François Joubert-Caillet & L'Achéron
Biography François Joubert-Caillet & L'Achéron
François Joubert-Caillet
After studying the recorder, piano and double bass, François Joubert-Caillet studied the viola da gamba with Paolo Pandolfo at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where he equally studied baroque improvisation with Rudolf Lutz. He was awarded First Prize as well as the Public's Award at the Bruges International Chamber Music competition and teaches at Nancy Conservatory.
François Joubert-Caillet has played with numerous formations with whom he has recorded for the labels Ricercar, Harmonia Mundi, Ambronay, K617, ZigZag Territoires, Arcana, Winter&Winter, Aparté, Glossa, Sony, Naïve, etc.
François Joubert-Caillet leads L'Acheron with which he performs in several formations, in particular the viol consort. His CDs Le Nymphe di Rheno (Johannes Schenck) in duo with Wieland Kuijken, The Fruit of Love (Anthony Holborne), the Ludi Musici (Samuel Scheidt) and the Ouvertures of Johann Bernhard Bach are released by Ricercar - Outhere.
Since the autumn of 2014, François Joubert-Caillet has begun recording the complete works of Marin Marais Pièces de Viole for Ricercar : this huge project (five books, over 600 pieces, about 20 CD's), saw the light in 2016 with a CD of Pièces Favorites by the composer and the 1st Book will be released in the spring 2017!
L’Achéron
In Greek mythology Acheron is the river that Orpheus crossed to rescue Eurydice from the underworld. As its name implies, L’Achéron wants to open a path between two apparently opposed worlds: that of the living and that of the dead, the past and the present, idealism and reality.
Created in 2009 by François Joubert-Caillet, L’Achéron is made up of a young generation of musicians from very varied backgrounds, all of them having studied in some of the best known schools for ancient music (Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, the Paris and Lyon National Conservatories, the Royal Music Conservatories of Brussels and The Hague or the Amsterdam Conservatory). Some of these musicians have other artistic talents : acting, theatre direction, contemporary as well as renaissance and baroque dancing, writing, drawing, improvisation, pupeteering, instrument making and sound mixing , make up the range of passions present in the group.
L’Achéron seeks to strengthen ties between the musicians and the public by making ancient music more accessible, without denaturing it but to the contrary, by exploring the variety of musical instruments and genres of the renaissance and baroque periods. By trying to render the many nuances of this rich and vibrant music, L’Achéron proposes a journey through time and the senses where the flavours of the past are brought to life.
Initially L’Achéron was a viola da gamba consort and has worked since 2013 in collaboration with the instrument maker Arnaud Giral on the construction of a typically English consort. A treble, a tenor, a lyra viol and a consort bass from the same maker gives the consort a unique cohesion and harmonic depth. L’Achéron’s orchestra is also developping, and as a result opening up the ensemble to other repertoires while maintaining its « chamber music » identity.
L’Achéron is in residence at the Arsenal in Metz and is regularly invited to perform in various festivals and musical seasons in Europe. L’Achéron records for Ricercar – Outhere and has released so far The Fruit of Love devoted to Anthony Holborne, the Ludi Musici by Samuel Scheidt (winner of the Diapason d’Or), Johann Caspar Kerll’s Requiem with the ensemble Vox Luminis, Ouvertures by Johann Bernhard Bach as well as Pièces Favorites, an anthology of Marin Marais’ Pièces de Violes.