Sébastien d'Hérin

Sébastien d'Hérin has established himself as a leading figure on the French early music scene through his varied activities as harpsichordist, fortepianist, conductor, and co-leader of his own ensemble, Les Nouveaux Caractères. His recordings have mostly focused on Baroque opera. D'Hérin began his career as a keyboardist, studying at the Paris Conservatoire. At graduation, he earned three top prizes, all of them in the keyboard field (harpsichord, piano, and continuo playing). The school's faculty, however, also introduced him to Baroque opera, which fascinated him and led to a new direction in his career. He went on for graduate studies at the Amsterdam Conservatory. His teachers included A-listers of the Baroque scene at the end of the 20th century, including Christophe Rousset, Kenneth Gilbert, Bob van Asperen, Gustav Leonhardt, and Pierre Hantaï, and he established his career by playing continuo in ensembles led by some of these, and by such figures as Jean-Claude Malgoire, Hervé Niquet, and Emmanuel Krivine. He made his recording debut on Cecilia Bartoli's 2005 album Opera Proibita. In the mid-2000s, d'Hérin began to find guest conducting slots opening up at the opera houses of Rouen, Rennes, and Besançon, and the Orchestre d'Auvergne, among other venues, and he honed his conducting skills as an assistant to Niquet and to choral conductor Laurence Equilbey. In 2006, d'Hérin and soprano Caroline Mutel founded Les Nouveaux Caractères, devoted to the exploration of unusual vocal repertory and music of theatrical inspiration. The group made its recording debut in 2013 on the Glossa label with a recording of Rameau's opera-ballet Les Surprises de l'Amour. In Rennes, d'Hérin led Les Nouveaux Caractères in two operas by Henry Purcell, generally the province of English ensembles, and he has unearthed unusual operas like Leclair's Scylla et Glaucus, recording that work for the Alpha label. In 2017, he and Les Nouveaux Caractères issued their recording of Purcell's The Fairy Queen on Glossa. In the late 2010s and early 2020s, they released several albums on the Château de Versailles label, all of them focusing on little-heard works; the year 2023 saw the release of a recording of the opera Circé by Henri Desmarest. ~ James Manheim, Rovi