Following studies with Huguette Dreyfus in Paris and Bob Van Asperen at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, Rousset came to notice after winning prestigious prizes at The Hague and at the seventh Concours de Clavecin held in Bruges.

These successes opened the way to engagements as a recitalist and in concerts with such ensembles as La Petite Bande, the Academy of Ancient Music, and Les Arts Florissants, with whom Rousset gained his first conducting experience as assistant to William Christie.

In 1991 he founded his own ensemble, Les Talens Lyriques, with whom he has subsequently made many recordings that include a number of seminal revivals of seventeenth and eighteenth century operas. Brian Robins was the guest of Christophe Rousset at the famous Train Bleu restaurant on Paris’ Gare de Lyon station, a meeting that took place in the midst of a hectic concert schedule with the young performers of the Baroque Academy of Ambronay.

At first acquaintance Rousset seems perhaps a little distant, even disinterested, but once launched on his passion for music he takes on a newly animated personality, conveying a compelling enthusiasm and authority.

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