Benjamin Alard

Benjamin Alard (2017)

Benjamin Alard (born July 13, 1985 in Rouen ) is a French harpsichordist and organist .

Life

Alard studied organ with Louis Thiry and François Ménissier at the Conservatoire National de Région de Rouen and harpsichord with Elisabeth Joyé . His special interest in early music led him to the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis . There he studied organ with Jean-Claude Zehnder and harpsichord with Andrea Marcon . The jury under Gustav Leonhardt awarded him his diploma . Alard has been organist at the Aubertin organ in St-Louis-en-l'Île in Paris since 2005 .

As an interpreter on the harpsichord as well as on the organ, Alard is invited to important festivals and venues. These include La Folle journée de Nantes , Festival de Saintes, Festival Radio-France de Montpellier , Utrecht Festival Oude Muziek , Festival Old Music Zurich, International Bach Festival Schaffhausen , Bach Festival Istanbul. Furthermore, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Cité de la musique Paris, Center de musique baroque de Versailles, Flagey and BOZAR in Brussels, Villa Medici in Rome, Auditori de Barcelona , Hofkirche Dresden , Freiberg Cathedral .

He also works with leading early music ensembles. These include La Petite Bande (direction Sigiswald Kuijken ), Capriccio Stravagante (direction Skip Sempé ), Venice Baroque Orchestra (direction Andrea Marcon) and Il Gardellino (direction Marcel Ponseele ).

Alard's CD recordings have been received very positively by the critics. By 2013 he will be playing all four parts of Johann Sebastian Bach's keyboard exercise . From April 2013, Alard will take over the management of the baroque ensemble “La Petite Bande” on a project basis, with which the founder and longstanding director Sigiswald Kuijken would like to ensure the ensemble's continued existence.

Honourings and prices

• 2004: 1st prize and audience prize at the International Harpsichord Competition in Bruges
• 2006: “Déclic” award winner
• 2007: 1st prize Gottfried Silbermann organ competition in Freiberg
• 2007: Lauréat Juventus in Cambrai

Discography

• 2006: The Andreas Bach Book . Hortus 045
• 2007: Benjamin Alard joue JS Bach: Transcriptions pour clavecin . (Bach: Harpsichord Transcriptions.) Hortus 050
• 2008: Manuscript Bauyn . Works by Frescobaldi, Froberger, Rossi, Louis Couperin. Hortus 065
• 2009: Musique française des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles . (French music of the 17th and 18th centuries.) Hortus 076
• 2009: Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonata a 2 clav. & Pedal, BWV 525-530 . Alpha 152
• 2010: Johann Sebastian Bach: Clavier Exercise I . Alpha 157
• 2011: Johann Sebastian Bach: Clavier Exercise II . Alpha 180
• 2011: Johann Sebastian Bach: Be Suonate a Violino solo & Cembalo concertato. (Sonatas for violin & obbligato harpsichord, BWV 1014-1019.) With François Fernandez (violin) and Philippe Pierlot (viola da gamba). Flora 1909

Web links

• Benjamin Alard's web presence
• Concert report Impressive skill. In the Schaffhauser Nachrichten , May 22, 2009
• CD review by a true master of Bach interpretation. In: Rondo music magazine , February 13, 2010
• St-Louis-en-l'Île , Paris: organ disposition and description of the instruments and the structure (French, English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sigiswald Kuijken is preparing his successor. (Dutch).
2. ↑ mafestival.be (PDF) Musica Antiqua Brugge . Jury and award winners 1964–2010. (PDF; 70 kB)
3. ↑ Biography of Benjamin Alard and sound sample ( memento of the original from January 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of the Association des Grandes Orgues de Chartres (French)  
4. ↑ silbermann.org Silbermann Society → Silbermann Competition → Prize Winner
5. ↑ music-juventus.fr  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) List of Juventus Prize Winners (French)  
6. ↑ Catalog of the Hortus label . Retrieved February 24, 2016
7. ↑ Catalog of the Hortus label . Retrieved February 24, 2016.
8. ↑ outhere-music.com Catalog page for the Alpha label . Retrieved December 7, 2010.
9. ↑ Catalog page of the label Alpha . Retrieved December 7, 2010.
10. ↑ Catalog page of the label Alpha . Retrieved June 13, 2011.
11. ↑ Information  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 2.7 MB) of the Note 1 Music Distribution , p. 7; Retrieved June 13, 2011.  
12. ↑ Description on the label's website; Retrieved September 23, 2011.