Les Siècles

A unique orchestra of musicians from a new generation, playing each repertoire on the appropriate historical instruments: Les Siècles puts several centuries of musical creation into perspective in a relevant and unexpected way. Regular guests on the world’s greatest stages, Les Siècles perform regularly on the stages of London (BBC Proms, Barbican Centre, Southbank Centre), Berlin (Philharmonie, Konzerthaus), Lucerne, Salzburg, Hamburg (Elbphilharmonie), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw, Muziekgebouw), Cologne, Bad Kissingen, Bremen, Brussels, Bucharest (Enescu Festival), Aldeburgh, Wiesbaden, Luxembourg, Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Rome, Venice.

Three-time winners of the prestigious Deutsche Schallplattenkritik prize and three-time winners of the Edison Klassiek prize, Les Siècles are often the only French ensemble shortlisted for the Gramophone Classical Music Award, which they won in 2018 for Classical Recording of the Year (Ravel, ‘Daphnis et Chloé’). Regular nominees for the International Classical Music Awards, they won in 2020 for their recording of Camille Saint-Saëns’s ‘Timbre d’argent’ and in 2023 for their recording of ‘Pelléas et Mélisande’. In France, they have won a Victoire de la Musique Classique, two Diamants Opéra (‘Mirages’ with Sabine Devieilhe and Debussy’s ‘Pelléas et Mélisande’) as well as several Diapasons d’Or and Chocs Classica. Their discs Debussy ‘Jeux / Nocturnes / Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune’, Berlioz ‘Harold en Italie’ and Debussy ‘Pelléas et Mélisande’ were all Choc de l’année Classica. Since 2018, Les Siècles have started recording the complete orchestral music of Berlioz, Ravel and Debussy for the harmonia mundi label. They also made the world’s first recordings of Saint-Saëns’s ‘Timbre d’argent’, Félicien David’s ‘Christophe Colomb’ and Paul Dukas’s cantata ‘Velléda’.

Keen to pass on their passion for classical music to as many people as possible, the ensemble’s musicians regularly offer educational activities in schools, hospitals and prisons. The Orchestra is a partner of the Jeune Symphonie de l’Aisne, the Jeune Orchestre Européen Hector Berlioz and DEMOS (Dispositif d’Education Musicale et Orchestrale à vocation Sociale) in Hauts-de-France and Île-de-France. Les Siècles is also behind the ‘Music in Hospitals’ project offered in the paediatric haemato-oncology department at Trousseau Hospital in Paris and at Beauvais Hospital, and an educational residency at La Petite Bibliothèque Ronde in Clamart. Les Siècles also played a key role in the Presto! television programme, broadcast to millions of viewers on France 2 and released on DVD with Kanopé.

The Société Générale Foundation is the orchestra's main sponsor. Les Siècles is in residence at the Atelier Lyrique de Tourcoing and, since the 2022/23 season, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. Since 2010, the ensemble has been subsidised by the Ministry of Culture and the DRAC Hauts-de-France for a residency in the Hauts-de-France region. It receives regular support from the Centre National de la Musique and, since 2011, from the Conseil Départemental de l'Aisne to strengthen its artistic and educational presence in the region, notably at the Cité de la Musique in Soissons. Since 2018, the orchestra has received operating support from the Hauts-de-France Region. The orchestra is an artist in residence at the Berlioz Festival in La Côte Saint-André, and an associate artist at the Théâtre du Beauvaisis and the Théâtre-Sénart. The orchestra is supported by the association Échanges et Bibliothèques and occasionally by the Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique romantique française, by the SPEDIDAM, the ADAMI, the Institut Français and the SPPF. Les Siècles is a member of SCENE ENSEMBLE, of the Association Française des Orchestres and an associate member of the SPPF.