Jérémie Rhorer

Jérémie Rhorer is a French conductor who regularly performs with the period-instrument ensemble Le Cercle de l'Harmonie. As such, unlike most other historically inclined musicians, he focuses mostly on music of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Rhorer is also an honored composer. His recording catalog includes releases on several French labels devoted to early music; on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Alpha%22">Alpha</a>, he and Le Cercle de l'Harmonie issued the recording Beethoven: Missa Solemnis in 2025.

Rhorer was born in Paris. He studied harpsichord, organ, flute, and composition at the Regional Conservatory of Paris as a youth, and he was then admitted to the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSMDP), studying with conductor Emil Tchakarov and early music ensemble directors <a href="spotify:artist:582DACpHBiVtsBpY3giwPB">Marc Minkowski</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:7mkcqdifmNkhfJ7XZ7WFFS">William Christie</a>. He and the cellist Pejman Memarzadeh founded the ensemble Les Musiciens de la Prée in 1995. In 2002, Rhorer made his recording debut on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ligia%22">Ligia</a> label with La Chambre Philharmonique, and ever since then, his focus has remained on late 18th and early 19th century music. In 2005, he and violinist <a href="spotify:artist:0f4NQpXWIbD4ulV9KPctcS">Julien Chauvin</a> founded Le Cercle de l'Harmonie. His debut with that group came on a 2009 recording Mozart's Symphonies No. 25, 26 and 29.

Three years later, Rhorer made his U.S. debut, leading the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and in addition to his work with Le Cercle de l'Harmonie, he has had an international career. He has led orchestras in various countries outside France, including the <a href="spotify:artist:0SlNRZ8zBLAgyB1lsoYxAa">Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra</a>, the <a href="spotify:artist:4AcXapei4U7xnWecv9AEBd">Montreal Symphony</a>, the <a href="spotify:artist:35NnUEPKGspM23lTZvK3cb">Czech Philharmonic</a>, and the <a href="spotify:artist:09KZU0NsS7jRa5p0SflmGY">London Philharmonia Orchestra</a>. Much of Rhorer's work has been devoted to opera, often with historical details in the performance; he has led period-instrument performances of <a href="spotify:artist:0roWUeP7Ac4yK4VN6L2gF4">Rossini</a>'s Il barbiere di Siviglia, and at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris in 2018, he directed a performance of <a href="spotify:artist:1JOQXgYdQV2yfrhewqx96o">Verdi</a>'s La traviata that used the original pitch of 432 Hz. Rhorer has appeared with such major opera companies as the Staatsoper in Vienna, La Monnaie in Brussels, and the Bavarian State Opera. He appeared at the BBC Proms in 2016. His recording career has been focused on Le Cercle de l'Harmonie; they have recorded instrumental music and opera (including such rarities as Luigi Cherubini's Lodoïska in 2013) for such top labels as <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Na%C3%AFve%22">Naïve</a> and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Alpha%22">Alpha</a>. Rhorer is also a composer who has won the Prix Pierre Cardin. His opera Le petit soldat de plomb, based on a book The Steadfast Tin Soldier by <a href="spotify:artist:5Nu0vpp9FCmFbaSZRnp4pl">Hans Christian Andersen</a>, was produced at the Musée de l'art et de l'histoire in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2024. That year, Rhorer and Le Cercle de l'Harmonie released a recording of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, Op. 123, on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Alpha%22">Alpha</a>. ~ James Manheim, Rovi