Biography

Since 2015, The Curious Bards has united five musicians, who love Gaelic and Celtic traditional music. These five musicians had an early music education and have studied in prestigious institutions in Lyon, Paris and Basel. Their musical paths have integrated traditional Irish and Scottish practise for many years.

The ensemble claims to offer an innovative and creative insight to this repertoire guided by extensive research. They are “bards” of modern times, eager to discover and expand their knowledge, and always exigent with their practise.

The Curious Bards were chosen, in 2015, as a Young Ensemble in Residency in la Cité de la Voix in Vézelay. They have also benefited, since 2016, from the project EEEmerging carried out by the Ambronay Festival, which supports young early music ensembles under the Creative Europe  Program.

They just recorded their first album, which has been released in October 2017 under the label Harmonia Mundi

Musical intention

Alix Boivert – artistic director

“Our primary objective is to shed new light on a forgotten repertory : Irish and Scottish music of the baroque era . For this reason, I started a musicological and historical research project, having spent eight months in Dublin and then continuing my research after my return to France.

The wealth and diversity of the musical material I discovered during this research, convinced me that musicians practising both traditional and art music, such as ourselves, need to meet the challenge and try to offer a contemporary interpretation of these different musical styles. Even more so, this music represents a very important part of cultural heritage, which was conserved with difficulty by the invaders of this time: England.

Our mission consists of investigating and experimenting with the different indications present in numerous publications (ornaments, articulations, rhythm etc) . Until now, these indications have brought us very close to the contemporary interpretation of traditional music. Another motivation that brings us to this project, is the strong connection the musicians have to the traditional music. The depth, spirituality, and abandonment of one’s self , are elements that the musicians can feel, and this offers a musicianship of a rare humanity as a result of a rare simplicity”

http://thecuriousbards.com/

Alix Boivert, Baroque violin & direction

Jean-Christophe Morel, cittern

Sarah Van Oudenhove, viola da gamba

Louis Capeille, triple harp

Bruno Harlé, Traverso / tin whistle

Guest: Ilektra Platiopoulou, mezzo soprano