Simon-Pierre Bestion

Simon-Pierre Bestion is a French musician, conductor and keyboardist, key figure of a new generation of artists fascinated by “total art”. He studied at the Conservatoire of Nantes in Michel Bourcier’s organ class. During his studies, he also explored musical formation and chamber music. In addition, he studied harpsichord in Boulogne-Billancourt with Laure Morabito and excelled his skills as a masterclass keyboard player with harpsichordists and organists such as Jan-Willem Jansen, Benjamin Alard or Aline Zylberach.

His taste for writing, composition and modern music led him to discover polyphony and the richness of the choral repertoire. He studied choir conducting with Valérie Fayet and joined the class of Nicole Corti at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Lyon, and he was deeply influenced by the precious advice of conductors such as Régine Théodoresco, Roland Hayrabédian, Geoffroy Jourdain, Joël Suhubiette, Dieter Kurz and Timo Nuoranne. 

In 2007, his passion for ancient music and conducting led him to found the ensemble Europa Barocca with the viola da gamba player Julie Dessaint. He completed this instrumental formation with the creation of the choir Luce del Canto, a vocal ensemble of young singers. Wishing to broaden his musical background and to question the traditional form of concerts, Simon-Pierre Bestion created the La Tempête, the result of the fusion between these two ensembles. The first show of the ensemble, The Tempest, demonstrated an unprecedented approach to sound and space. This project also illustrated a clear interest in the scenic arts, inspired by his taste for the works of numerous choreographers, artists and directors. 

The artistic work of Simon-Pierre Bestion is marked by a rich musical legacy, nourished by Western traditions, rituals and creation. Heavily influenced by the works of composers such as Jean-Louis Florentz or Maurice Ohana, he defends a musical approach in which the interpreter must have his place in the incarnation and appropriation of sound as a material. He is also influenced by his encounters with multiple vocal personalities, researchers and interprets of forgotten repertoires such as Marcel Pérès (early music) or Adrian Sîrbu (Byzantine chants). 

These last few years, his thirst for orchestration and the inspiration he draws from the works he approaches, have given to the public projects as captivating as surprising, often on the subject of encounters and ambitious combinations: a dialogue between Mediterranean cultures in Jerusalem (2019) for the Festival de Saint-Denis and the Cité de la Voix, a story of the Resurrection with Larmes de Résurrection (2017) for Château de Versailles Spectacles or even a visual and sonorous experience with Bach minimaliste (2019) for the Centre Culturel de Rencontre des Dominicains de Haute-Alsace and the Scène Nationale l’Empreinte. 

In 2018, his interpretation of Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine offered a new and personal vision of this emblematic piece and left its mark on national and international critiques. In 2021, he presented L’Enfant noir: a musical initiation story based on the work of Jean-Louis Florentz and Camara Laye’s biography. 

The young conductor collaborates with other musical groups but also with artistic companies from the entire performing arts background. In 2022, he made his debut as a guest conductor at the Opéra national de Lyon for the production of Nuit funèbre based on Bach’s cantatas, staged by Katie Mitchell.