Skip Sempé

As a solo performer, Sempé has focused on developing a superb sense of idiomatic harpsichord touch and a finely tuned ear for achieving variation in the instrument’s sonority. Performing and recording on the world’s most prestigious harpsichords, made by Ruckers, Skowroneck, Kennedy and Sidey, Skip Sempé is particularly known for his interpretations of the French classical harpsichord literature including Chambonnières, d’Anglebert, Forqueray, Louis and François Couperin and Rameau, for his adventurous and ground-breaking Bach and Scarlatti, and for the earlier virginalist repertoire of Byrd and his contemporaries. Solo performances from Seattle to Tokyo – including recitals at the Festivals of La Roque d’Antheron and Urbino, dedication concerts for the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Chateau de Versailles – as well as harpsichord master classes for the Leipzig Bach Festival, the Berkeley Early Music Festival, Stanford University, Mc Gill University and the University of Montreal have attracted a particularly enthusiastic following. Prizewinning recordings include Pavana – The Virgin Harpsichord, featuring Elizabethan music for one, two and three harpsichords with Olivier Fortin and Pierre Hantaï.

He collaborates regularly with the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, from performances to recording co-productions, serving the common goal of promoting French repertoire for harpsichord, chamber and orchestral forces. This ongoing relationship has contributed to Skip Sempe’s reputation as one of the major interpreters of French Baroque music.

Skip Sempé combines the rare synthesis of uncompromising musical moderator and admired virtuoso performer. He is in constant demand as a recording artist, having succeeded Gustav Leonhardt for the Deutsche Harmonia Mundi label and Jordi Savall for Astrée. As a solo harpsichordist or as a basso continuo player of infinite finesse with Capriccio Stravagante, Skip Sempé has assured the ongoing traditions of those pioneers and vast repertoires with more than two dozen prizewinning recordings. Season after season of prestigious concert appearances and recordings document Skip Sempé’s dedication to strategic planning of repertoire, artist and programming, having featured Julien Martin, Josh Cheatham, Olivier Fortin, Sophie Gent, Doron Sherwin, Guillemette Laurens, Judith van Wanroij, Philippe Jaroussky, Karina Gauvin, Maria Bayo, Jay Bernfeld, Manfredo Kraemer, the Collegium Vocale Gent, Chanticleer with Joseph Jennings, Les Voix Humaines, the Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montreal, The Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, B’Rock and the Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin.

For 2006/07, Skip Sempé was named Artist-in-Residence for BOZAR Music in Brussels, with a ‘carte blanche’ of five concert appearances, in recital, with Capriccio Stravagante, the Capriccio Stravagante Renaissance Orchestra, the Collegium Vocale Gent and B’Rock – and including a special event of Masterclasses and Lectures for the Orpheus Instutite in Ghent in the ‘Artistic Witness’ series.

Following fifteen years of prizes and awards with three prestigious labels, Skip Sempé founded the Paradizo label in 2006. The label will release all of Capriccio Stravagante and Skip Sempe’s new recordings, assuring Capriccio Stravagante’s own tradition of presenting important new instrumental and vocal soloists.

Among the distinctions Skip Sempé has received for his recordings are the Choc de l’Année du Monde de la Musique, Diapason d’Or, Grand Prix du Disque de l’Academie du Disque Français, Gramophone Critic’s Choice, Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, Goldberg 5 Stars, Télérama ffff, Opéra International 4 croches, Stereo Review Best of the Month, Penguin Guide Yearbook Award, Top 10 Classics USA, Gramophone Editor’s Choice, 10 de Repertoire, 10 de Classica, CD Classica Scelte d’Editore, and a Grammy Award Nomination for the début recording of the Capriccio Stravagante Orchestra.