Les Kapsber'girls
Les Kapsber'Girls: two singers and two instrumentalists, trained at the Lyon Higher National Conservatory of Music and Dance and passionate about the music of the 17th and 18th centuries, which they perform in the hopes of updating it for modern tastes.
Published on 27/03/2019
2 min
It was at the Conservatoire national supérieur musique et danse in Lyon that the four Kapsber'Girls – Alice Duport-Percier (soprano), Albane Imbs (plucked strings, conductor), Barbara Hünninger (viol, bass violin) and Axelle Verner (mezzo-soprano) – meet. Passionate about music and singing from an early age, they started to perform together in 2015.
This never prevented them from continuing their own careers in other groups: the Les Voies Fleuries violin group for Barbara Hünninger, Les Sphères for Alice Duport-Percier, or as soloists with internationally renowned groups and conductors, such as Jordi Savall for Albane Imbs and Axelle Verner, whose voices can be found on several albums, notably Capella Sanctae Crucis.
The name of the ensemble is a tribute to Johannes Hieronymus Kapsberger (1580-1651), a composer and player of the lute and the chitarrone from the Baroque period, who was highly valued at the Pope's court and whose works influenced the evolution of the instruments of the time.
Passionate about music of the 17th and 18th centuries, primarily from Italy, the Kapsber'Girls offer a modern interpretation: they change some of the harmonies to bring them closer to contemporary music, and seek to inject the energy of popular music into "No sà che sia dolor” by Kapsberger, “Si je fais l'amour” by Giuseppe Saggione or “Pourquoi le berger qui m'engage” by Julie Pinel.
Following their participation in the journées du Luth in Paris in 2016 and their invitation to the Cité de la Voix in Vézelay, where they recorded their first album in 2018, les Kapsber'Girls performed in May 2018 at the London Baroque Music Festival and the Brighton Festival, as well as St George’s Hall in Bristol. With their court arias, they brought the atmosphere of Versailles to British audiences.
In France in 2018, the group performed at various European festivals, such as the Académie Bach festival, the Journées de Musiques anciennes in Vanves and Toulouse Les Orgues (2018).
- 2015
2015
The group forms after a meeting at the Conservatoire national supérieur musique et danse in Lyon.
- 2016
2016
The Kapsber'Girls are residents at the Bach Academy.
- 2018
2018
The Kapsber'Girls record their first album at the Cité de la Voix in Vézelay and perform abroad for the first time.
In 2018, the Kapsber's Girls toured the United Kingdom with the support of the Institut français.