Sébastien Daucé (FR)

About

Sébastien Daucé has built his reputation around music that most ensembles never touch: the French sacred repertory of the Grand Siècle, much of it little performed and often unpublished before he got to it. He founded Correspondances in Lyon in 2009, directing the group from the harpsichord or organ, and the ensemble has since toured Japan, Colombia, the United States, China, and across Europe. Their recordings on harmonia mundi have piled up serious critical recognition, including the Diapason d'Or of the Year, ffff de Télérama, and Gramophone Editor's Choice, and at the 2016 ECHO Preis ceremony in Berlin they took home both Best World Premiere Recording and Best Young Conductor of the Year. Daucé is not just a performer: he edits the music the ensemble plays, and when sources are incomplete he recomposes missing sections himself, as he did for Le Ballet Royal de la Nuit. He collaborates with leading scholars of seventeenth century music, publishes articles on performance practice, and has taught at the Pôle Supérieur de Paris since 2012. A discography now stretching past fifteen releases, heavily focused on Charpentier and the French baroque, gives a clear picture of where his passions lie.