Françoise Lasserre (born 7 April 1955) is a French

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

and

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

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 concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

, writing and

conducting Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or Choir, 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 d ...

at the

École Normale de Musique de Paris The École Normale de Musique de Paris "Alfred Cortot" (ENMP) is a leading conservatoire located in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. The school was founded in 1919 by Auguste Mangeot and Alfred Cortot. The term ''école normale'' (English: no ...

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 (music), conductor, composer, and pedagogue. At the Conservatoire de Paris, he studied counterpoint and ha ...

'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 ...

within La Chapelle Royale and the Collegium Vocale Gent, 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 Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

, the ensemble's project was born thanks to the support of the Regional Council and Bernard Stasi, became professional ten years later changing its name to Akadêmia with the instrumentalists and in reference to the

Platonic Academy The Academy (), variously known as Plato's Academy, or the Platonic Academy, was founded in Classical Athens, Athens by Plato ''wikt:circa, circa'' 387 BC. The academy is regarded as the first institution of higher education in the west, where ...

and the Italian Accademia of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

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

Palestrina Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; , ''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 Prenestina. It is built upon ...

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 its ...

choir and the Vauluisant vocal ensemble. She taught choral conducting for two years at the Conservatoire à rayonnement régional de Poitiers. In 2012, she prepared an opera, ''Orfeo, par-delà le Gange''''Orfeo, par-delà le Gange''
/ref> in India with an

Odissi ''Odissi'' (''ଓଡ଼ିଶୀ'') also referred to as ''Orissi'' in old literature, oldest surviving classical dance of India, is a major ancient Indian classical dance that originated in the Hindu temple, temples of Odisha – an eastern ...

dancer, Hindu musicians, and young Indian singers. The work was premiered in

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, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

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

* See Akadêmia

References

Bibliography

*
Dix questions à Françoise Lasserre
''La vie en Champagne'' No. 68 *

External links

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

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

(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 classical music and jazz. History The channel was lau ...

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 Academic staff of the Conservatoire à rayonnement régional de Poitiers