La Rêveuse, Benjamin Perrot, Florence Bolton & Maïlys de Villoutreys
Biography La Rêveuse, Benjamin Perrot, Florence Bolton & Maïlys de Villoutreys
La Rêveuse
Founded by Benjamin Perrot and Florence Bolton, La Rêveuse is an ensemble of solo musicians that works on the heritage of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a period rich in artistic experiments and inventions of all kinds.
La Rêveuse is frequently invited to appear in prestigious venues in France (Auditorium de Radio France, La Folle Journée de Nantes, Les Concerts Parisiens, Fontevraud Abbey, Théâtre de l'Athénée, the Chambord and Radio-France Montpellier festivals, the Scènes Nationales of Orléans, Blois, and Quimper, the TNP de Villeurbanne, etc.) and abroad, notably in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Russia, Japan, the United States and Canada.
The ensemble's recordings (Locke/Purcell, K617 2006; Purcell, Mirare 2008; Buxtehude/Reinken, Mirare 2009; Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, Mirare 2010; Sébastien de Brossard, Mirare 2011; Henry Lawes, Mirare 2013; Telemann, Mirare 2015 (fff Télérama); Devotional Songs by Purcell, Mirare 2015 (CHOC de Classica, Choix de France Musique)) have all been acclaimed by the French and international press. The disc Trio Sonatas by Buxtehude from the Uppsala Manuscript, released on Mirare in February 2017, received a wide array of awards, including ffff Télérama, Choc de Classica and Choc Classica of the Year 2017, 5 de Diapason, Choix de France Musique, Choix Radio Classique, Joker Crescendo, 5 croches Pizzicato and Clef de Resmusica, and was selected in the Bestenliste for the prestigious Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik.Marin Marais: Violin Pieces, Mirare 2018 (Choice France Music, Choc of Classica, Key of the Month Resmusica, Gramophone Editor's Choice 5 of Diapason, 5 eighths Pizzicato, 20/20 MusikanSich.de, Clic of Classiquenews). Itslast record, London Circa 1700, was released in January 2019 at Mirare, and is already Choice of France Musique, ffff Telerama, 5 of Diapason, 5 eighth notes Pizzicato, Soleil Musikzen.
Wishing to forge links between the different artistic disciplines, the ensemble often collaborates with the world of the theatre and literature in order to give a new slant to classic texts. Among the notable productions it has premiered are L'Autre Monde ou les États et Empires de la Lune by Cyrano de Bergerac and Les Caractères de La Bruyère with the actor and director Benjamin Lazar, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme by Molière/Lully with Catherine Hiegel and François Morel, Molière's Monsieur de Pourceaugnac with Théâtre de l'Éventail (Raphaël de Angelis) and L'Heure verte, a show focusing on the poets of the Cabaret du Chat Noir, with the composer Vincent Bouchot.
La Rêveuse also works regularly with youth audiences: in 2016 it created Jack et le Haricot Magique, a puppet show based on illustrations by the artist Walter Crane, which has enjoyed great success ever since.
Alongside this, the ensemble has developed over the past few years a series of concert-lectures, aimed at museums and media libraries, which bring out parallels between music and painting of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. These are given in collaboration with Jean-Philippe Guye, Professor of Arts and Civilisations at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon. and rural tours aboard the Opera Bus, a mobile theater.
Each year, La Rêveuse undertakes educational and outreach projects with primary and secondary school students. Its most recent project, Les Lettres persanes revisitées, with migrants studying at schools in Orléans, was a finalist for the Prix de l'Audace Culturelle et Artistique 2016.
The ensemble has also invested in knowledge transfer through the creation of the Académie d'Été de Seuilly (a summer school for young musicians about to enter the profession and experienced amateurs) and Les Ateliers de Musique Ancienne (Early Music Workshops), which aim to introduce the music and arts of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to a wide audience through a range of activities, including chamber music courses at the Conservatoire d'Orléans, lectures and ‘discovery concerts'. In addition to the creation of new concert and recording programmes.
La Rêveuse received the gold medal of the Academy Arts Sciences and Letters in 2017, and was labeled "2018-European Year of Cultural Heritage" by the Ministry of Culture. His tour of the Center Val de Loire region in rural areas aboard the Opera Bus was awarded the PSA 2018 Mobility and Culture Award and the FFEA 2018 - French Federation of Arts Education Award, the 10,000 Volts Prize. of the EDF Foundation and the Coup de Coeur Solidaire prize of the SNCF Foundation. The ensemble is labeled 2019 - Leonardo Da Vinci, 500 years of RenaissanceS in the Center Region - Val de Loire.
Benjamin Perrot
studied lute, theorbo and Baroque guitar with Eric Bellocq and Claire Antonini at the Conservatoire National Régional (CNR) in Paris, where he graduated in 1997 with the Diplôme Supérieur de Musique Ancienne. He then went on to advanced study with Pascal Monteilhet. In 1996-97 he was also trainee accompanist at the Studio Baroque de Versailles (Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles).
Since then he has been invited to appear as a soloist and continuo player in France and abroad. Giving priority to chamber music, he performs with such ensembles as Il Seminario Musicale (Gérard Lesne), Le Concert Brisé (William Dongois), Musica Favola (Stephan Van Dyck), the Ensemble Pierre Robert (Frédéric Désenclos), Le Poème Harmonique (Vincent Dumestre)... He also appears in orchestral music, notably with Le Concert Spirituel (Hervé Niquet) or Les Arts Florissants (William Christie).
He is co-founder of the ensemble La Rêveuse with Florence Bolton. He also created the production l'Autre Monde ou les Etats et Empires de la Lune with the actor and director Benjamin Lazar.
Benjamin Perrot has taken part in more than fifty recordings for labels including Accent, Accord, Alpha, Calliope, Glossa, K617, Mirare, Naïve, Zig-Zag Territoires...
He teaches lute and theorbo at the Conservatoire of Versailles and is a répétiteur at the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles. He also teaches on several early music training courses.
