To introduce Hervé Niquet in a few lines only, is quite a challenge considering his fiery temperament and the already long and impressive career he has achieved.
First of all Hervé Niquet is a perfect musician: harpsichordist, organist, pianist, singer, composer, choirmaster, conductor, no less than all this! And on the top he is an actor too. Then Hervé Niquet stands for absolute integrity and inexhaustible curiosity, two qualities which make him search for the original intentions of the composer and comply the original musical autographs.
In 1987 he founded the Ensemble „Le Concert Spirituel“ intending to revive the great French Motet of the 17th and 18th century contributing to the rediscovery of composers like André Campra, Jean Gilles, Marc-Antoine Charpentier a. o. Le Concert Spirituel has meanwhile extended its repertoire and has won recognition in the international music-world as one of the leading ensembles performing baroque music and focussing its repertory on different styles and genres from sacred music to symphony and opera.
As a musical pioneer Hervé Niquet joined the formation of the Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique romantique française in Venice 2009, a foundation which contributed to rediscover numerous masterworks such as most recently Herculaneum by Félicien David or Dimitri by Victorien Joncières. It would be useless to compile a list of Hervé Niquet’s extensive discography. Therefore let’s only mention the new „ Prix de Rome“ Edition that has already released CD-albums dedicated to Camille Saint-Saens, Claude Debussy, Gustave Charpentier and Max d’Ollone.
Hervé Niquet is Music director of the Flamish Radio Choir and first guest conductor of the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also worldwide guest with opera companies and symphony orchestras.
Among his numerous upcoming commitments, we would like to draw your attention to a special event: Persée by Lully with Le Concert Spirituel in concert on April 3, 2016 at the Arsenal Metz, on April 6 at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and on April 15 at the Opéra Royal in Versailles.
For Hervé Niquet's short presentation of Persée (in French only), please click here: link youtube
11.03.2016