Les Ambassadeurs

Les Ambassadeurs played music ranging from <a href="spotify:artist:3tMLo1k3iUo82coMLWXzxq">Purcell</a> to <a href="spotify:artist:0roWUeP7Ac4yK4VN6L2gF4">Rossini</a> but focused especially on music of the Dresden court in the 18th century. The group merged in the late 2010s with the orchestra <a href="spotify:artist:0NXpAUHEoJkTDu5YIKHenS">La Grande Écurie</a>.

Les Ambassadeurs was founded in 2012 by flutist <a href="spotify:artist:6TShPdvn74qXYM1SoLaAZq">Alexis Kossenko</a>, who served as the group's leader and music director. The ensemble offered performance and recording projects centered on <a href="spotify:artist:4JSWO1Pf2zV991fq64uAce">Rameau</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4NJhFmfw43RLBLjQvxDuRS">Mozart</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:0roWUeP7Ac4yK4VN6L2gF4">Rossini</a>, but it focused on the music of the Dresden court in the 18th century. Like the ensembles of Dresden, Les Ambassadeurs drew musicians from all over Europe. The group immediately began to find performance and recording opportunities, appearing in 2012 at the opening of the MAFestival in Bruges, Belgium. The following year, Les Ambassadeurs released Antonio Vivaldi: Concerti per l'Orchestra di Dresda, Vol. 1, the first of several albums they recorded for the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Alpha%22">Alpha</a> label. In 2014, the group collaborated with soprano <a href="spotify:artist:4f0pCOjszoLjd2Tr4SmUjH">Sabine Devieilhe</a> on the album Rameau, which earned a Diapason d'Or and several other major awards.

Les Ambassadeurs performed at leading halls in France and elsewhere, including the Auditorium of the Louvre Museum, the Salle Gaveau in Paris, and London's Wigmore Hall. The group was often included on festival bills, including Midsommer Barock in Denmark, the Esterháza Festival in Hungary, and the Weimar Festival in Germany. Les Ambassadeurs' vocal collaborators formed a distinguished group, including <a href="spotify:artist:4f0pCOjszoLjd2Tr4SmUjH">Devieilhe</a> (with whom the group embarked on a 24-city tour performing <a href="spotify:artist:4NJhFmfw43RLBLjQvxDuRS">Mozart</a>'s Le nozze di Figaro), Blandine Staskiewicz, and <a href="spotify:artist:58RuzJuJJtd24wybYBxJdV">Delphine Galou</a>. Les Ambassadeurs broadened its activities into opera and large-scale choral music, performing <a href="spotify:artist:1QL7yTHrdahRMpvNtn6rI2">Handel</a>'s Tamerlano at the Poznan Opera in Poland and joined Staskiewicz on the album Tempesta on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Glossa%22">Glossa</a> label. After the death of its director <a href="spotify:artist:0Dm0OYp3kyz8ML9Pkh4uwu">Jean-Claude Malgoire</a> in 2018, the ensemble <a href="spotify:artist:0NXpAUHEoJkTDu5YIKHenS">La Grande Écurie et la Chambre du Roy</a> merged with Les Ambassadeurs, and the new amalgamated group, under the name Les Ambassadeurs - La Grande Écurie, released the album Per l'Orchestra di Dresda: Vol. 1: Ouvertures, on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Aparte%22">Aparte</a> label in 2021. <a href="spotify:artist:6TShPdvn74qXYM1SoLaAZq">Kossenko</a> serves as the leader and music director of the new group. ~ James Manheim, Rovi