Biography
Harpsichord, organ, clavichord
The world of Benjamin Alard is the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, and it was for this musical affinity that the jury of the International Harpsichord Competition in Bruges awarded him first prize in 2004.
Drawn very young to the mysteries of the organ, his first teachers were François Ménissier and Louis Thiry at the conservatories of Dieppe and then Rouen. It was thanks to Elisabeth Joyé, with whom he studied in Paris, that he discovered the harpsichord repertoire. In 2003 he entered the Schola Cantorum in Basel to work with Jörg-Andreas Bötticher, Jean-Claude Zehnder and Andrea Marcon.
Titular organist of the Bernard Aubertin organ of the church of Saint-Louis-en-l’Île in Paris since 2005, Benjamin Alard gives regular recitals there built around the music of Bach.
On both harpsichord and organ, he divides his time between recitals and chamber music (on two harpsichords with Élisabeth Joyé, in sonatas with the flautist Emmanuel Pahud), and each season he is a guest of the major early music centres around the world, in Europe, Japan and the United States.
Benjamin Alard has recorded for Hortus the Andreas Bach Buch, transcriptions, the Bauyn Manuscript and a disc of French music of the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as the Trio Sonatas for organ by J. S. Bach and Clavier-Übung I and II for Alpha. These recordings have been awarded many times by the music press.
In 2017 he began recording for harmonia mundi the complete works for solo keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach. This undertaking, of uncommon importance, will unfold over more than ten years. Eleven volumes out of 17 are now available. The release of the first book of The Well-Tempered Clavier, marking the 300th anniversary of the work (March 2022), was chosen as Recording of the Month by the English magazine Gramophone and received a “Diapason d’or-Arte” from the French magazine Diapason.
It is in the spirit of worship, by associating an amateur choir, the Ensemble vocal Bergamasque, and a children’s choir, the Maîtrise de Notre-Dame de Paris, that Benjamin Alard recorded the Orgelbüchlein, released in autumn 2022. May 2023 saw the release of volume 8, dedicated to Maria Barbara, the first wife of Johann Sebastian Bach. Volume 9, released in spring 2024, was devoted to Köthen, the Happy Years. Before that, in winter 2024, a Manuel de Falla disc was released with which harmonia mundi associated Benjamin Alard. He plays the concerto for harpsichord and five instruments and the harpsichord part in El retablo de maese Pedro with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado.
Volume 10 of the cycle, devoted to the six Trio Sonatas and the Little Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, was released in spring 2025. Volume 11, Clavier-Übung I and II, bringing together the six Partitas, the Italian Concerto and the French Overture, was released on 5 December 2025.
Benjamin Alard performs regularly in the major music centres of the world, from Paris to Tokyo via Boston, Madrid, Barcelona, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium.
Further reading
