The name suggests timelessness, storminess, and brio. It was under this sign and from a creative desire and breath that La Tempesta located its foundation a few years ago rather close to a fascinating and beautiful seashore in Normandy.
Patrick Bismuth has surrounded himself with talented and expert musicians in the aim of discovering unknown musical compositions and to reread with audacity and passion the masterpieces of the past. He has succeeded in giving his ensemble its unique and original sound.
For everyone’s listening pleasure, the ensemble offers a transfiguration of academic music without denaturing it. And so, La Tempesta offers a musical polysemy and a sensorial experience that allow music lovers to (re)discover in various ways the wealth of the Baroque music repertoire.
Whether in skeleton crew or as a chamber orchestra, La Tempesta crisscrosses France performing instrumental and vocal music from the 17th and 18th centuries. The musicians’ goal has always been to contribute to renewing the repertoire and to vary the form of their concerts (live performance of a cantata by Bach while a film based on a musical text is projected).
The ensemble has toured France and abroad (Europe, the Americas, the Middle-East, etc.). The group’s recordings include, among others, an anthology of instrumental music titled La Vocalité Instrumentale en Italie à la naissance de l’Opéra (Éditions STIL) – containing numerous pieces that had never been recorded before (e.g. Marini, Guerrieri, etc.) and unanimously acclaimed by music critics; Les Sonates du Rosaire de H. I. F. von Biber (Éditions Zig-Zag Territoires), and, the very recently released Quatrième Livre de Sonates de Jean-Marie Leclair (ZZT).
La Tempesta is currently enlarging its repertoire of later classical music (Haydn, Mozart, Benda), romantic music (Beethoven, Schubert), performing them exclusively with the instruments for which the pieces were originally written.
The ensemble’s artistic project goes beyond merely broadcasting its concerts. La Tempesta aims to contribute to the spread of the world’s musical heritage, and, therefore, it practices an authentic method focused on experimenting with the materials of Baroque sound.