Françoise Lasserre (born 7 April 1955) is a French conductor,

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...

of the Akadêmia ensemble since 1986.

Life

After graduating in mathematics, Lasserre completed her flute training, studying piano, choral singing,

harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

, writing and

conducting Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary duti ...

at the

École Normale de Musique de Paris The École Normale de Musique de Paris "Alfred Cortot" (ENMP) is a leading conservatoire located in Paris, Île-de-France, France. At the time of the school's foundation in 1919 by Auguste Mangeot, Alfred Cortot. The term ''école normale'' (Engl ...

Pierre Dervaux Pierre Dervaux (born 3 January 1917 in Juvisy-sur-Orge, France; died 20 February 1992 in Marseilles, France) was a French operatic conductor, composer, and pedagogue. At the Conservatoire de Paris, he studied counterpoint and harmony with Marcel ...

's class. At the beginning of the 1980s, she worked under the direction of

Philippe Herreweghe Philippe Maria François Herreweghe, Knight Herreweghe (born 2 May 1947) is a Belgian conductor and choirmaster. Herreweghe founded La Chapelle Royale and Collegium Vocale Gent and is renowned as a conductor, with a repertoire ranging from Rena ...

within

La Chapelle Royale La Chapelle Royale is a French ensemble of baroque music. History La Chapelle Royale was founded in 1977 in Paris by the Belgian conductor Philippe Herreweghe. It takes its name from the Chapelle royale of the French kings. The initial vocatio ...

and the

Collegium Vocale Gent Collegium Vocale Gent is a Belgian musical ensemble of vocalists and supporting instrumentalists, founded by Philippe Herreweghe. The group is dedicated to historically informed performance. Founding and program Collegium Vocale Gent was founded ...

, then, as a chorister with

Michel Corboz Michel Corboz (14 February 1934 – 2 September 2021) was a Swiss conductor. Life Corboz was born in Marsens, Switzerland, and educated in his native canton of Fribourg. He studied vocal performance and composition at the conservatory in Fribourg ...

. First "Ensemble vocal régional de Champagne-Ardenne", in residence in

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...

, the ensemble's project was born thanks to the support of the Regional Council and

Bernard Stasi Bernard Stasi (4 July 1930, Reims – 4 May 2011) was a French politician. He was the son of Italo-Mexican immigrants. Stasi served as Minister for Overseas Departments and Territories from 2 April 1973 to 27 February 1974. From 1998 to 20 ...

, became professional ten years later changing its name to Akadêmia with the instrumentalists and in reference to the

Platonic Academy The Academy (Ancient Greek: Ἀκαδημία) was founded by Plato in c. 387 BC in Classical Athens, Athens. Aristotle studied there for twenty years (367–347 BC) before founding his own school, the Lyceum (classical), Lyceum. The Academy ...

and the Italian Accademia of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

. The ensemble is rewarded with the 1st prize of the

Palestrina Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; grc, Πραίνεστος, ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Pren ...

competition in 1994. She is invited to conduct other ensembles, including the Maurice Emmanuel vocal ensemble, the

Festival de musique de La Chaise-Dieu The La Chaise-Dieu Music Festival is a classical music festival that takes place every year at the end of August. It is essentially devoted to sacred music and takes place mainly in the Abbey of La Chaise-Dieu. In 2016, the Festival celebrated it ...

choir and the Vauluisant vocal ensemble. She taught choral conducting for two years at the

Conservatoire à rayonnement régional de Poitiers The Conservatoire à rayonnement régional de Poitiers is a school of higher education for music, drama, and dance located in Poitiers, France. The institution is a charter school of France's Ministry of Culture and is operated by the Direction r� ...

. In 2012, she prepared an opera, ''Orfeo, par-delà le Gange''''Orfeo, par-delà le Gange''
/ref> in India with an

Odissi Odissi (), also referred to as Orissi in old literature, is a major ancient Indian classical dance that originated in the Hindu temple, temples of Odisha – an eastern coastal state of India.Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

and Paris in 2013 and on tour until 2016. In 2014, she toured the United States, Russia and the United Kingdom. In August 2018 she was the initiator of a singing competition, ''Voices of India''.

Discography

Discography
on

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

* See Akadêmia

References

Bibliography

*
Dix questions à Françoise Lasserre
''La vie en Champagne'' *

External links

on bach-cantatas.com
Les 30 ans de l'ensemble Akadêmia - Françoise Lasserre
''Baroquissimo !'' by Benjamin François,

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

(5 August 2017, 120 min.) on

France Musique France Musique is a French national public radio channel owned and operated by Radio France. It is devoted to the broadcasting of music, both live and recorded, with particular emphasis on European classical music, classical music and jazz. Hist ...

Ensemble Akadêmia, Françoise Lasserre - Matthäus-Passion, BWV 244: No. 5, Recitative "Du, lieber Hei"
(YouTube) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lasserre, Francoise 1955 births Living people French choral conductors French women conductors (music) École Normale de Musique de Paris alumni 20th-century French women musicians 21st-century French conductors (music) 21st-century French women musicians