Herve Niquet

Born in Flixecourt, Somme in 1957, Hervé Niquet has established himself in the French musical landscape as a conductor and harpsichordist, with a body of work centered first on Baroque music, particularly the French repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries. After studies at the Amiens Conservatory, he joined the Paris Opera as a choral director in 1980 and later sang as a tenor with Les Arts Florissants. In 1987, Hervé Niquet founded Le Concert Spirituel, an ensemble with which he explored grand motets, Baroque opera and many rare scores by Charpentier, Lully, Campra, Desmarest, Boismortier or Destouches. His career subsequently broadened to Classical, Romantic and early 20th-century works, from Haydn, Mozart and Rossini to Berlioz, Gounod, Saint-Saëns, Debussy or Fauré. This thread is also evident in his collaboration with Palazzetto Bru Zane, devoted to rediscovering French Romantic music. Hervé Niquet has conducted several European ensembles, notably the Chœur de la Radio flamande, of which he was musical director from 2011 to 2019, as well as the Brussels Philharmonic as principal guest conductor. His discography with Le Concert Spirituel includes, among others, Purcell’s King Arthur (2004), Handel’s Messiah (2017), Persée (2017), Marin Marais’s Ariane et Bacchus (2023) and Charpentier’s Médée (2024).