(Photo: © Les Talens Lyriques)

The Salle Cortot was built in 1929 by architect Auguste Perret and is adjacent to the École Normale de Musique de Paris, founded by Alfred Cortot in 1919. The performance hall is dedicated to teaching French music to local and international students. It hosts intimate concerts and recitals for approximately 400 audience members and is located in the 17th arrondissement, just a 12-minute walk from the Arc de Triomphe.

Perret is well-known for his innovative use of reinforced concrete in his designs. The brutal yet enriched salon design incorporates a warm-toned wooden back wall onstage and is a prime acoustic spot for performances that aim to give listeners a top quality experience. All in all, if one has the opportunity to attend a live performance here, it is highly recommended.

Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques’ 2025-26 Season 

Conductor and harpsichordist Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques are hosting a performance series of Paris concerts that includes November 8 at Paris Salle Cortot, December 5 at Paris Louvre, January 10 at Salle Cortot, January 25 at Paris Philharmonie, and April 13 at Paris Les Invalides. Rousset’s Les Talens Lyriques will also release their newest CD of Lully’s “Proserpine” on Chateau de Versailles Spectacles Label in May 2026.

Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques 2025-26 Season also includes exciting performances of “La Clemenza di Tito” at Grange Festival and Wurzburg’s Mozartfest in June. The cast will include Jeremy Ovenden, Anna El-Khashem, and Ambroisine Bré. There will also be a recording of Lully’s “Cadmus et Hermione” at a concert in Paris on January 25th, featuring Eleonore Pancrazi and Jérôme Boutillier. The recording is set to be released in 2027 on the Aparté label. Rousset and his ensemble will then revive Laurent Pelly’s production of Gassmann’s opera satire, “L’Opera Seria,” at Theater an der Wien in March 2026 and round out their season tour with performances in Vienna, Los Angeles, New York, Oslo, and the historical palace of Caserta, near Naples, inspired by Versailles.

Musical Highlights

Rousset’s Paris series opening concert took place on October 11th at Salle Cortot and featured mezzo-soprano Ambroisine Bré for an afternoon titled “Once Upon A Time… Le Lamento.” 

In Rousset’s words, “The lamento is a relatively classic form in the musical expression of opera. What we like to show in opera is love; and when love ends badly, that’s when there are tears, when we express our suffering, and when the musical moments become more and more expressive. It began with Monteverdi, who was the first to write truly passionate and psychological operas. This trend then spread throughout Europe, particularly in France, but also across the Channel, in England, which leads us to find lamenti in Lambert, Lully, and Purcell. The lamento, this intimate heartbreak, is the place where we recount our misfortunes, our great, fragile heartaches: that’s why we don’t need more than a continuo to accompany this program.”

The afternoon’s program illuminated lamento in its most beautiful effectiveness, transforming one’s emotions and psyche through the universal language of music.

The opening aria, Claudio Monteverdi’s (1567-1643) “Lamento d’Arianna,” (“Lasciatemi Morire!”)SV 22 (1623), set the tone for the entire afternoon with its lyrical lento and Bré’s stunning mezzo voice. Most notably, as with all live performances I have experienced with Rousset as conductor, there is a deep sense of awareness for both the music and the singer’s connection to their emotions while singing the music. Rousset has an innate and unmatched understanding in this way and it is always a pleasure to experience his gift for knowing exactly what a singer needs to do their best during a performance. During this first aria, I observed Rousset and Bré leaning into the underlying complexities of Monteverdi and the levity that develops through this level of realization through the score. Bré’s vocal palette undulated between painting extended lines of colors and guttural expressivity – a sense of calm and tension rising before a storm.

Michel Lambert’s (ca 1610-1696) Air de cour, “Ombre de mon amant (Shadow of My Lover),” (1689) featured Bré’s vocal dynamism, especially when singing “Helas!” and spinning her upper register into the hall with lightness and ease. Her ornamentations were heart-wrenching as she stretched deeper into her own lament. Her alternations between straight tone and vibrato flowed perfectly with her diction. Her storytelling skills as a singer created a realm where one’s nostalgic imagination could wander. 

Johann Jakob Froberger’s (1616-1667) “Suite XIX in C minor,” Tombeau fait à Paris sur la mort de Monsieur Blancheroche, GbWV 632, was a great transition in the program lineup and allowed for the audience to enjoy Rousset’s masterful harpsichord playing. Before he began the piece, Rousset told the story behind the work and how it is a funeral march that narrates an accident, doctor’s observations, and attempts to help the victim, before the conclusion when the person’s soul ascends. It was based on the death of Froberger’s friend, Monsieur Blancheroche, who fell down the stairs. Rousset’s free improvisation brought to life Froberger’s final remembrance in full.

Michel Lambert’s Air de cour, “Par mes chants tristes et touchants” (1689) showcased Bré’s pure vocal legato and agility. Her tonal expressions and ornamentations evolved over the course of the aria and developed into another stunning moment of the afternoon’s program.

Henry Purcell’s (1659-1695) “Dido and Aeneas,” Air in C, Z. 626 (1689), “Peace and I are strangers grown,” was a beautiful duet between Bré’s voice and Rousset’s harpsichord. Together they wove a tapestry of musical delight. 

Louis Couperin’s (ca 1626-1661) “Suite in F major,” Tombeau de Monsieur Blancrocher was performed by Rousset and was another example of dedication to Monsieur Blancheroche’s death. The ornamentations in this work differed from Froberger’s in that Couperin’s lamentation was more fully expressed through legato and not so much a narrative display of story-telling. Between the two, this one better expanded my imagination’s landscape and increased my enjoyment of the afternoon’s theme: lamento.

The final work performed was Jean-Baptiste Lully’s (1632-1687) “Isis,” LWV 54 (1677), “Terminez mes tourments.” Bré’s voice was brilliant in the role of Io. Her upper register stretched into an otherworldly space, conjuring the most lament of the afternoon and leaving the audience breathless.

This concert was impactful and informative, reminding one how even heartbreak and the lowest moments in life may become gateways that lead one on to creative expression and release.