The Spiritual Concert
Since 1987, Hervé Niquet has added new chapters to the great story of Le Concert Spirituel, which will celebrate its 300th anniversary in 2025.
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1987 - birth of the Spiritual Concert
Le Concert Spirituel, name taken from the first French private concert company founded in the 18th centuryE century, is now establishing itself on the national and international stages as one of the best French ensembles. At the origin of ambitious and original projects since its foundation in 1987 by Hervé Niquet, Le Concert Spirituel has specialized in the interpretation of French sacred music, devoting itself at the same time to the rediscovery of a lyrical heritage that has unjustly fallen into oblivion (Andromaque by Grétry — “Grand Prix du Disque” from the Académie Charles Cros 2010, Callirhoé from Destouches, Proserpine from Lully, Sémélé by Marais - ECHO Klassik Awards 2009, The Venice Carnival by Campra - German Record Critics' Award 2011 The Mysteries of Isis by Mozart, Les Fêtes de l'Hymen et de l'Amour By Rameau or Perseus version of 1770 by Lully).
Artistic meetings
These musical adventures are an opportunity for original meetings with directors such as Karole Armitage, Georges Lavaudant, Joachim Schloemer, Patrice Thibaud, Christian Schiaretti (Castor and Pollux by Rameau), Julien Lubek and Cécile Roussat (The Magic Flute by Mozart in French), Corinne and Gilles Benizio - alias Shirley and Dino (King Arthur by Purcell, Don Quixote at the Duchesse from Boismortier then Platée by Rameau), Vincent Tavernier (The Magnificent Lovers then The Imaginary Sick by Molière, Lully and Charpentier), Marshall Pynkoski (Richard the Lionheart by Grétry and The Cairo caravan by the same composer).
Tours in France and abroad
Taking its orchestra and its Paris choir (Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Théâtre du Châtelet, Philharmonie de Paris) to the Palace of Versailles, from the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels to the LG Arts Center in Seoul, from the Royal Albert Hall in London to the London Opera, from the Royal Albert Hall in London to the Tokyo Opera, Le Concert Spirituel shows all audiences, through new and atypical productions, that Baroque music knows how to surprise and fascinate. Its international dynamism allows it to work widely to promote French excellence at high-visibility events, such as the Shanghai Universal Exhibition, Istanbul European Capital of Culture on the Topkapi Palace site, and the BBC Proms in London during the jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. With Music for the Fireworks & Watermusic by Handel (whose recording received an Edison Award), Le Concert Spirituel has already brought together more than 100,000 spectators in various pyrotechnic versions and concerts, in unusual places, such as the Retiro Park in Madrid, the mining site of Barlin (Nord-Pas-de-Calais), the Barlin mining site (Nord-Pas-de-Calais), the Neptune Basin at the Palace of Versailles or the Château de Chambord.
For 38 years, Le Concert Spirituel has been offering concerts and operas (stage and concert version), with varied numbers, in France and abroad.
1725-2025 - the 300th anniversary of the original Spiritual Concert
The key words of the Spiritual Concert: innovation, large workforce, creation and experimental laboratory.
This season, faithful to the French repertoire, Le Concert Spirituel will offer a historically informed version of Perseus (1682) by Lully at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, which will end in early 2025 a beautiful series of baroque lyrical tragedies in coproduction with the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.
It will also celebrate Fauré on the occasion of the centenary of his death: after the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels and the Vichy Opera in the summer, the Requiem will be presented at the Ravel Festival in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, at St James's Spanish Place Church in London (Wigmore Hall programming), at the Cité de la Musique et de la danse in Soissons and at the Opéra de Massy. The comedy-ballet The Forced Marriage of Molière and Lully will be reborn at the Théâtre de Meaux and at the Opéra de Massy. Then it's time for European music, with five stage performances by The Magic Flute by Mozart in French, directed by Cécile Roussat and Julien Lubek, who will light up the Royal Opera of Versailles for the end of the year celebrations, a Mozart whose youth works (Short masses and Ave Verum) will also be playing at Arsenal in Metz.
Handel will be celebrating throughout the season, with Dettingen Te Deum and Coronation Anthems at Marcq-en-Baroeul, co-produced by Atelier Lyrique de Tourcoing, and at the Auditorium de Lyon; The Messiah at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in the series Les Grandes Voix; and Israel in Egypt at the Handel Festspiele in Halle.
An Italian focus will lead Vivaldi's Gloria to the Toulon Music Festival and the Mass for 40 solo voices by Striggio at the Théâtre Imperiale in Compiègne and at the Tage Alter Musik in Regensburg, as well as at various summer festivals.
Finally, don't miss the creation French pie and old gossip, Sinfonies pour le Souper du Roy, a creation to mark the 300th anniversary of the Historic Spiritual Concert, with the support of the AG2R La Mondiale Foundation for Artistic Vitality.
An anniversary season rich in events!
Professional integrationShe and MacCultural actions
Beyond concerts, Hervé Niquet and Le Concert Spirituel are also involved in transmission actions for young musicians in training thanks to its partnership with the CRR in Paris and the Pôle Supérieur d'Ensegnement Artistique Paris - Boulogne-Billancourt. The ensemble thus welcomes, 1 to 3 times per season, young instrumentalists or singers, selected by audition, within its productions. This season, the production Medea by Charpentier was an opportunity to make this partnership a reality.
An important place is also given to the transmission of their passion to a wider audience. Thus, in 2024/25, Le Concert Spirituel is continuing its mission of cultural mediation, both with children hospitalized at the Hôpital Necker-Enfants Malades (AP-HP), and with audiences far from music, whether in partnership with the Opéra de Massy, as part of the “Art to Grow” program, as part of the “Art to Grow” program in schools in the City of Paris, or in regions through the opening of certain rehearsals, meetings, and workshops. tailor-made schools.
Record production
Since June 2015, Le Concert Spirituel has been recording with Alpha Classics. The CDs bringing together the Gloria & Magnificat by Vivaldi, the Requiem by Cherubini and Plantade, Perseus (version 1770) by Lully, the messiah by Handel (1754), the Missa Si Deus Pro Nobis by Benevolo,
“The Opera of Operas”, the Solemn mass by Berlioz (Diamant Opera Magazine and German Record Critics Award) and Armide 1778 by Lully and Francœur.
This year, the discography of Le Concert Spirituel will be enriched with a recording of Perseus by Lully (1682) for Alpha Classics, to be released in 2027, and the release of two new albums: Iphigenia in Tauride by Desmarets and Campra, and the Requiem by Fauré, still with Alpha Classics.
The ensemble Le Concert Spirituel is in residence at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées as part of the “cross-residencies” system set up throughout France by the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles. This residency will be an opportunity to recreate and record operas by Marais, Charpentier, Campra and Lully between 2022 and 2025.
The Spiritual Concert is together associated with the Massy Opera.
The Spiritual Concert is subsidized by the Ministry of Culture (DRAC Ile-de-France) and the City of Paris.
He thanks the sponsors of his Endowment Fund, businesses and individual sponsors.
The Spiritual Concert is the 2020 winner of the Liliane Bettencourt Prize for choral singing.
The Spiritual Concert benefits from the support of its Grand Patron: the Bru Foundation.
Discover in figures and images the years 2023 and 2022 of the Spiritual Concert
>> 2023 Activity Report
>> Activity report 2022
