Joël Gauvrit

(harpsichord)

With a first prize in piano from Lyon’s Conservatoire national supérieur de Musique (class of Eric Heidsieck), Joël Gauvrit turns to Jazz: He forms a trio, then a quintet, playing his own compositions and winning various awards, most notably the Grand prix of Avignon’s Tremplin international de Jazz. He turns back to his first love through the practice of period instruments: He studies harpsichord with Noëlle Spieth, fortepiano and clavichord with Patrick Cohen and participates in Master classes with Malcom Bilson, Alexei Lubimov, Bart Van Oort, Tom Beghin and Claire Chevalier. In 2006, Joël Gauvrit founds the ensemble Il Mondo della Luna, intended to explore the fortepiano trio repertory dating from the second half of the eighteenth century. Il Mondo della Luna performs in Paris and across Ile de France, as well as in the festivals Sinfonia en Périgord, Les Chants de la Dore and Les Journées musicales d'Automne de Souvigny — a concert broadcasted on the Mezzo channel and available soon on DVD. He also recorded with the Ensemble a program circling Mozart’s three last Trios. Joël Gauvrit is heard in recitals (Saint-Yriex Festival, Festival des Chants de la Dore...), as a soloist (with singer Gerlinde Sämann and the Orchestre de Bordeaux-Aquitaine) and as a continuo player and orchestra pianist with the Luxembourg Philharmonic and Arsys Bourgogne, as well as the Luxembourg Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Pierre Cao and Nicolas Brochot. He plays regularly with chamber ensembles FA7 (contemporary music), Les Folies du Temps et Galuppi (early music), and takes part, with the Zellig ensemble, in a World Premiere of Thierry Pécou. Joël Gauvrit recorded J. S. Bach’s Inventions and Sinfonias on the clavichord. He teaches harpsichord, piano and jazz at the Conservatoire of Lisieux.