Pichon Raphaël

Biography

Born in 1984, the French conductor Raphaël Pichon, sang as a child with the Maîtrise des Petits Chanteurs de Versailles, and studied violin and piano at the conservatory of Versailles. Attracted rapidly by singing (counter-tenor) and conducting, he finished his studies at the CNSMDP and CNR of Paris, with Kenneth Weiss and Howard Crook among others.

Raphaël Pichon's experiences led him to sing under the conductors Vincent Dumestre, Jordi Savall, Gustav Leonhardt, Gabriel Garrido, Ton Koopman or Laurence Equilbey. Student Pierre Cao for conducting, he benefits also from the advice of Michel-Marc Gervais and Boris Tevlin for orchestra conducting.

In 2005, Raphaël Pichon founded the Ensemble Pygmalion, orchestra and choir of young professionals dedicated to the repertoire for early instruments (supported by the Orange Foundation and the Ministry of Culture), with whom he recorded the Bach’s short masses BWV 234 & 235, released for Alpha in september 2008, receiving a « Diapason d’or de l’année 2008 » and the « Orphée d’or » as the best sacred music recording of 2008. With Pygmalion, he has been invited by some of the most reknown festivals and concerts series in France and abroad : Festivals of la Chaise-Dieu, Ambronay, Saintes, Arques-la-bataille, Nantes’ Folle Journée, Brussels’ Bozar, Musikfest Bremen.

Raphaël Pichon also founded the chamber choir OTrente, with which he deals with the romantic and contemporary repertoire (supported by the Caisse des Dépôts). In 2009, performed Bach, Poulenc, Schubert and Brahms, invited by the Festivak of Levallois, the Musicales of Normandie, or the Musicales of Montreuil.

In 2010, Raphaël Pichon is invited at Nantes to conduct a new Gassmann’s production, the Opéra Séria, staged by Benoît Bénichou. Among his projetcs in 2011 - 2012, a series of Rameau’s operas for the Festival of Beaune, (first with Dardanus in July 2011), Mendelssohn's Elias, or the Venus and Adonis of John Blow.