccardo Primo, Rinaldo, Admeto, Giulio Cesare, Serse, Arianna in Creta, Tamerlano, Ariodante, Semele, Alcina, Agrippina, Saul), Lully (Persée, Roland, Bellérophon, Phaéton, Amadis, Armide, Alceste, Isis), Desmarest (Didon, Vénus et Adonis), Mondonville (Les fêtes de Paphos), Cimarosa (Il mercato di Malmantile, Il matrimonio segreto), Traetta (Antigona, Ippolito ed Aricia), Jommelli (Armida abbandonata), Martin y Soler (La capricciosa corretta, Il tutore burlato), Mozart (Mitridate, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Così fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte), Salieri (La grotta di Trofonio, Les Danaïdes, Les Horaces, Tarare, Armida), Rameau (Zoroastre, Castor et Pollux, Les Indes galantes, Platée, Pygmalion), Gluck (Bauci e Filemone, Alceste, Orphée et Eurydice), Beethoven, Cherubini (Médée), García (Il califfo di Bagdad), Berlioz, Massenet, Gounod (Faust), Saint-Saëns, and others.

The re-creation of these works goes hand in hand with close collaboration with stage directors and choreographers: Pierre Audi, Jean-Marie Villégier, David McVicar, Eric Vigner, Ludovic Lagarde, Mariame Clément, Jean-Pierre Vincent, Macha Makeïeff, Laura Scozzi, Natalie van Parys, Marcial di Fonzo Bo, Claus Guth, Robert Carsen, David Hermann, Christof Loy, Jetske Mijnssen, Alban Richard, David Lescot and Phia Ménard.

Les Talens Lyriques explore not only opera, but other genres as well: secular madrigals, cantatas, airs de cour, symphonies, and the vast corpus of sacred music (masses, motets, oratorios, leçons de ténèbres and so on). Varying in size from just a handful of musicians to over sixty, representing every generation, the ensemble appears all over the world.

In the season of 2022–2023, Les Talens Lyriques are happy to continue the celebration of their 30th anniversary. For this season on the theme of enchantment, the ensemble and its conductor will let the magic of music work to offer us numerous operas such as Gluck’s Armide directed by Lilo Baur, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Lully’s Thésée and unpublished pieces such as Almasis by Pancrace Royer and Fausto by Louise Bertin. This year will also be a great opportunity to revisit masterpieces such as Bach’s St Matthew Passion and Schubert’s complete symphonies, two firsts for Les Talens Lyriques! To accompany it in these different projects, the ensemble is delighted to find faithful artists such as Véronique Gens, Ian Bostridge, Sandrine Piau, Karine Deshayes, Teresa Iervolino or Ambroisine Bré and to discover new voices such as in Pallavicino’s Le amazzoni nell’isole fortunate.

During this season Les Talens Lyriques will perform on the great Parisian stages of the Théâtre du Châtelet, the Opéra-Comique, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, as well as on the Swedish, German, Norwegian and many other stages.

The rich discography of Les Talens Lyriques now includes more than 100 recordings for Erato, Fnac Music, Auvidis, Decca, Naïve, Ambroisie, Virgin Classics, Ediciones Singulares (PBZ), Outhere, Château de Versailles Spectacles (CVS), and Aparté. The ensemble also produced the famous soundtrack to Gérard Corbiau’s film Farinelli (1994), which has sold over a million copies.

Seven new recordings will be added to the catalogue: A tribute to Pauline Viardot with mezzo-soprano Marina Viotti (Aparté), Acis et Galatée by Lully (Aparté), The Sphere of Intimacy around Couperin with tenor Cyrille Dubois (Aparté), Psyché by Lully (CVS), La Vestale by Spontini (PBZ) as well as two solo harpsichord albums: the Toccatas and Art of Fugue by J. S. Bach (Aparté).

Since 2007 the musicians of the ensemble have been working on a project aimed at introducing schoolchildren to music through a programme of ambitious artistic actions and innovative educational initiatives. They are in residence in schools in Paris and the Paris region (Île-de-France), where they have created an orchestra class and a small choir, known as Le petit chœur des Talens. The three t@lenschool educational applications (downloadable free of charge) have met much enthusiasm and have received several national and international awards.

 

The ensemble Les Talens Lyriques receives subsidies from the French Ministry of Culture – DRAC Île-de-France and the city of Paris, and the generous support from its circle of patrons.

The ensemble wishes to thank its principal patrons, the Annenberg Foundation / GRoW – Gregory and Regina Annenberg Weingarten, Madame Aline Foriel-Destezet and Fondation Société Générale C’est vous l’avenir.

The ensemble is regularly supported by the Centre national de la musique for its national and international development and its recordings.

Since 2011 Les Talens Lyriques have been associate artists, in residence at the Singer-Polignac Foundation in Paris.

Les Talens Lyriques are founding members of FEVIS (La fédération des ensembles vocaux et instrumentaux spécialisés – Federation of Specialized Vocal and Instrumental Ensembles) and PROFEDIM (Syndicat professionnel des Producteurs, Festivals, Ensembles, Diffuseurs Indépendants de Musique Entreprises – Professional Union of Music Producers, Festivals, Ensembles, and Independent Distributors).