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Fons Musicae
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Biography
FONS MUSICAE
Fons Musicae was founded in 1997 by the lutenist Yasunori Imamura. For the most part this group, whose name means “The Fountain of Music”, performs mainly French, Italian, German and English music of the 17th and 18th centuries. As the name implies, Fons Musicae play their repertoire with originality, vivacity and invention. Their performances throughout Europe and the Far East (such as Göttinger Haendel Festspiel, Baroque Festival in Marseille, Brezice Baroque Festival, Baroque Festival in Luxembourg, Hokutopia Baroque Festival in Tokyo and so on) are universally applauded by the press. Indeed their debut CD, performing the “Airs de Cour” of Michel Lambert, was awarded the “Classica prize” by Classica magazine ( 07,08 / 1998 ). The ensemble has also recorded a CD containing cantatas and sonatas by Giovanni Bononcini and another with cantatas and sonatas by Agostino Steffani, which was awarded the prize “Sterne des Monats” by Fono Forum Magazine ( 03 / 2002 ). In 2002 their fourth CD ( the cantatas by Antonio Caldara ) and in 2006 their fifth CD ( the cantatas by Francesco Gasparini ) are released. Yasunori Imamura theorbo and director
Yasunori Imamura was born in Osaka, Japan. He studied lute with Eugen Dombois and Hopkinson Smith at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, where he received his soloist’s diploma in 1981. Subsequently, he worked on interpretation and bass continuo with Ton Koopman and Johann Sonnleitner and Johann Sonnleitner and composition with Wolfgang Neininger.
Today, Imamura is recognised as one of the prominent figures of the lute, both as leading soloists and continuo-players on the lute. He has appeared at numerous international festivals in Europe and the Far East. The following solo recordings by Yasunori Imamura have appeared so far : - Simone Molinario: Complete Fantasias (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi); - Johann Sebastian Bach: Complete Works for Lute (Etcetera); - Robert de Visée: Pièces de théorbe (Capriccio); - Silvius Leopold Weiss: Lute Sonatas (Capriccio) and also Lute Sonatas Vol.1 (Claves). These recordings have also received excellent reviews in various audio magazines. Especially Lute Sonatas Vol.1 by Weiss (Claves) was awarded the “Diapason d’Or” prize by French Diapason Magazine in July-August 2006.
Besides his activities as a solist, Yasunori Imamura has collaborated as continuo player with various well-known artists including Cecilia Bartoli, Teresa Berganza, Gérard Lesne, Marc Minkowski, Ton Koopman, Jos van Immerseel, William Christie, Philippe Herreweghe, Michael Schneider, Martin Gester, Maurice Steger, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Masaaki Suzuki, Christophe Rousset, Paul Goodwin and Alan Curtis. He has recorded ca. 120 LPs and CDs for Deutsche Grammophon (Archiv-Production), Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Harmonia Mundi France, Erato, Philips, Decca, Virgin Classics, Capriccio, Etcetera, Claves, Accord, Adda, OPUS 111, Ades, CPO Osnabrück, Astrée, Denon, Fnac Music, Pan Classics, Zig-Zag Territoires, DRC and Symphonia.
He is professor for lute at the Conservatoire National de Région de Strasbourg as well as at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Frankfurt am Main. He also regularly gives a number of master classes in Europe and the Far East. He is a member of La Stagione, Frankfurt (dir. Michael Schneider), Les Musiciens du Louvre (dir. Marc Minkowski), Le Parlement de Musique (dir. Martin Gester), and Camerata Köln.
In 1997 Yasunori Imamura founded the ensemble “Fons Musicae”, performing throughout Europe and the Far East. To date they have made five recordings (Michel Lambert, Giovanni Bononcini, Agostino Steffani, Antonio Caldara and Francesco Gasparini) that have earned various international awards such as the « CLASSICA »(Classica magazine) or the « Sterne des Monats » (Fono Forum Magazine).
Monique Zanetti soprano
Monique Zanetti studied at the Conservatoire National de Région in Metz, France, and at the University there, where she received a diploma in musicology. She then turned to singing, and worked with Elisabeth Grümmer, and later with Jacqueline Bonnardot, Noelle Barker, and Rachel Yakar. She soon specialized in the Baroque repertoire, and has meanwhile sung in numerous performances, including Monteverdi’s Incoronazione di Popea and Orfeo, Lully’s Atys, Charpentier’s Medée, and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, conducted by William Christie, Philippe Herreweghe, Christophe Rousset, and Martin Gester. Monique Zanetti has participated in numerous events and international festivals. Recently, she has begun to explore on the repertoire of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and has already been heard in the roles of Sophie (Werther), Monica (The Medium), Barbarina (The Marriage of Figaro), as well as in recitals of French songs and German Lieder with pianoforte. Her recordings include Gesualdo, Monteverdi, Rossi, Montéclair, Lully, Charpentier, Campra, Couperin, Schutz, Hasse, Haydn, Bach, Keiser, Boehm, Lambert, Bononcini, and others, notably in collaboration with Les Arts Florissants, La Chapelle Royale, the Stuttgart Kammerchor, Le Parlement de Musique, and Les Talens Lyriques. Her interest in teaching finds expression in a monthly course in Baroque singing that she gives at the Conservatoire National de Région, Metz, as well as in master classes in Baroque music in France and abroad.
Pascal Bertin countertenor
Pascal Bertin began singing at the age of eleven in the Paris Children’s Choir. With the skills learned there he became a soloist on the most prestigious stages of the world, under the batons of the greatest conductors (Ozawa, Mehta, Solti, etc.) After winning first prize for the interpretation of Baroque vocal music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique, Paris, in the studio of William Christie, he started his career singing the polyphonic repertoire of the Renaissance with A Sei Voce and the Clément Jannequin and Gilles Binchois Ensembles. Pascal Bertin soon began to receive invitations to sing with leading conductors such as Philippe Herreweghe, John Eliot Gardiner, Christophe Rousset, Michel Corboz, Sigiswald Kuijken, Paul Dombrecht, Thomas Hengelbrock, Konrad Junghänel, Marc Minkowski, Jean Tubery, Eduardo Lopez Banzo, Martin Gester and Masaaki Suzuki. His discography meanwhile comprises 70 recordings in various styles. Desiring to broaden his musical horizons, Pascal Bertin founded a vocal jazz ensemble by the name of Indigo, which has recorded three CDs, and received a nomination for the “Révélation de l’Année” at the “Victoires de la Musique” in 1995. Harmonia Mundi France invited him to participate in “The Three Countertenors” recording project together with Dominique Visse and Andreas Scholl.
François Fernandez Baroque violin
François Fernandez was born in Rouen in 1960. Both his parents were musicians. He started to play Baroque violin already at the age of twelve, deciding to specialize in it a few years later. He then went to Holland to study with Sigiswald Kuijken, receiving a soloist’s diploma from the Royal Conservatory in the Hague in 1980. He has subsequently performed in the best period orchestras, including La Petite Bande (conducted by Sigiswald Kuijken), The Orchestra of the 18th Century ( conducted by Frans Brüggen), La Chapelle Royale (conducted by Philippe Herreweghe), often also as concertmaster or as soloist. During the past twelve years, François Fernandez has devoted himself increasingly to chamber music. He has performed at prestigious festivals with Philippe Pierlot, Carlos Mena, Rainer Zipperling, and Bernard Foccroulle in the Ricercar Consort, with the three Kuijken brothers, the three Hantaï brothers, Ryo Terakado, Yves Rechtainer, Marcel Ponseele and many other renowned musicians. He has recorded over 80 CDs of Baroque and classical chamber music, including several solo CDs. He also gives solo recitals, performing, for example, the Bach solo sonatas and partitas. François Fernandez not only plays the violin, but also viola, viola d’amore, and viola da gamba. Together with Philippe Pierlot and Rainer Zipperling he founded a new record company called “Flora.” He has taught in Toulouse, France, Liège and Brussels in Belgium, and Trossingen, Germany, and since 1999 has been a professor at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris. He also gives master classes and summer courses in Spain and Belgium.
Sara Kuijken Baroque violin
Rainer Zipperling viola da gamba, violoncello
After graduating from high school, Rainer Zipperling started studies in music and musicology. His special predilection for Baroque music prompted him to study in Holland, the home of so-called “authentic performance practice.” Already during his studies he gained experience as a continuo player and, in this way, became acquainted with the expertise of many important instrumentalist, including Sigiswald Kuijken, Gustav Leonhardt, Anner Bijlsma, Wieland Kuijken, and, especially, Frans Brüggen, with whom he still today maintains an active collaboration. Today, he himself numbers among the most well-known gambists and cellists in the field of “Early Music.” He has collaborated with renowned ensembles, and his activities are documented by nearly three hundred CD recordings, both as accompanist and soloist. In addition to this artistic activity, he enjoys an excellent reputation as a pedagogue, teaching studios for viola da gamba and Baroque violoncello at the Cologne and Frankfurt Colleges of Music, and regularly giving master classes in Portugal, France, Israel, Hungary, Spain, Russia, and the Czech Republic. Since 2001 he has also been involved in the “Flora” record company. In January 2002, a CD of Haydn Divertimentos for baryton, viola, and violoncello, recorded with his friends and co-producers François Fernandez and Philippe Pierlot was released on the “Flora” label.
Naoki Kitaya harpsichord
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