Hervé Niquet for ClassiqueNews: "We're still hungry for more!"

An interview with Hervé Niquet on the new 2026-2027 season, marking 40 years of Le Concert Spirituel

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Forty years after founding Le Concert Spirituel, Hervé Niquet reflects on the artistic choices shaping the 2026-2027 season: four new productions, loyal partners (the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles, Château de Versailles Spectacles, and the Orchestre de chambre de Paris), and an appetite for work that he insists remains undiminished. In this interview with ClassiqueNews, the conductor discusses how a program is built, the unique relationship the audience has with the ensemble's sound, and what continues to surprise him, even four decades later.

A season built for the long term

Far from following trends, Hervé Niquet explains that he builds each season from a vast personal archive accumulated throughout his career as a harpsichordist, organist, pianist, and conductor. He carefully selects what he will no longer conduct due to time or resource constraints, and what he plans to program over the next decade. This method results in a deliberately diverse season, where the choir and orchestra take turns in the spotlight, and where rarely performed repertoires are given pride of place—starting with the grand Renaissance concert titled "Royal Wedding," created especially for the ensemble's 40th anniversary, featuring the reconstruction of period instruments.

The interview also covers the season's major productions: the Vespers for the Virgin by Charpentier for double choir and double orchestra, co-produced with the Chantres of the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles; the participation of the Concert Spirituel choir in Gluck'sOrpheus alongside the Les Siècles orchestra; and Scaramouche & Music-Hall, a festive program built around the conductor's personal tastes, featuring Milhaud, Trenet, and Gershwin.

Forty years on, and the hunger of a first concert

When asked how forty years of conducting have changed his approach to taking the stage, Hervé Niquet is categorical: nothing, or almost nothing. He describes an undiminished excitement, comparable to his early days, which he says continues to push him to go further. The conductor adds with a mischievous smile: "It’s surprising that we’re still hungry."

He attributes this energy directly to the loyalty of his artistic team and his audience: musicians who have worked together for over thirty years and who, he says, still surprise themselves; and an audience that has followed the ensemble since its inception and recognizes its signature sound from the very first bars. This mutual trust, according to the conductor, is precisely what allows the ensemble to keep taking risks and staging works that no one else dares to bring to the stage.

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Read the full interview on the ClassiqueNews website: Interview with Hervé Niquet on the new 2026-2027 season, marking the 40th anniversary of Le Concert Spirituel — ClassiqueNews, interview by Alexandre Pham

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