Raphaël Pichon, Pygmalion, Julian Prégardien, Stéphane Degout, Sabine Devieilhe, Lucile Richardot, Christian Immler & Reinoud van Mechelen
Biography Raphaël Pichon, Pygmalion, Julian Prégardien, Stéphane Degout, Sabine Devieilhe, Lucile Richardot, Christian Immler & Reinoud van Mechelen
Pygmalion
Founded by Raphaël Pichon in 2006, Pygmalion is the product of the union between a choir and a period-instrument orchestra. Its repertory is nurtured by the filiations that link Bach to Mendelssohn, Schütz to Brahms, and Rameau to Gluck and Berlioz.
Pygmalion is in residence at the Opéra National de Bordeaux and appears regularly at the leading venues in France (Philharmonie de Paris, Opéra Royal de Versailles, Aix-en-Provence, Beaune, Toulouse, Saint-Denis, La Chaise-Dieu, Royaumont, Nancy) and internationally (Cologne, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, London, Beijing, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Barcelona, Brussels).
Among its recent projects to have earned public and critical attention are J. S. Bach’s Köthener Trauermusik and Passions, the late versions of Rameau’s tragédies lyriques, Mozart’s C minor Mass and a programme of his music for the Weber sisters, Stravaganza d’Amore (the birth of opera at the court of the Medici), Mendelssohn’s Elias, and a choral trilogy devoted to the canon from the Romantic era to the twentieth century.
Pygmalion works with stage directors such as Katie Mitchell, Michel Fau and Jetske Mijnssen, who have brought an innovative approach to works including the Bach cantatas (Trauernacht), Rameau’s Dardanus and Luigi Rossi’s Orfeo.
After releasing the complete Missae breves of Bach and a version of Dardanus for Alpha, Pygmalion has recorded for harmonia mundi since 2014, a collaboration that has so far produced Bach’s Köthener Trauermusik, Rameau’s Castor et Pollux, Rheinmädchen, a new version of Dardanus, Rossi’s Orfeo (both on DVD), and the present release, Stravaganza d’Amore. Also released recently was Mozart and the Weber Sisters with Sabine Devieilhe (Erato).
The ensemble’s discography has received prizes in France and abroad, including a Gramophone Award 2016, CD des Monats (Opernwelt), Diapason d’Or de l’Année, Choc de Classica, ffff de Télérama, a Victoire de la Musique 2015, an Edison Klassiek Award 2016, a Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros for 2016, and Best Classical Recording 2016 on Forbes.
Pygmalion is in residence at the Opéra National de Bordeaux. It receives aid from the Direction régionale des affaires culturelles de Nouvelle-Aquitaine and the Ville de Bordeaux. Pygmalion is Associate Ensemble at the Opéra Comique (2017-19), and receives support from EREN Groupe, the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller, Mécénat Musical Société Générale, and the Région Île-de-France. Pygmalion is in residence at the Fondation Singer-Polignac.
‘Pygmalion, which celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2016, has already lived up to its early promise.’ Le Monde
Raphaël Pichon
began his musical training at the Maîtrise des Petits Chanteurs de Versailles and went on to study singing, the violin and the piano at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional and Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. As a young countertenor he sang under the direction of Jordi Savall, Gustav Leonhardt, Ton Koopman, and Geoffroy Jourdain with whom he performed contemporary works.
In 2006 he founded Pygmalion, a choir and a period-instrument orchestra. The repertory of Pygmalion is nurtured by the filiations that link Bach to Mendelssohn, Schütz to Brahms, and Rameau to Gluck and Berlioz. Along with this group – now an associate ensemble at the Opéra de Bordeaux – he is invited to appear at leading festivals, where he has attracted attention with his interpretations of the sacred music of Bach and the tragédies lyriques of Rameau.
Among the most relevant projects of these last years, we can focus on his debut at the festival d’Aix-en-Provence with Trauernacht a creation based on Bach’s music in a Katie Mitchell’s original staging (2014), the rediscovery of the Luigi Rossi’s Orfeo (Opéra national de Lorraine, Opéra de Versailles, 2016) or also on the ambitious spatialization in the Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Virgine acclaimed by the international press (Holland Festival, BBC Proms, Chapelle Royale de Versailles, Bachfest Leipzig, 2017).
Raphaël Pichon expanded his repertory since he has conducted some major works as Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elias or also Stravinsky’s Noces. He received invitations from major international ensembles : the Holland Baroque Society, the Stavanger Symfoniorkester, les Violons du Roy, le Scottish Chamber Orchestra, l’Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, la Zurich Opera House, le DSO Berlin, etc.
After releasing the complete Missae breves of Bach and a version of Dardanus for Alpha, Raphaël Pichon has recorded for Harmonia Mundi since 2014, a collaboration that has so far produced Bach’s Köthener Trauermusik, Rameau’s Castor et Pollux, Rheinmädchen, a new version of Dardanus, Rossi’s Orfeo (both on DVD), Stravaganza d’Amore and a forthcoming release based on Rameau and Gluck’s music with the french baritone Stéphane Degout. Also released recently was Mozart and the Weber Sisters with Sabine Devieilhe (Erato). This discography has received prizes in France and abroad, including a Gramophone Award 2016, CD des Monats (Opernwelt), Diapason d’Or de l’Année, Choc de Classica, ffff de Télérama, a Victoire de la Musique 2015, an Edison Klassiek Award 2016, a Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros for 2016, and Best Classical Recording 2016 on Forbes.
The 2017-2018 season starts with a new production based on Purcell’s aria at Paris’ Opéra Comique in September (Miranda, staged by Katie Mitchell), preceding a Bach 7 programs cycle at Philharmonie de Paris based on cantatas mixed with other performing arts and a series of concerts with Stéphane Degout (Rameau, Gluck). The season ends with two Mozart projects : his Requiem and some masonic works at Opéra Royal de Versailles and Simon McBurney’s production of The Magic Flute at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.
