Emmanuelle Haïm

The French harpsichordist and conductor Emmanuelle Haïm studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris: piano with Yvonne Lefébure, organ with André Isoir, and harpsichord with Kenneth Gilbert and Christophe Rousset. She took five first prizes at the completion of her training. She attracted the attention of William Christie, who invited her to perform as harpsichordist with his ensemble Les Arts Florissants and soon entrusted her with responsibility for concert rehearsals as well. As an assistant to Sir Simon Rattle she acquired additional experience at the podium. In 2000 Haïm founded her own ensemble, Le Concert d’Astrée, with which she presents opera productions and ambitious concert projects. In the 2016-17 season they will perform programs in London, Paris, Zurich, and Brussels including French Baroque arias with Magdalena Kožená, a revival of Handel’s Il trionfo del tempo, and Monte-
verdi’s Ulisse. As an opera conductor she has also appeared at the Glyndebourne Festival, where she has led Handel’s Theodora and Monteverdi’s Poppea; she was the first woman to conduct at Chicago Lyric Opera, where she led Handel’s Giulio Cesare. Haïm has conducted the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Concerto Köln, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Since her debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in 2008, she has worked on a regular basis with that orchestra. The present all-Handel program is her first project in collaboration with the Vienna Philharmonic. Emmanuelle Haïm is an Honorary Member of the British Royal Academy of Music, as well as an Officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and a Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur. Her recordings have twice been awarded the Victoires de la Musique Classique and have garnered an Echo Klassik Award.

August 2016