Les Timbres and Harmonia Lenis
Biography Les Timbres and Harmonia Lenis
Les Timbres
sprung out of musical and human common understanding, and was created by three young musicians from varied backgrounds: Japanese violinist Yoko Kawakubo, fourth Prize in the International Competition of Baroque Violin of Rovereto in Italy (2007), a graduate of the University of Fine Arts of Tokyo - Japan - and from Odile Edouard's class at the National Conservatory of Lyon - France - (Master and DNSPM Très Bien à l’Unanimité avec les Félicitations du Jury);
French viola da gamba player Myriam Rignol who graduated from the National Conservatory of Lyon, France (Marianne Muller's class) and the Musikhochschule of Köln, Germany (Rainer Zipperling's class), and won the second Prize at the International Viola da Gamba Competition "Bach-Abel" (Köthen, Germany, 2009), the first Prize at the Yamanashi International Early Music Competition (Kôfu, Japan, 2010), and the second Prize and Public Audience Prize at the International Competition of Bruges, and Belgian harpsichordist Julien Wolfs, first Laureate of the International Competition of Harpsichord of Bruges - Belgium - in 2007 (Second Prize ex-æquo and Public Audience Prize), who studied at the Conservatory of Amsterdam - Netherlands - in Menno Van Delft's class and at the IMEP of Namur - Belgium - , where he was gained the highest honours for his Master of Music and his Master of Pedagogy.
The Trio practises very often, with the clear intention of not only exploring the wonderfully rich repertoire already existing for this formation, but also to develop as an ensemble. They strongly value expressivity, trust and reactivity between the members, and improvise as a group.
The ensemble participated in the 10th Premio Bonporti (international competition for chamber music of Rovereto, Italy) where they were awarded Fourth Prize, the Audience Prize and the Special Prize of the Jury for the best realization of the basso continuo.
In August 2009, they were awarded the First Prize at the prestigious International Competition for Chamber Music of Bruges (Belgium), and the Special Prize for the best contemporary piece.
In December 2012, they received the Pro Musicis International Award, a competition whose mission is “to nurture and share the artistic inspiration of the world’s finest concert artists”.
The three young musicians are also passionate advocates of their instruments as means of expression in themselves, and not only as tools to interpret music of the baroque period. For these reasons they are also very interested in contemporary pieces for historical instruments.
Indeed, they performed at the Musica Antiqua Festival of Bruges (Belgium) the world première of “Keihatsu” (Yoju-mi Kawori) which was awarded a special prize.
The ensemble has kept a busy concert schedule since 2007. They have performed in the Festival de Wallonie, the Festival Jeunes Talents in Paris, the Bach Festival of Saint-Donat, the Festival Embar(o)quement, the Festival Liaisons Musicales, at the Bruges Concertgebouw and many other venues in France, as well as in Italy, Spain, Germany, Belgium and Japan, where they will tour for the second time in May 2013.
The Ensemble Les Timbres is supported by the CCR of Ambronay - France - in their programme “Résidences Jeunes Ensemble”, by the Mécénat Musical Société Générale and the Adami.
