François Lazarevitch

French solist and classical conductor.   François Lazarevitch plays early and traditional flutes and bagpipes. He is the founder and director of the Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien, with whom he performs in France and abroad, as well as making recordings – the last one received the coveted Diapason d’Or and Choc de Classica.   A soloist recognised for the expressiveness of his playing as a flautist and piper, François Lazarevitch trained with eminent masters of early music: Daniel Brebbia, Philippe Allain-Dupré, Barthold Kuijken, Pierre Séchet, Jean-Christophe Maillard and Pierre Boragno. He studied at the conservatories of Paris (CNR, CNSM), Brussels, Versailles and Toulouse. His encounter with Antoine Geoffroy-Dechaume, one of the pioneers of the early-music revival, at the age of sixteen was particularly important in his quest for natural phrasing.   Meanwhile, in contact with traditional musicians and dancers, François Lazarevitch worked on and immersed himself in other playing styles (Irish flute, bagpipes of Central France) and tested their subtle relationships with the interpretative principles of early music, in order to go beyond what is written and infuse the music with life and energy.   THUS HE HAS DEVELOPED A UNIQUE INSTRUMENTAL AND STYLISTIC PRACTICE, MASTERING THE SKILLS OF ART MUSIC AND THOSE NOW ATTACHED TO TRADITIONAL MUSIC, PARTICULARLY ORNAMENTATION AND PLAYING FOR THE DANCE.   In order to extend and share this experience François Lazarevitch formed the early music ensemble Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien in 2005, with which he appears in France and abroad at major concert halls and festivals. The ensemble is heard regularly at the Bach Academy of Arques-la-Bataille (Normandy) and at the Pontoise Baroque Festival, where it was in residence until 2012.   François Lazarevitch also takes part in projects with ensembles such as Le Concert d’Astrée (Emmanuelle Haïm), Les Talens Lyriques (Christophe Rousset), Ensemble 1700 (Dorothee Oberlinger), Capilla Flamenca (Dirk Snellings), Micrologus (Patrizia Bovi), Noces Bayna (Fawzy Al-Aiedy), and he sometimes participates in new contemporary works (Gérard Pesson, Annette Messager, Vincent Bouchot). He works regularly with dancers and choreographers such as Marie-Geneviève Massé and Naïk Raviart, and with film directors Vincent Tavernier and Alexandra Rübner.   As a holder of the Certificat d’Aptitude (Early Music) and the State Diploma (Traditional Music), François Lazarevitch is a fully qualified teacher of both disciplines.