The French musician
Sébastien d'Hérin has established himself as a leading figure on the French early music scene through his varied activities as harpsichordist, fortepianist, conductor, and co-leader of his own ensemble,
Les Nouveaux Caractères.
Hérin began his career as a keyboardist, studying at the Paris Conservatoire. At graduation he earned three top prizes, all of them in the keyboard field (harpsichord, piano, and continuo playing). The school's faculty, however, also introduced him to Baroque opera, which fascinated him and led to a new direction in his career. He went on for graduate studies at the Amsterdam Conservatory.
Hérin's teachers have included A-listers of the Baroque scene at the end of the 20th century:
Christophe Rousset,
Kenneth Gilbert,
Bob van Asperen,
Gustav Leonhardt, and
Pierre Hantaï, and he established his career by playing continuo in ensembles led by some of these, and by such figures as
Jean-Claude Malgoire,
Hervé Niquet, and
Emmanuel Krivine. In the mid-2000s,
Hérin began to find guest conducting slots opening up at the opera houses of Rouen, Rennes, and Besançon, and the
Orchestre d'Auvergne, among other venues, and he honed his conducting skills as an assistant to
Niquet and to choral conductor
Laurence Equilbey. In 2006
Hérin and soprano
Caroline Mutel founded
Les Nouveaux Caractères, devoted to the exploration of unusual vocal repertory and music of theatrical inspiration. At Rennes, he had led that group in two operas by
Henry Purcell, generally the province of English ensembles, and he has unearthed unusual operas like
Rameau's Les Surprises de l'Amour and Leclair's Scylla et Glaucus, recording those works for the Glossa and Alpha labels, respectively.
Hérin has been heard on best-selling recordings like
Cecilia Bartoli's
Opera Proibita (2005). In 2017, he and
Les Nouveaux Caractères issued their recording of
Purcell's The Fairy Queen on Glossa.