Gérard Lesne

French countertenor and conductor (born July 15, 1956 in Montmorency, France). Founder of the Italian baroque music ensemble Il Seminario Musicale in 1985. Gérard Lesne's initial vocation was jazz and rock singer, but in 1979 the Belgian tenor Zeger Vandersteene introduced him to the Austrian musician and musicologist René Clemencic, a pioneer of work in the medieval repertoire, and at age 23, Lesne began touring with the Clemencic Consort (an ensemble dedicated to ancient music and founded by René Clemencic in 1957). From 1984 to 1990 he sang with Les Arts Florissants under the founder William Christie, delving mainly into French Baroque repertory. In 1985 Lesne founded Il Seminario Musicale and explored Italian Baroque music and made many recordings. From 1988 to 1992 Lesne sang with Philippe Herreweghe and his ensembles La Chapelle Royale and Collegium Vocale Gent. Since 1993 Lesne has given vocal classes at the Royaumont Abbey in France, and throughout the 1990s and into the new century remained active on the concert scene, particularly with Il Seminario Musicale.