Artists · Current artists · Eric Bellocq · lute and historic guitar
Éric Bellocq studied guitar at the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur with Alexandre Lagoya (graduating with 1st prize in 1983) and early music with William Christie. He was subsequently obtained national teaching diplomas in early music (D. E. in 1989) and guitar (C.A. in 1990).
Éric Bellocq taught guitar at the Poissy Conservatoire (1984-90). He attended summer training courses in Edgar Willem's method of music teaching between 1985 to 1988. He was also a regular contributor to the teaching section of the Les Cahiers de la Guitare magazine (1987-1989) and an associated teacher at the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur for lute and early guitar initiation from 1997 to 2015.
Between 1983 and 1990, Éric Bellocq was a member of William Christie's Baroque ensemble Les Arts Florissants. Since 1991, he has been playing mainly renaissance lute with the Ensemble Clément Janequin directed by Dominique Visse. In 2000, he created a staged show with the juggler Vincent de Lavenère, Le Chant des Balles , which gave him the opportunity to compose his own works at the same time as remaining true to early music style.
As well as participating in numerous recordings with various orchestras and ensemblers, he has made several solo and duo recordings for Zig-Zag Territoires (France), Naxos, King Records (Japan) and Frame (Italy).
In 2008, he met André Burguete and his newly conceived Liuto-Forte. This encounter led him to focus not only on historical revival but also on modern practice. He is now playing several Liuto-Forte in lute and archlute versions, all made by Michael Haaser from Dresden.
In 2009, his research on J. S. Bach's works for solo lute took a concrete form by virtue of an innovative new tuning for the instrument. Important European festivals such as AMUZ (Antwerp) and Saintes have given audiences an opportunity to listen to Bach's rarely performed suites BWV 996, 997 and 998. Bach en Balles is the second staged show created in 2010 with juggler Vincent de Lavenère as a direct result of this long-lasting research.
In 2014, Éric Bellocq formed a new Romantic trio, Les Guitares d'Amour, with Guido Balestracci playing the arpeggione and Massimo Moscardo playing Romantic guitars. The trio focuses on masterpieces by Beethoven and Schubert, and Éric Bellocq has made several arrangements for the ensemble, faithfully respecting what was common arrangement practice during the early Romantic period. The lute has a recurring presence in Romantic poetry but only in a symbolic way. The instrument has now left this virtual presence to actually join in the music!
For more information, visit www.bellocq.info
Adrien Le Roy 1520 - 1598
Allemande "Le Pied de Cheval"
