L'ensemble | English

Le baroque sur un plateau

Engagement

Partenaires

The ensemble | Français

Baroque at play
Music of passions, movement and contrast, baroque music, with its capacity to surprise and move the audience, speaks to each and every one of us. To bring it fully into the present day, Les Nouveaux Caractères invite us to rediscover these works not as echoes of a distant past, but as a powerful and immediate art form that resonates in the present.

In 2006, Caroline Mutel, an opera singer, and Sébastien d'Hérin, a harpsichordist, founded Les Nouveaux Caractères, an orchestra on historical instruments. Based in Lyon, the ensemble is particularly interested in vocal music from the 17th and 18th centuries. From Monteverdi's first opera, Orfeo (1607), to Rousseau's Devin du village (1752), Les Nouveaux Caractères study, perform and pass on this precious heritage. The ensemble's distinctive feature is to involve the instrumentalists in the scenic work, in order to abolish the barrier between pit and stage and to favor a complete appropriation of the works by their interpreters.

Whether in emblematic venues where baroque music has been performed since the time of Louis XIV (the Royal Chapel at the Château de Versailles), in internationally renowned venues (the Lyon Auditorium as an 'associated ensemble', the Lyon Opera, the Ambronay Festival, Sinfonia en Périgord, La Chaise-Dieu, Cervantino) or on national theatres and stages (Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Point Commun-Nouvelle scène nationale de Pontoise), Les Nouveaux Caractères have set themselves the task of bringing baroque music to life with passion and rigour, and to make it accessible to all audiences through a variety of initiatives.

Commitment
Alongside the leading works of the genre, Les Nouveaux Caractères also promote a repertoire of rarer and even unpublished works. In concert and on record, they have brought back to life Égine by Colin de Blamont, Les Surprises de l'Amour by Jean-Philippe Rameau, L'Europe galante by Campra, Scylla et Glaucus by Leclair and Circé by Desmarets. Their artistic orientations and choices are based on in-depth musicological work.

Through their concerts and performances, and their involvement in a wide range of artistic and cultural education initiatives, Les Nouveaux Caractères help audiences to discover and enjoy a repertoire, raise questions and stimulate interest, and weave links with a view to making music more accessible, sharing knowledge, and making it both erudite and popular at the same time. Our desire is to pass on the codes of a music that, by virtue of its richness, carries within itself the elements of appropriation by all audiences. Our commitment to social issues is also expressed through various outreach activities with secondary school students, unaccompanied minors and people in social rehabilitation.

To create a link between contemporary audiences and ancient musical heritage, Les Nouveaux Caractères regularly offers a multi-disciplinary approach to its works, bringing together a range of performers (dancers, circus artists, sound and light designers, comic strip artists, etc.) and seeking to promote the pleasure of invention and encounter as on Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, the shows for young audiences such as Monsieur Croche, Bach=14, Du coq à l'âne, Purcell's operas Dido and Aeneas and The Fairy Queen, and Pergolesi's Livietta e Tracollo.

Les Nouveaux Caractères is also keen to regularly integrate young artists from Lyon's higher education establishments (CNSMD, CRR, ENSATT).

Finally, musicology (edition and publishing of unpublished scores) and organology (restoring a forgotten instrument) are among the research activities developed by Sébastien d'Hérin and his ensemble.

Partners
Les Nouveaux Caractères are supported for all their activities by the Ministry of Culture / Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs Auvergne – Rhône-Alpes, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, the Metropolis of Lyon, City of Lyon, National center of music, SPEDIDAM, ADAMI, Caisse des dépôts, FCM The Funds for Musical Creation, the Export Office, Fondation de France.

They are Associated Ensemble of the Auditorium of Lyon from the 19/20 season, and are members of FEVIS, PROFEDIM and the Export Office.

Since January 2021, they have been in residence at the Institution des Chartreux (Lyon) and benefit from the support of the Chartreux Endowment Fund.

Since September 2021, they are a formative organization.

EbulliScience, Microsoft non-profit, Nowteam company (digital partner), Atis de Conta company, PhaSme graphic workshop, Cédric Rouillat (photographer), Orfis Baker Tilly and Rhône Development Initiative

Direction | English

Claveciniste et chef d’orchestre, Sébastien d'Hérin est diplômé des Conservatoires nationaux supérieurs de Paris et d’Amsterdam. Il forge son tempérament artistique auprès de maîtres tels que Gustav Leonhardt, Pierre Hantaï, Patrick Cohen, Bob van Asperen, Kenneth Gilbert ou encore Christophe Rousset. En tant que soliste, puis au sein de formations de musique de chambre, il s’affirme comme un claveciniste et pianofortiste à part, apprécié tant pour son inventivité que pour sa liberté de son.

Si un premier attachement le livre spontanément aux atmosphères particulières de la musique française entre miniatures, pièces de caractères pour le clavier et grandes tragédies lyriques, c’est aussi dans les mélismes naissants d’un XVIIe avant-gardiste et virtuose qu’il se révèle au clavier et développe son goût et sa maîtrise de l’art de la déclamation chantée. Il aborde les grandes formes classiques du XVIIIe rapidement, convaincu qu’il faut se nourrir du passé pour renouveler le présent.

C’est d’abord en tant que continuiste, chef de chant et assistant qu’il se distingue auprès de ses aînés – les grands chefs baroques de la première et de la deuxième génération comme Jean-Claude Malgoire, Marc Minkowski, Hervé Niquet ou encore Emmanuel Krivine, en particulier pour le répertoire de l’opéra.

Sa qualité d’interprétation et sa personnalité artistique lui confèrent cette originalité et lui permettent d’acquérir rapidement une reconnaissance qui le mène en tant que directeur musical invité au contact d’orchestres comme ceux des opéras de Rouen et de Besançon, l’orchestre d’Auvergne, ainsi que les orchestres nationaux de Bordeaux-Aquitaine et de Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon.

Restauration
En outre, l'organologie – étude des instruments historiques –, la restauration de partitions anciennes, et la mise en valeur d'œuvres perdues ou oubliées sont quelques domaines auxquels il contribue. Lors de concerts, masterclasses et diverses activités de médiation, il partage sa passion de la musique baroque et travaille au renforcement du lien entre tradition et modernité.

Transmission
Ainsi, au-delà de la direction artistique, il mène des activités de médiation pour petits et grands et partage sa passion en la mettant au service d’un lien social trop souvent rompu.

En 2006, il fonde – aux côtés de Caroline Mutel – Les Nouveaux Caractères, orchestre sur instruments historiques dont les particularités sont un goût prononcé pour l’art lyrique et les arts de la scène, une profonde connaissance des œuvres et de leur contexte qu'il soit historique, esthétique ou social.

Sébastien d'Hérin est diplômé de l'EMLyon (master 2) et dirige par ailleurs la saison musicale et le festival Sinfonia en Périgord, structure de diffusion de Dordogne repérée nationalement.

Director | Français

Harpsichordist and conductor, Sébastien d'Hérin is a graduate of the National Conservatories of Paris and Amsterdam. He forged his artistic personality with masters such as Gustav Leonhardt, Pierre Hantaï, Patrick Cohen, Bob van Asperen, Kenneth Gilbert and Christophe Rousset. As a soloist, then within chamber music formations, he established himself as a unique harpsichordist and pianofortist, appreciated both for his inventiveness and for his freedom of sound.

His first attachment spontaneously delivered him to the particular atmospheres of French music between miniatures and great lyrical tragedies. It was also in the emerging melismas of an avant-garde and virtuoso 17th century that he revealed himself on the keyboard and developed his taste and his mastery of the art of sung declamation. The great classic forms of the 18th century were approached quickly with the conviction that it is necessary to feed on the past in order to renew the present.

It was first of all as a continuo player, vocal coach and assistant that he distinguished himself and worked with the great baroque conductors of the first and second generation such as Jean-Claude Malgoire, Marc Minkowski, Hervé Niquet or again Emmanuel Krivine, mainly in the operatic repertoire.

His quality of interpretation and his artistic personality gave him this originality and allowed him to quickly acquire recognition which lead him as a guest musical director to have contact with orchestras such as the Rouen and Besançon operas, the Orchestra of Auvergne, as well as the National Orchestra of Bordeaux-Aquitaine and Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon.

Restoration
In addition, organology - the study of historical instruments -, the restoration of old scores, and the emphasizing of lost or forgotten works are some areas in which he contributes. During concerts, masterclasses and various mediation activities, he shares his passion for baroque music, its forms of theatrical inspiration and works to strengthen the link between tradition and modernity.

Transmission
Beyond the artistic work, he also carries out mediation activities for the young and the old, sharing his passion by putting it at the service of a social bond that is too often broken.

In 2006, he founded – alongside Caroline Mutel – Les Nouveaux Caractères, a baroque music orchestra specializing in interpretation on historical instruments. Their particularities: a pronounced taste for lyrical art and the performing arts, a deep knowledge of baroque works and their context: historical, aesthetic and social.

Sébastien d'Hérin is a graduate of EMLyon (Master 2) and is also director of the Sinfonia en Périgord music season and festival, a nationally-renowned organization in the Dordogne.