Aline d'Ambricourt

After studying with renown harpsichordists such as: Christophe Rousset (Paris), Bob van Asperen (Amsterdam’s Sweelinck Conservatory), and Enrico Baiano (Naples), Aline d’Ambricourt has pursued a brilliant career as a soloist, which has lead her to perform in a variety of prestigious baroque venues including: the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, the Querini Stampallia Foundation in Venice, the Palace of the Chancellery in Rome, the Festival of Ballades in Bourges, the Musical Nights of Armagnac, the Roman Chapels of Berry, the Saint-Riquier Festival, the French embassy at the Thott Palace in Copenhagen, as well as in Edinburgh on the historical instruments of the Russel Collection, and in Hamburg at the Museum of Arts and Crafts with the Andreas Beurmann collection where her polished talent has gained unanimous recognition. Amongst the qualities ascribed to her by the press on the occasion of her recitals are “purity and charm”, “grace and dexterity”, “a clear touch”, “poetic sensitivity”, “the ability to hone colors and shades”, “a marvelous sense of rhythm and harmony” and “the ability to shape melodic lines”.

After having performed before the Belgian Parliament in the Galerie des Glaces, and before the royal families of Denmark and Belgium, she was invited by H.M. the Queen and H.R.H. the Prince Consort of Denmark to play at the Fredenborg Palace.

She excels in the baroque repertory of the French, Italian, German, and Spanish masters of the XVII and XVIII centuries, in addition to those of the Renaissance, be it in recital, in chamber music, or in concerto, namely with the ensembles “Il Collegium Pro Musica” of Genoa, conducted by Stefano Bagliano at the Graz Chamber Music Festival (Austria) with the cellist Eric Oskar Huetter, and at the Opera Festival in Aalborg (Denmark) with the alto singer Massimiliano Mauthe von Degerfeld.

Her creative spirit and passion have enabled her, and continue to enable her, to conceive and realize captivating and surprising concerts and events based on her instrument and her art, and which move away from standard musical paths. If she is to be found in the everyday media, in master classes (namely at the Edinburgh Music University at St. Cecilia Hall) and at record dealers through a particularly exquisite discography, (notably her CD of the works of Marchand and Couperin), we can also thank her for more extraordinary events: she carried out exceptional undertakings around the 250th anniversary of the death of Domenico Scarlatti (2007) when she produced and directed the musical documentary film (DVD) “Domenico Scarlatti l’Intemporel” which features five of his works. Concerned with communicating her love of the harpsichord and of the great figures in its history, Aline took the initiative to conceive and produce a DVD illustrating the less well-known aspects of Domenico Scarlatti, without whom the harpsichord would be nothing. She herself played the majority of the musical pieces, but also welcomed talented and prestigious musicians such as the pianist, Cyprien Katsaris, in playing a range of keyboards and paying homage, with the appropriate poetic virtuosity, to the mysterious giant of the harpsichord and his 555 sonatas. The film received excellent press reviews in Le Figaro Magazine and Classica Repertoire magazine. She is currently working on a new Scarlatti CD to be recorded on a historic Italian harpsichord by a Neapolitan harpsichord of XVII century. It will be a premier for this instrument that has never before been recorded.

If she loves the traditional repertoire of recitals, concertos and chamber music (she regularly plays with the Collegium Pro Musica, with the flutist Stefano Bagliano and with the cellist Erich Oskar Huetter), Aline d’Ambricourt equally tries to offer “different” concerts to audiences around the world. In this sense, she performed on 22, November 2008 in the church Saint-Séverin in Paris, a creation with the soprano Fabrice di Falco in a piece in homage to Sainte-Cécile, composed by the contemporary composer Frédérick Martin.