The ensemble

Inspired by the intimate conviction of their founder, flautist and pioneering researcher François Lazarevitch, Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien have been evolving since 2006 as free spirits on the paths of the Baroque, matching up oral and written sources. Their shared affinities with traditional repertoires and musicians enriched their earliest projects and echœd a whole scholarly archipelago of early and Baroque music – the same inventive feeling for colours, the same energy springing from danced movement, the same pœtic sensibility. Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien awaken slumbering musical collections – but not solely – in an approach both erudite and intuitive, rooted in folk practices and filtered through a demanding, virtuosic and passionate appropriation. 

Everything in this alchemy is unique and identifies the ensemble even more than the reference to the brotherhood of violinist-dancers that gave it its name: the relief and elegance of the lines, the flexibility of the swaying phrasings, the richness of a rare early instrumentarium in which flutes and bagpipes stand out, the inner fire electrifying even the best-known works of Bach or Vivaldi, the naturalness of expression, which makes every interpretation so familiar yet so new. 

In the course of concerts in France, tours in Europe and America, – performing soon in France at Le Volcan, scène nationale du Havre, at the Salle Gaveau, at the Philharmonie de Paris, the Atelier Lyrique de Tourcoing, at the Folle journée de Varsovie, the Folle journée de Nantes, at the festivals Via Aeterna (France), Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci (Germany), Musik + (Austria), Été Moisan (Belgium), Actus Humanus (Poland), at the Bach Festival of Montréal (Canada)… – and heighteen recordings on the Alpha Classics label, Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien have reinforced a strong presence on the French and international scenes, unanimously praised by the public and specialised press alike.

Recording news – Alpha Classics Label :
Doux silence – Released on 12 April 2024
Upcoming CD release :
Mozart : flute concertos, flute and harp concerto – Scheduled for release on 23 August 2024

Partenaires
Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien are in residence at Le Volcan, scène nationale du Havre.
They are granted by the le French culture Ministry – Normandy DRAC, the Normandy Region and the City of Le Havre.

‘François Lazarevitch has no shortage of breath in his virtuoso flute concertos. The audience, holding its breath, bursts into joy at the end of the first movement of the Concerto for flautino, bringing a smile to the flutist’s face…’.

Frédérique Épin, Olyrix 18/11/22 – Vivaldi, Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien, concert at Salle Gaveau

François Lazarevitch’s first encounter with early music and the flute was with such pioneers as Antoine Geoffroy-Dechaume, Barthold Kuijken and Pierre Séchet, but he also has a passion for the Irish flute and practises traditional oral music with those who continue to perpetuate it locally. These fruitful encounters and explorations have opened up a path of his own, one that is untrodden and demanding, and one that he has followed by multiplying the strings to his bow: today he divides his time with equal virtuosity between the flute and the musette, whose pastoral timbre has become emblematic of the ensemble he founded in 2005, Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien. At the head of this ensemble, currently in residence at Le Volcan – Scène Nationale du Havre, he performs on the French and international music scenes, recording some twenty CDs for Alpha Classics in innovative programmes that are regularly acclaimed.

His interpretations of the Vivaldi concertos, the Bach flute sonatas (‘This version stands out at the top of the discography’ Choc Classica), and the C.P.E. Bach sonatas in duet with Justin Taylor captivate with their eloquent phrasing and inventive ornamentation.
At the head of the Musiciens de Saint-Julien, he tackles the orchestral and operatic repertoire (cantatas and concertos by Bach, opera arias and concertos by Vivaldi, Odes by Purcell). In 24 he released a CD of the complete W.A. Mozart concertos for flute. In ‘25 he will appear at the Salle Cortot for a recital of unpublished works for flute by Marin Marais (CD to be released by Alpha-classics) and at the Salle Gaveau to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Musiciens de Saint-Julien…

He has also appeared in recital with the complete Fantasias by Telemann (Alpha Classics, Choc Classica) and more recently the variations by J. van Eyck for solo flute.
The creation of a recent programme entitled Beauté barbare, devoted to the music of G.P. Telemann in the Polish and Hanakian style, has led him to open up to the music of Eastern Europe.

François Lazarevitch also enriches his experience by collaborating with contemporary dancers and choreographers, stage directors and composers. He has commissioned works from G. Pesson, P. Hersant and V. Bouchot for the creation of ‘Trilogue’ in 2020, and from Benoît Menut for the Musiciens de Saint-Julien’s new show ‘La quête de Merlin’.A keen collector of instruments and researcher, he publishes the scores of unearthed repertoires.

A holder of the CA in early music and the DE in traditional music, he runs the Académie des Musiciens de Saint-Julien (2 courses a year at the Le Havre conservatoire), teaches the baroque transverse flute, the recorder and the court musette at the Versailles conservatoire, gives master classes and lectures (conservatoires in Moscow, Geneva, Baltimore, Salzburg, CMBV, etc.), and is an associate artist at the Le Havre conservatoire.
François Lazarevitch is a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters.