Queens of the Mediterranean

After shining over the baroque stage for over a decade, Véronique Gens has achieved a strong international reputation and is now considered one of the best Mozart singers. One of her most prominent roles, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni staged by Peter Brook and conducted by Claudio Abbado at the Aix-en-Provence Festival earned her worldwide recognition.

Her repertoire includes the greatest Mozart parts or famous roles from French tragédie lyrique.

In addition to her wide-ranging classical repertoire, Véronique Gens gives numerous concerts and has performed on the most prestigious stages throughout the world: Covent Garden Royal Opera House, Staatsoper in Vienna, Opéra de Paris, Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, La Monnaie in Brussels, Liceu in Barcelona, Teatro Real in Madrid, Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam, as well as at Festivals such as Aix-en-Provence, Salzburg, and Glyndebourne. She has thus had the chance to work with conductors as Claudio Abbado, Charles Dutoit, Louis Langrée, William Christie, Marc Minkowski, Myung-Whun Chung, Ivor Bolton, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Daniel Harding, Christophe Rousset, Sir Neville Marriner, Marek Janowski, Thomas Hengelbrock, Philippe Jordan, Alain Altinoglu, Jérémie Rhorer, and Bertrand de Billy.

Her many recordings (over 80 CDs and DVDs) have received several international awards. “Néère”, her recording devoted to French melodies has won a Gramophone Award in 2016.

Born in Nice, Alexis Kossenko has been hailed as “a multi-skilled young genius whose career will take him where he wills […] Few conductors are so compelling to watch, whether by his players or the listeners, but there is no ‘showing off’ to impress an audience” by the Musica Pointers website journal.

A great connoisseur of all the historical forms of his instrument, including the baroque, classical and romantic flutes as well as the recorder, Alexis Kossenko also plays on the modern flute (he is a graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris where he studied with Alain Marion). He is currently the principal flute with L’Orchestre des Champs-Elysées (Philippe Herreweghe), La Chambre Philharmonique (Emmanuel Krivine), Ensemble Matheus (Jean-Christophe Spinosi), Gli Angeli Genève (Stephan MacLeod) and Le Concert Spirituel (Hervé Niquet).

He has recorded several albums featuring flute concertos by Nielsen, Haydn, Touchemoulin, the complete concertos by C. P. E Bach (awarded with Choc de Classica), Vivaldi (Editor’s Choice de Gramophone), Telemann (Choc de Classica), Tartini (Choc de Classica), and the complete Parisian Quartets by Telemann.

Founded by flute virtuoso Alexis Kossenko, Les Ambassadeurs is a pan-European ensemble of period instruments which performs a wide repertoire from early Baroque to classical and romantic music and from chamber ensemble to large orchestral settings. As it reunites passionate interpreters and inspired creators, the ensemble’s mission is to share with the audiences the infinite range of emotions conveyed by music. Keeping away from all dogmas, fashions and schools, Les Ambassadeurs pursue an ideal of eloquence in which the grammar of period instruments, the art of rhetoric and musical instinct combine in an inspiring symbiosis.

Les Ambassadeurs take particular interest in the rediscovery of the Dresden Hofkapelle which in Bach’s time was considered to be “the most beautiful orchestra in the world” for its exemplary discipline, virtuosity and shimmering colours which made it the first “modern” orchestra. It was in Dresden that the Italian, French and German styles were united and gave birth to the Goûts Réunis. Following the example of the Dresden Hofkapelle, Alexis Kossenko brings together musicians from all parts of Europe.

In 2018–2019, Les Ambassadeurs will collaborate with Véronique Gens, Katherine Watson, Francisco Fernandez-Rueda, Carlos Mena, Stephan MacLeod, Chouchane Siranossian and other distinguished artists. Among their future projects are Cosi fan tutte by Mozart; a project entitled “L’Opéra du Roi Soleil” with music by Lully, Campra, Marais and others in concert and recording; Poro by Handel, Platée by Rameau, “Concerti per l’Orchestra di Dresda”, and in 2020 the long awaited recreation of Rameau’s Acante et Céphise. Les Ambassadeurs are also involved in a thorough, long-term research on Bach cantatas and wish to establish a complete cantatas performance starting in 2020.