Founded by Benjamin Perrot and Florence Bolton, La Rêveuse is an ensemble of solo musicians that works on the heritage of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a period rich in artistic experiments and inventions of all kinds.
La Rêveuse is frequently invited to appear in prestigious venues in France (Auditorium de Radio France, La Folle Journée de Nantes, Les Concerts Parisiens, Fontevraud Abbey, Théâtre de l’Athénée, the Chambord and Radio-France Montpellier festivals, the Scènes Nationales of Orléans, Blois, and Quimper, the TNP de Villeurbanne, etc.) and abroad, notably in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Russia, Japan, the United States and Canada.
The ensemble’s recordings have all been acclaimed by French and international critics and have received numerous awards.
(including ffff Télérama, Choc Classica de l’année, Choix de France Musique, 5 croches Pizzicato, Bestenliste der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, Gramophone Editor’s Choice, etc…).
Wishing to create links between different artistic practices, to create new forms and to open up to new audiences, the ensemble often works with the world of theater, literature and Fine Arts, in order to rediscover classic texts. It has notably created L’Autre Monde ou les Etats et Empires de la Lune, by Cyrano de Bergerac and Les Caractères by La Bruyère with the actor and director Benjamin Lazar, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme by Molière and Lully with Catherine Hiegel and François Morel, etc…
In addition, the ensemble has created numerous concert conferences on subjects that cross music with current affairs: the place of women in music, animals and composers, the history of the invention of instruments, etc. These projects, intended for media libraries, conservatories, elementary school, colleges, etc., have met with real public success. Les Lettres persanes revisitées, a creation with migrant minors attending school, was a finalist for the Prix de l’Audace Culturelle et Artistique in 2016.
Between 2018 and 2020, La Rêveuse organized musical tours in rural areas in the Centre Val de Loire region aboard the Operabus, a bus transformed into a mobile concert hall. This project has won numerous awards: 2018 FFEA Challenge Prize, 2018 PSA Foundation Mobility & Culture Prize, EDF Foundation 10,000 Volts Prize, SNCF Foundation Coup de Coeur, special mention at the 2019 Chatons d’Or.
In 2021, La Rêveuse has created a major project around birds in music, including musical conferences, school and public concerts and a show for young audiences, The Nightingale and the Emperor of China, based on Andersen’s fairy tale, in collaboration with the puppeteer Cécile Hurbault and the composer Vincent Bouchot.
In 2022, La Rêveuse created the Carnival of Animals in Peril, with the composer Vincent Bouchot and the visual artist Morgan Bodart, a second project around animals, including a digital visual concert for the general public and musical conferences/cultural action.
La Rêveuse is involved in the transmission of knowledge by creating Les ateliers de musique ancienne, which propose to introduce a large audience to the music and arts of the 17th and 18th centuries, through training courses and educational projects at the Orléans Conservatory, conferences or discovery concerts.
La Rêveuse received in 2017 the gold medal of the Academy Arts-Sciences-Lettres for the whole of its work, in 2018 the label “European Year of Cultural Heritage” awarded by the Ministry of Culture, as well as the label Leonardo Da Vinci, 500 years of RenaissanceS in the Region Centre – Val de Loire.
La Rêveuse benefits from the support of the Ministry of Culture (DRAC Centre–Val de Loire) and the Centre–Val de Loire Region in terms of assistance to convention ensembles, as well as the City of Orléans. The ensemble receives occasional assistance from the CNM – Centre National de la Musique, SPEDIDAM, ADAMI and SACEM.
It is a member of the professional bodies FEVIS (Fédération des Ensembles Vocaux et Instrumentaux Spécialisés), Profedim (Syndicat professionnel des Producteurs, Festivals, Ensembles, Diffuseurs Indépendants de Musique), and REMA (Early Music in Europe).
Florence Bolton begins the music at the age of seven, with the harpsichord and the recorder. Attracted by the bow instruments, she finally devotes herself to the viola da gamba. After obtaining a first prize for a viola da gamba and a first chamber music prize at the Saint-Cloud Conservatory (Sylvia Abramovicz’s class), she joined the early music department of the CNSM in Lyon where she studied with Marianne Muller. She obtained a first prize in 2001. She also holds a master’s degree in Japanese from the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO).
As a soloist and continuist, she performs at numerous festivals in France and abroad with ensembles such as Akademia (Françoise Lasserre), Doulce Mémoire (Denis Raisin Dadre), La Fenice (Jean Tubéry), Il Seminario Musicale (Gérard Lesne), Musica Favola (Stéphan Van Dyck), Pierre Robert (Frédéric Désenclos), The Harmonic Poem (Vincent Dumestre), William Byrd (Graham O’Reilly), etc …
She founded, with Benjamin Perrot, the ensemble La Rêveuse, which she ensures with him the artistic direction. With La Rêveuse, she has created several shows including The Other World or the States and Empires of the Moon by Cyrano de Bergerac (2004) and Les Caractères de La Bruyère (2006), with the comedian and director Benjamin Lazar; The Thousand and One Nights (2011) with actress and director Louise Moaty; Concerto Luminoso (2012) – magic lantern show and old music – with the visual artist Vincent Vergone; L’Heure Verte (2017) with the composer Vincent Bouchot, a cabaret show about the resonances of the circle of libertines of Gaston d’Orléans and the poets of the Chat Noir.
Very interested in musical iconography, she works on the links music and painting and frequently intervenes for conferences or educational projects on these subjects, especially within the Old Music Workshops of Orleans.
Florence Bolton teaches viola and chamber music in Orleans and during various baroque music courses.
She has participated in numerous recordings at Alpha, Arion, K 617, Ligia Digital, Mirare, Naïve and Zig-Zag Territories.
Benjamin Perrot studied lute, theorbo and Baroque guitar with Eric Bellocq and Claire Antonini at the Conservatoire National Régional (CNR) in Paris, where he graduated in 1997 with the Diplôme Supérieur de Musique Ancienne. He then went on to advanced study with Pascal Monteilhet. In 1996-97 he was also trainee accompanist at the Studio Baroque de Versailles (Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles).
Since then he has been invited to appear as a soloist and continuo player in France and abroad. Giving priority to chamber music, he performs with such ensembles as Il Seminario Musicale (Gérard Lesne), Le Concert Brisé (William Dongois), Musica Favola (Stephan Van Dyck), the Ensemble Pierre Robert (Frédéric Désenclos), Le Poème Harmonique (Vincent Dumestre)… He also appears in orchestral music, notably with Le Concert Spirituel (Hervé Niquet) or Les Arts Florissants (William Christie).
He is co-founder of the ensemble La Rêveuse with Florence Bolton. He also created the production l’Autre Monde ou les Etats et Empires de la Lune with the actor and director Benjamin Lazar.
Benjamin Perrot has taken part in more than fifty recordings for labels including Accent, Accord, Alpha, Calliope, Glossa, K617, Mirare, Naïve, Zig-Zag Territoires…
He teaches lute and theorbo at the Conservatoire of Versailles and is a répétiteur at the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles. He also teaches on several early music training courses.
