Carnegie Hall

Christina Pluhar, founder and artistic director of the L’Arpeggiata, discovered her deep affinity with Renaissance and Baroque music after studying classical guitar at the University of Graz in Austria. She devoted herself to the studies of the lute, theorbo, baroque guitar, and baroque harp at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague (Netherlands) with Toyohiko Satoh, Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Switzerland) with Hopkinson Smith, and Civica Scuola di Musica di Milano (Italy) with Mara Galassi, followed by master classes with Paul O’Dette, Andrew Lawrence-King, and Jesper Christensen.

In 1992, Ms. Pluhar moved to Paris, where she performed both as a soloist and a continuo player with Ensemble La Fenice (Jean Tubéry), Hespèrion XXI (Jordi Savall), Il Giardino Armonico, Concerto Soave (María Cristina Kiehr), Accordone (Marco Beasley), Ensemble Elyma (Gabriel Garrido), Les Musiciens du Louvre (Marc Minkowski), Ricercar Consort (Philippe Pierlot), La Grande Écurie et la Chambre du Roy (Jean-Claude Malgoire), and Cantus Cölln (Konrad Junghänel), among others. As a continuo player, she has performed with orchestras under the direction of René Jacobs, Alessandro De Marchi, and Gabriel Garrido. From 2001 to 2005, she was assistant conductor to Ivor Bolton at the Munich Opera House. As a guest conductor, she was invited to conduct the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra (Sydney), European Union Baroque Orchestra, and Orchestra Divino Sospiro (Portugal).

Since 1993, Ms. Pluhar has conducted master classes at the University of Graz; since 1999, she has served as professor of Baroque harp at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague.

In 2000, Ms. Pluhar founded L’Arpeggiata. Selecting some of the finest artists in Europe as members, L’Arpeggiata achieved success virtually overnight with its first CD, La Villanella (a collection of Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger vocal works). In 2012, L’Arpeggiata—under Ms. Pluhar’s direction—became the first baroque ensemble to be named a Perspectives artist at Carnegie Hall.

Countertenor Philippe Jaroussky has established himself as one of the major singers in the international musical world with multiple recognitions at the French Victoires de la Musique and the ECHO Klassik Awards.

Mr. Jaroussky’s impressive mastery of vocal technique produces performances full of nuance and vocal acrobatics, and his vast repertoire of the Baroque era ranges from the refinements of 17th-century Italian music of Monteverdi, Sances, and Rossi to the staggering 18th-century brilliance of Handel and Vivaldi. In recent seasons, he has also explored French mélodie with pianist Jerôme Ducros. Increasingly captivated by contemporary works, he performed a song cycle composed by Marc-André Dalbavie from the sonnets of Louise Labé. He performed in the premiere of Only the Sound Remains by Kaija Saariaho at Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam in 2016.

Mr. Jaroussky has had the pleasure of collaborating with some of the best Baroque ensembles. He has performed to high acclaim in the most prestigious festivals and concert halls around the world. In 2002, he founded Ensemble Artaserse, which performs across Europe. He appears on Naïve’s collection Vivaldi Edition with Jean-Christophe Spinosi and Ensemble Matheus.

Recent highlights include a stint as artist-in-residence in Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie; a vast Handel tour in fall 2017 with Ensemble Artaserse; and revivals of Only the Sound Remains at the Opéra national de Paris, as well as Handel’s Alcina and Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euriudice at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées.

Founded in 2000, L’Arpeggiata brings together today’s finest early music instrumental specialists in collaboration with exceptional singers. It also collaborates with artists from various musical backgrounds in programs and projects skillfully conceived by Christina Pluhar based on her musicological research, encounters, and curiosity.

Since its creation, L’Arpeggiata has aimed to explore the rich music of the early Baroque period. As a guiding principle, the ensemble emphasizes instrumental improvisation and research into historical instruments and lesser-known Baroque traditions, as well as the creation and performance of events. It thus favors uniting music and song with other elements from the Baroque period—which were indistinguishable in their day—such as dance and theater, while also remaining open to diverse musical genres, including jazz and traditional music. The programs of L’Arpeggiata reconnect history with the surprising and the unexpected, making each concert a unique experience. Some of its recent collaborators include Philippe Jaroussky, Valer Sabadus, Céline Scheen, Véronique Gens, Stéphanie d’Oustrac, Rolando Villazón, Vincenzo Capezzuto, Ensemble Barbara Furtuna, Gianluigi Trovesi, Pepe Habichuela, and Wolfgang Muthspiel.

Since its founding, L’Arpeggiata has received incredible responses from audiences and outstanding critical acclaim. Its albums—including La Villanella; Homo fugit velut umbra; La Tarantella; Teatro d’Amore; All’Improvviso; Rappresentatione di Anima, et di Corpo; Los Impossibles; Via Crucis; Vespro della Beata Vergine; Los Pájaros Perdidos; Mediterraneo; and L’amore innamorato—have earned a string of accolades, among them ECHO Klassik, Edison Classical Music, and Dutch Association of Theatres and Concert Halls awards.

L’Arpeggiata has participated in many festivals around the world, including the London Festival of Baroque Music, Festival Oude Muziek in Utrecht, Festival Baroque de Pontoise, Printemps des arts in Nantes, Rencontres Musicales de Vézelay, Festival International de Musiques Sacrées in Fribourg, Festival de l’Abbaye de Saint-Michel en Thiérache, Festival de Sablé, Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, and Hong Kong Arts Festival. L’Arpeggiata has held residencies at the Theatre of Poissy, Wigmore Hall, and Teatro Mayor in Bogotà, Colombia.