Emmanuelle Haïm

About Emmanuelle Haïm

The harpsichordist and conductor Emmanuelle Haïm is widely admired for the drama and panache she brings to Baroque chamber music and opera, especially Handel. Born in Paris in 1962, Haïm studied as a keyboard player at the Paris Conservatoire, collecting five first prizes and taking lessons from Yvonne Lefébure (piano) and André Isoir (organ). She came to specialise in the harpsichord, first under the guidance of Kenneth Gilbert and then Christophe Rousset, but it was her contact with the American-born French Baroque pioneer William Christie which has shaped her career. She learned the art of continuo playing—semi-improvised accompaniment—at his Baroque vocal classes, became his assistant in 1990 and briefly joined his ensemble Les Arts Florissants as harpsichordist in 2000. In 1999, she came to wider attention when Christie recommended her to Simon Rattle to play in Rameau’s Les Boréades Suite at the Salzburg Festival and the Proms. The following year, she founded her own Baroque ensemble, Le Concert d’Astrée, launching her career as a director and conductor. She has been especially successful in the opera house: in 2007, she became the first woman to conduct at the Lyric Opera of Chicago (Handel’s Giulio Cesare). Her flair for dramatic colour and exuberance on stage is matched by the sensuous intimacy of her finest chamber recordings, including Handel’s Arcadian Duets and Lamenti.

HOMETOWN
Paris, France
BORN
11 May 1962
GENRE
Classical

Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada