Agnès Mellon / Ensemble Barcarole

Territory represented: international

In 1981, Agnès Mellon successively joined the Chapelle Royale under of P. Herreweghe and the Arts Florissants under W. Christie. As a soloist, she has had the opportunity to sing under the direction of many conductors: Gardiner, Malgoire, Koopman, Leonhardt, Kuijken and Jacobs, to name a few. She has sung in such prestigious venues as the Opéra de Paris, the Théâtre des Champs Élysées, Salle Pleyel, Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebow and the Amsterdam Opera, as well as in several halls in Japan. Some of Ms. Mellon’s opera roles: Sangaride in Lully’s Atys, Télaïre in Castor et Pollux by J.P. Rameau and Creuse in Médée by M.A. Charpentier.

In 1997, Agnès Mellon founded her own ensemble, Barcarole, in order to concentrate on the Baroque chamber music repertoire, which includes both sacred and profane works of infinite richness.

In 2005, Barcarole released Les déesses outragées with Alpha Productions (featuring cantatas by Clérambault, de Blamont and Courbois). TV Channel Mezzo is broadcasting since 2007 Barcarole’s concert Mater beata, Mater dolorosa performed at the Souvigny Festival. Zig-Zag Territoires released album Parole e querelle d’amore, love duets with her husband counter tenor Dominique Visse in 2010.

In addition to performing works from the Baroque repertoire, Agnès Mellon also gives recitals with pianist Christian Ivaldi. She creates Recital-spectacles (staged by Mireille Larroche) with the pianist François Kerdoncuff: Esquisses de la vie d’une femme and, for family audiences, Chante-moi une histoire.

Agnès Mellon’s discography—which includes over sixty recordings—covers a large repertoire, from the great lyric tragedies of the Baroque era to French mélodie. In 2003, her recording entitled Maria, Madre di Dio with the Ensemble Arion (label early-music.com), was awarded Best album of the year — Early music, Opus Magazine, Toronto, Canada.

In 2005, she founded an association called Accanto (a play on words meaning “[singing] alongside”) to combine all her artistic and teaching projects.

Holder of a CA teaching certificate, Agnès Mellon also devotes a great deal of time to another of her passions: teaching. She currently teaches at the Ecole Normale de Paris, the Conservatoire de Yerres. Under the patronage of William Christie, she founded La pépinière des voix for young professionals singers. She regularly participates in master classes, including those organized by the Académie de musique française de Kyoto and the CNSM de Paris, McGill University in Montreal, and many others in France.

Ensemble Barcarole

Agnès Mellon founded Ensemble Barcarole in 1997 to fulfil a desire to create an ensemble group devoted exclusively to the Baroque chamber repertoire for voice and instruments. Motets with organ accompaniment, airs de cour, profane cantatas (which are really miniature operas), the sacred repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries — all are part of this repertoire, whose infinite variety and richness have allowed Ms. Mellon to create highly varied programs requiring anywhere from two to ten instrumentalists.

In 2005, label Alpha produced the ensemble’s first album, Les déesses outragées, which gives expression to the passions of the great heroines and goddesses of mythology as interpreted by the French composers of the Baroque era. The press warmly acknowledged this recording. In addition to Festival des Musiques d’automne de St-Genest-Lerpt who invites the ensemble just about every year, Barcarole was heard in 7 cities in Holland and Belgium. In France, let us mention Barcarole’s concerts at Festivals of Lanvellec, Pontoise, Périgord Noir, Musicales du Lubéron, Salle Poirel in Nancy and Amis de la musique of Strasbourg.

French TV channel Mezzo is broadcasting regularly a Barcarole concert at the festival Journées musicales d’automne à Souvigny. In 2010, label Zig-Zag Territoires released album Parole e querele d’amore, love duets with counter tenor Dominique Visse.

In 2011, Ensemble Barcarole will make their tour debut in Japan and China including Hamarikyu Asahi Hall in Tokyo and Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing.

What the media says…

“Not only would this album would make a wonderful gift (to yourself, perhaps), it deserves to be at the top of your ‘desert island’ list.” — Forum Opéra, Belgium, 2010

“Agnès Mellon’s performance of Barbara Strozzi’s cantata L’Eraclito amoroso is the most sublimely moving ever heard; she imbues each word with a beauty fraught with despair.” — Diapason, France, 2010

> her website