|
|
Artists > Past Seasons >
Hervé Niquet
Performer
Has participated in
Like most composers of baroque music whose works he cherishes, Hervé Niquet is an
accomplished musician. He studied harpsichord, organ, ensemble direction and lyrical
music. At the age of 17, he opted for a training as choir director, which in 1980 led
to his appointment as choirmaster of the Opéra National de Paris. The experience
gathered with major baroque ensembles allowed him to develop a special bond with the
French “Grand Motet” of the 17th and 18th centuries. His desire to revive this widely
unknown repertoire resulted in his founding of Le Concert Spirituel in 1987, thus
bringing back to life one of the most famous French musical institutions under the
reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI.
His marked preference for the theatre helps to explain his inclination towards a
lyrical repertoire: Hercules by George Frideric Handel in 1985, La Cambiale di
Matrimonio by Gioacchino Rossini in 1988 and 1991, King Arthur by Henry Purcell in 1991
and 1995, Pigmalion by Jean-Philippe Rameau in 1994, Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse by
Joseph Bodin de Boismortier in 1996, Le Triomphe d’Iris by Louis-Nicolas Clérambault in
1998, and Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell in 2001.
In a growing number of engagements for other ensembles, Hervé Niquet opened the
1998-99 season of the Opéra de Nancy with Alcina by Handel, while in 1999 he directed
Fireworks and Water Music by Handel for the Handel & Haydn Society in Boston. Under
his direction, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo recorded music by Emmanuel
Chabrier. Niquet also makes regular appearances at the Festival de Musique Baroque de
Lamèque (Canada), the Tafelmusik Ensemble and the Opera-Atelier Company (Toronto).
In 2001, he appeared in Toronto (Orpheus by Gluck and Persée by Lully with
Tafelmusik and Opéra Atelier), and at the Opéra de Nancy (The Seven Last Words of
Christ by Haydn, Concerto champêtre by Poulenc, España by Chabrier, a creation of
Georges Boeuf…). He also directed Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse by Boismortier at the
Opera of Lucerne, as well as Dido and Aeneas by Purcell at the Grand Théâtre de
Genève.
|
|
