Renowned for their passion, precision, and unmistakable flair for reviving little-known or forgotten musical jewels and celebrated masterpieces from the 17th and 18th centuries, Christophe Rousset and his ensemble “Les Talens Lyriques” have captivated audiences around the world for over three decades.
Les Talens Lyriques
A trained musicologist and dynamic harpsichordist, Rousset is lauded as “one of the most inventive musicians and artists in the baroque revival movement.” With an uncompromising dedication to historical authenticity and expressive depth, he has been relentless in his rediscovery of Europe’s forgotten musical heritage.
We caught up with Rousset in Innsbruck during rehearsals for the opening performance of the “Les Talens Lyriques” 2025-2026 season. Presented under the title “Love Conquers All,” the season will weave together an eclectic selection of music, sparking romance and striking chords of joy and unity in every note.
Christophe Rousset/Les Talens Lyriques: Royer, Almasis (excerpt)
Ancient Tales and Operatic Parodies
Traetta and Gassmann
Things will get started properly at the “Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik” on 27 and 29 August with a new production of Ifigenia in Tauride by Tommaso Traetta (1727-1779). For this reawakened opera, based on a Euripides drama, Traetta composed “beautiful but very virtuoso music that straddles the Neapolitan bel canto and Gluck’s dramatic reform.” The challenging production is directed by Nicola Raab and features Rocio Pérez in the title role.
An additional highlight of the season is Florian Gassmann’s (1729-1774) operatic farce L’Opera Seria. Following an acclaimed run at the Teatro alla Scala, the production will feature in Vienna in March 2026. This opera within an opera, a concept that “Mozart famously resurrects much later in his Schauspieldirektor,” develops opera arias in seria style, and it is “rich in orchestral colours, delightful melodies, and even an ambitious fugue.”
Christophe Rousset/Les Talens Lyriques: Traetta, Stabat Mater
From Milanese Elegance to French Tragedy
Mozart and Lully
Speaking of Mozart, Christophe Rousset will bring Mozart’s early opera Ascanio in Alba to concert performances in Vienna and Lausanne. In this, his first attempt, Rousset approaches the youthful balance of pastoral mythology and teenage musical sophistication with a profound expertise of “the operatic style that Mozart borrowed from the Milanese tradition.” As Rousset commented, “of course, Ascanio has been recorded, but it is in serious need of reissue.” Also on schedule is a performance of Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito at the Würzburg Baroque Festival in June 2026.
The 2025/26 season sees the conclusion of the monumental Lully Opera Cycle, a project and love affair lasting almost 25 years. On 25 January 2026 at the Philharmonie de Paris, Rousset will feature Lully’s first tragédie en musique Cadmus et Hermione, “a work he conducted a long time ago as a student project.” After all these years working on the operas of Lully, Rousset has developed an emphatic understanding of the musical style, and even more importantly, he “still loves it.”
Christophe Rousset/Les Talens Lyriques: Jean-Baptiste Lully, Thésée (excerpts)
Baroque without Borders
Also on the schedule are three visits to Italy, to Cremona, Naples, and Clusone for a festival celebrating Giovanni Legrenzi in his birthplace, alongside his contemporaries Barbara Strozzi and others. An additional Italian visit will see them in Caserta for a programme of chamber music connected with the reign of Louis XIV.
Further afield, they will travel to Oslo with Couperin and to the United States with a Handel programme featuring the rising American countertenor Key’mon Murrah. And if you fancy more Handel, there is Messiah with the Montiverdi Choir in Rome, Milan, and London and a delightful “Arome di Roma” concert at the Festival International d’Opéra Baroque de Beaune.
Christophe Rousset/Les Talens Lyriques: Handel, Almire “Overture”
From Silence to Stage
For their 2025-2026 Season, Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques will once again breathe new life into forgotten musical treasures and reimagine renowned masterpieces. Over the years, Rousset has brought renewed attention to long-forgotten musical figures and revived works with essentially no established performance tradition.
Christophe Rousset
And that’s exactly what fascinates him. Reviving these treasures becomes a thrilling musical playground, unbound by tradition and ripe with creative freedom. As he explained, “I can shape the dramaturgy, guide singers in channelling profound emotions, and bring to life a vibrant tapestry of 17th- and 18th-century music.” After all these years, the harpsichord is still at the core of this exceptional exploration; it is the supreme instrument that is “like a time machine unlocking a lost world.”
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