Nadja Lesaulnier

A well known young musician, Nadja Lesaulnier is appreciated for her soloist interpretations as well as for her sense of chamber music and her creative continuo.

Nadja Lesaulnier was awarded several international distinctions : the 1st prize at the Schmelzer International Competition in Melk, G. Leonhardt (president of the jury) ; the 2d prize at the International Harpsichord Competition  Paola Bernardi in Bologna, L.F. Tagliavini (president of the jury) ; the 2d prize at the Jurow International Harpsichord Competition in Cincinnati, and the 3d prize at the International Bach Competition in Leipzig, R. Hill (president of the jury).

Born in Aix-en-Provence, Nadja Lesaulnier studied with P. Hantaï and É. Joyé in Paris before moving to Barcelona to take part in B. Martin’s external degree course at the Escuola Superior de Musica de Catalunya. There she also studied chamber music with M. Kramer. In 2003, she began studies with J. B. Christensen, A. Marcon, and J.-A. Bötticher at the Schola Cantorum in Basel. She also took part in courses by A. Scholl, P. Pandolfo, G. Turk, D. Plantier, and C. Banchini, completing a harpsichord soloist diploma and a basso continuo master with honors.

Nadja Lesaulnier has performed all over the world including Vienna (Italia Mia), Schaffhausen (Bach Festspiel), Venice, Stuttgart (Europäisches Musikfest), Melk (Barock Tage), Zurich, Philadelphia (Curtis Institute). She has collaborated as a soloist and a continuo player with the “Venice Baroque Orchestra” (dir. A. Marcon), l’Arpeggiata (dir. C. Pluhar) and the Baroque orchestra “la Cetra” (Basel).  She was the harpsichordist of the European Union Baroque Orchestra in 2008 (dir. L.U.Mortensen, R.Goodman and E.Onofri).

Nadja Lesaulnier is a founding member of the early music ensembles Les Ombres and I Pizzicanti, and of the harpsichord duo Le Petit Concert Baroque. She regularly plays with the baroque orchestra « Divino Sospiro » ( dir Enrico Onofri ), the flutist Tamar Eskenian, the violinist Mirka Scepanovic and the Marinus Ensemble.