Artistic Direction

Valentin Tournet

Immersed in a musical environment from the time he was born in 1996, Valentin Tournet started playing the viola da gamba at the age of 5. He was soon captivated by this instrument that he first learnt at the Issy-les-Moulineaux and Cergy-Pontoise (2001-2012) Conservatories and then at the Brussels and Paris Conservatories (2014-2018) under Christophe Coin and Philippe Pierlot. He was also advised by Jordi Savall. Thanks to his work and passion for his instrument, Valentin Tournet is the first violist nominated in the Revelations of Victoires de la Musique Classique, in 2022.

His discovery of orchestra at the Opéra de Paris in the Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine (Opéra de Paris’ Children’s Choir) programme (2007-2010) awakened his passion for direction, which he studied under Pierre Cao. In parallel, he met Philippe Herreweghe, who invited him to follow his work with his various ensembles.

In 2017, he founded the ensemble La Chapelle Harmonique, a choir and orchestra formation playing period instruments. He worked on Bach’s and Handel’s oratorios, and Rameau’s stage music, seeking to return to the original texts and address stylistic and aesthetic issues, while remaining resolutely contemporary. Valentin Tournet and La Chapelle Harmonique’s first performances were at the Festival de Beaune and the Opéra Royal at the Château de Versailles (Les Indes Galantes by Rameau, 2019), the Radio France Auditorium and the Festival de Saint-Denis (Handel’s Messiah, 2019,2021). The ensemble also obtained a residency at the Festival d’Auvers-sur-Oise (2018-2021) and began to work on multidisciplinary chamber orchestra creations at the Louvre Auditorium, echoing the museum’s programmes.

With a desire to contribute to the Creuse region, where Alain Corneau’s famous film All the Mornings of the World was shot, in 2019, Valentin Tournet founded the Musique à la Source Festival. He wanted to reach out to new audiences and bring local populations a repertoire that was little heard in the region, while highlighting its historical and architectural legacy. His recordings appear under the Château de Versailles Spectacles label. The first, dedicated to Bach’s Magnificat and Christmas Cantatas, was released in the autumn of 2019, followed by Les Indes Galantes in 2021. A complete version of Rameau’s Les Paladins and Bach’s Motets is planned for 2022, in the same collection.