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Michel Laplénie

direction

Michel Laplénie trained as a violinist and German teacher before he embarked on a singing career. After a two year-stay in Vienna where he studied the works of R. Strauss, he met William Christie and became a founding member of Les Arts Florissants and the Clément Janequin Ensemble. He was involved in many recreations of Baroque works, and in 1986 founded his own vocal ensemble, Sagittarius, taking the Latinized name of the great 17th-century German master, Heinrich Schütz, of whose music he became one of the pre-eminent performers.
As conductor of Sagittarius, Michel Laplénie has explored the wealth of the European Baroque repertoire and has won wide acclaim. Many recordings have been released, most of them of rediscovered works. They have been regularly praised by international critics for their original and daring artistic choices, as well as the quality of the performances.