Codirecteur musical, fondateur des Arts Florissants

Claveciniste, chef d’orchestre, musicologue et enseignant, William Christie est l’artisan de l’une des plus remarquables aventures musicales de ces quarante dernières années.
Natif de Buffalo installé en France, sa carrière prend un tournant décisif en 1979 lorsqu’il fonde Les Arts Florissants. À la tête de cet ensemble instrumental et vocal, il assume un rôle de pionnier dans la redécouverte de la musique baroque, en révélant à un très large public le répertoire français des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, jusqu’alors largement négligé ou oublié. En renouvelant radicalement l’interprétation de ce répertoire, il sait imposer, au concert et sur la scène lyrique, une griffe très personnelle comme musicien et comme homme de théâtre dans des productions majeures.
Sa discographie compte plus d’une centaine d’enregistrements, notamment dans la collection « Les Arts Florissants » chez harmonia mundi où est dernièrement paru L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato (Handel).
William Christie a également révélé plusieurs générations de chanteurs et d’instrumentistes. Soucieux de transmettre son expérience aux jeunes artistes, il crée en 2002 Le Jardin des Voix, l’académie pour jeunes chanteurs des Arts Florissants, et enseigne dans le cadre d’une résidence à la Juilliard School de New York. Passionné d’art des jardins, il donne naissance en 2012 au Festival Dans les Jardins de William Christie, qui se tient chaque été dans sa propriété à Thiré, en Vendée. Les jardins qu’il y a conçus sont inscrits à l’Inventaire supplémentaire des Monuments historiques et bénéficient du label “Jardin remarquable”. En 2018, il donne tout son patrimoine à la Fondation William Christie – Les Arts Florissants, dont le siège est à Thiré.
Au cours de la saison 2023-24, il dirige trois nouvelles productions lyriques : Ariodante (Handel) à la Philharmonie de Paris et au Grand Théâtre de Genève, The Fairy Queen (Purcell) en tournée internationale et Médée (Charpentier) à l’Opéra national de Paris. La saison 2024-2025 verra la célébration du 80e anniversaire de William Christie, avec une tournée anniversaire et une série d’événements exceptionnels.

Tenor James Way is fast gaining international recognition for the versatility of his voice and commanding stage presence. James is passionate about a career taking in a variety of music as both performer and artistic director. Having followed his initial interest in baroque music through the young artist programmes of Les Arts Florissants and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment he immediately became in demand as a soloist for conductors including William Christie, Rene Jacobs, Harry Bicket and Trevor Pinnock.

The versatility of his voice means he is equally comfortable in later repertoire and has a particular affinity for the music of Britten and Stravinsky. His performances include Flute in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Dalia Stasevska, The Son in Laurent Pelly's production of Les Mamelles de Tiresias (winner of Best New Opera Production at the 2022 Opera Awards) with Robin Ticciati both for Glyndebourne Festival, Holy Fool Boris Godunov with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Jakub Hrůša and Lechmere Owen Wingrave for Grange Park Opera, and a number of performances of Stravinsky Pulcinella with orchestras including the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic with Barbara Hannigan, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Orchestra Sinfonica de Milano with Alpesh Chauhan OBE.

This coming season’s highlights include Handel’s La Resurrezione with Marc Minkowski, the Young King in George Benjamin’s Lessons in Love and Violence with Orchestre de Paris conducted by the composer, Acis & Galatea (Acis) and L’incoronazione di Poppea (Lucano) with Harry Bicket and the English Concert as well as a recital at the Oxford International Song Festival with pianist Natalie Burch.

His recent performances include Zadok (Solomon) with Harry Bicket & the English Concert at Carnegie Hall, Lurcanio (Ariodante) with Il Pomo d’Oro, Bach St Matthew Passion with Les Talens Lyriques under Christophe Rousset and as the Evangelist with the Irish Baroque Orchestra and Peter Whelan. As artistic director he has led concerts including Schütz A Christmas Story and Handel 9 German Arias with Rachel Podger in a new English translation by Jeremy Sams at St Martin-in-the-Fields.

In demand as an interpreter of Handel, his performances of Messiah have won praise with orchestras internationally including Handel & Haydn Society Boston, Les Arts Florissants, Freiburger Barockorchester, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Dunedin Consort. His debut as Jupiter in Handel Semele at the Musikverein was the start in a long line of Handel roles including Samson (title role), Acis and Damon Acis & Galatea Tempo Il Trionfo del Tempo e Disinganno, Lurcanio (Ariodante) as well as tenor soloist in Israel in Egypt, Foundling Anthem and L’allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato.

“Handelians couldn’t really complain given the vocal riches showered on us by [Louise] Alder and [James] Way” Hugh Canning, Opera Magazine, Jupiter / Semele 2017 James has a growing discography including Handel L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato with Les Arts Florissants and William Christie and Stanford Requiem with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, on Hyperion, ‘Songs of Faith, Love and Nonsense,' a disk of Stanford songs recorded with Roderick Williams and Andrew West, Purcell's Fairy Queen with Gabrieli Consort, conducted by Paul McCreesh and King Arthur, which won BBC Music Magazine's Recording of the Year.

James is a former Britten-Pears Young Artist, he is also a laureate of William Christie’s Les Arts Florissants ‘Jardin des Voix’ and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’s Rising Stars young artist programmes and was awarded an Independent Opera Voice Fellowship. He was the winner of the Second Prize in the 62nd Kathleen Ferrier Awards at Wigmore Hall.