Frank Theuns, Sophie Gent, Bertrand Cuiller, Les Muffatti
Biography Frank Theuns, Sophie Gent, Bertrand Cuiller, Les Muffatti
Sophie Gent
Australian-born violinist Sophie Gent studied at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague with Ryo Terakado. She has since become one of Europe’s most highly regarded baroque violinists, and is extremely active as a soloist, orchestral leader, chamber musician and teacher. She is concertmaster with Ensemble Pygmalion (Raphaël Pichon) and the Ricercar Consort (Philippe Pierlot). She has also lead the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Collegium Vocale Gent, Barokkanerne (Oslo), Les Muffatti (Belgium), and Genesis Baroque (Australia). In chamber music formations she works regularly with Ensemble Masques, Ensemble Arcangelo (Jonathan Cohen), Il Convito (Maude Gratton), le Caravansérail (Bertrand Cuiller), and with Kris Bezuidenhuit and Jean Rondeau. She was teacher of baroque violin for several years at the Amsterdam Conservatorium, as well as at the CRR Boulogne- Billancourt, and currently teaches at The Early Music Academy in Vannes (vemi.fr) and Cluny Early Music Workshop (ensemblemasques.org). Sophie plays a violin by Jacob Stainer from 1676. She lives in the Charente, France.
Frank Theuns
studied at the ‘Koninklijk Muziekconservatorium Brussel’. His interest in historical instruments brought him to old music from a very young age, by playing traverso and recorder.
With his ensemble 'Les Buffardins' he released a representative choice of the traverso literature on CD for the label Accent. These recordings were often awarded by the international music press (Diapason d'Or ......). In 2006 he recorded the flute-harp concerto by W.A. Mozart with Anima Eterna Brugge led by Jos Van Immerseel.
Since 1989 he is professor traverso at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel and at Luca, School of Arts Leuven. He is regularly invited for giving masterclasses at Conservatorio del Esmuc Barcelona, Koninklijk Muziekconservatorium Den Haag, ‘Internationale Händel-Akademie Karlsruhe, ‘International Flute symposium’ Atlanta, ‘Schwetzinger Hofmusik-Akademie’....
As a soloist and solo-flutist of Anima Aeterna Brugge, Europa Galante and La Petite Bande he played in the most important international concerthalls like Carnegie Hall New York, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Wiener Musikverein etc.
Bertrand Cuiller
Born into a family of musicians, Bertrand Cuiller began playing the harpsichord at the age of eight with his mother. At thirteen he met Pierre Hantaï, who became his mentor. He was also marked by his studies with Christophe Rousset at the CNSM in Paris. In 1998 he won third prize in the Bruges International Harpsichord Competition.
After several years in baroque ensembles such as Les Arts Florissants, Le Concert Spirituel and Le Poème Harmonique, Bertrand decided to concentrate exclusively on the harpsichord and chamber music, and then founded Caravanserai.
As a harpsichordist he is particularly fond of the English composers William Byrd and John Bull, whom he has recorded for Alpha and Mirare. He has also recorded for these labels concerti by Johann Sebastian Bach with the Stradivaria ensemble (Classica award of the year 2010), the complete works for harpsichord by Jean-Philippe Rameau (Classica award of the year 2015) as well as an album Scarlatti-Soler. All of his albums have been warmly received by audiences and critics alike.
In 2018, he participated in the Scarlatti 555 project organised by France Musique, performing and recording the complete sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti with 30 harpsichordists.
Since 2004, he has also followed Bruno Cocset in the projects of the Basses Réunies.
As a conductor, Bertrand Cuiller has notably conducted John Blow's Venus & Adonis (co-produced by Angers Nantes Opéra, Théâtre de Caen, Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg, Opéra Comique, Opéra de Lille, MC2 Grenoble and CMBV), a programme entitled "Rameau, Opéra sans Parole" (Rameau, Opera without Words), harpsichord concerti by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, the Brandenburg concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach and Rinaldo by Georg Friedric Handel, directed by Claire Dancoisne.
He is currently recording the complete works for harpsichord by François Couperin for harmonia mundi - PIAS. The first opus released in 2018 was Choc de l'année Classica and received 4F from Télérama. The second opus released in July 2020 was awarded a Diapason d'Or and 5 stars by Classica.
Les Muffatti
was founded in 1996 by a group of young Brussels musicians out of a desire to equip themselves professionally for the world of orchestral baroque music. They sought above all else to give primacy to the pleasure of making music, together with an intensive exploration of the musical material itself and paying scrupulous attention to every detail of its performance.
After ten years under the baton of Peter Van Heyghen, the musicians assumed joint responsibility for the orchestra’s artistic direction in 2014; the musical direction for various projects has since been entrusted to guest musicians, soloists, conductors and Konzertmeisters. The ensemble is committed to establishing a fine balance between the great works of the established repertoire and lesser known or newly discovered compositions.
The ensemble’s name is a reference to Georg Muffat (1653-1704), a cosmopolitan composer whose works are essential source material for the history of early orchestral music. Muffat was also one of the first musicians to document the principal characteristics that differentiated the French from the Italian style in detail. The ensemble’s debut recording was devoted to his compositions.
Les Muffatti’s discography so far comprises eight recordings, all of which have met with universal acclaim.
The recording of Reinhard Keiser’s Brockes-Passion with Vox Luminis received Belgium’s three top honours: Klara’s recording of the year, a classical Octave, and the Caecilia prize from the Belgian musical press. Their latest recording, Johann Sebastian Bach – Concertos for Organ and Strings, is devoted to reconstructions of concertos and sinfonias by Johann Sebastian Bach with Bart Jacobs as soloist. This album continues to garner praise from both the general and musical press internationally, including the Diapason d’Or (France), Luister (The Netherlands), Toccata (Germany) and the Klara Award for Best Classical CD of the Year.
