Rose Theater Frederick P. Rose Hall 70 Lincoln Center Plaza New York, NY 10023

William Christie, harpsichordist, conductor, musicologist, and teacher, is the inspiration behind one of the most exciting musical adventures of the last 25 years. His pioneering work has led to a renewed appreciation of Baroque music in France, notably of 17th- and 18th-century French repertoire, which he has introduced to a very wide audience.

Born in Buffalo (New York State), Mr. Christie studied at Harvard and Yale Universities, and has lived in France since 1971. The major turning point in his career came in 1979, when he founded Les Arts Florissants. As director of this vocal and instrumental ensemble, Mr. Christie soon made his mark as a musician and man of the theater, in both the concert hall and the opera house, with new interpretations of largely neglected or forgotten repertoire.

Major public recognition came in 1987 with the production of Lully’s Atys at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, which then went on to tour internationally with much success. Mr. Christie’s enthusiasm for the French Baroque has never diminished. From Charpentier to Rameau, through Couperin, Mondonville, Campra, or Montéclair, he is an acknowledged master of tragédie-lyrique as well as opéra-ballet, and is equally at home with French motets as with music of the court. His affection for French music does not prevent him from exploring other European repertoire, however, and he has given many acclaimed performances of works by Italian composers such as Monteverdi, Rossi and Scarlatti. He undertakes Purcell and Handel with as much pleasure as Mozart and Haydn.His extensive discography (over 70 recordings, many of which have won awards in France and abroad) with Harmonia Mundi and Warner Classics/Erato is proof of this versatility. Since November 2002, Mr. Christie and Les Arts Florissants have recorded for Virgin Classics, for whom the first release was a CD of Handel sonatas with Hiro Kurosaki, leader of Les Arts Florissants.

Mr. Christie is equally committed to the training and professional development of young artists, and he has nurtured several generations of singers and instrumentalists over the last 25 years. Indeed, many of the music directors of today’s Baroque ensembles began their careers with Les Arts Florissants. Between 1982 and 1995, Mr. Christie was a professor at the Paris Conservatoire, with responsibility for the early music class. He is often invited to give master classes, or to lead academies such as those at Aix-en-Provence and Ambronay. Wishing to develop further his work aJirí Kyliáns a teacher, he created an academy for young singers in Caen, called Le Jardin des Voix, whose first three sessions, in 2002, 2005, and 2007, generated a huge amount of interest in France and elsewhere in Europe as well as in the United States.William Christie acquired French nationality in 1995. He is an Officier dans l’Ordre de la Légion d’Honneur as well as Officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.The vocal and instrumental ensemble Les Arts Florissants is one of the most renowned and respected early music groups in Europe and around the world. Dedicated to the performance of Baroque music on original instruments, the ensemble was founded in 1979 by the Franco-American harpsichordist and conductor William Christie, and takes its name from a short opera by Marc-Antoine Charpentier.

Les Arts Florissants have been largely responsible for the resurgence of interest in France in 17th-century French repertoire as well as in European music of the 17th and 18th centuries more generally. This was repertoire which had, for the most part, been neglected (much of it unearthed from collections in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France) but which is now widely performed and admired.Since the acclaimed production of Lully’s Atys at the Opéra-Comique in Paris in 1987, it has been in the field of opera where Les Arts Florissants have found most success. Les Arts Florissants have also embarked upon contemporary repertoire, giving the premiere of Motets III—Hunc igitor terrorem by Betsy Jolas in 1999 to mark their 20th anniversary.The ensemble has an impressive discography: more than 40 recordings for Harmonia Mundi, and some 30 on the Warner Classics/Erato label, the most recent of which being Theodora by Handel.

Les Arts Florissants receive financial support from the Ministry of Culture and Communication, the City of Caen and the Région Basse-Normandie. Their sponsor is Imerys. Les Arts Florissants are artists in residence at the Théâtre de Caen.