From the suave and seductive melodies of the Renaissance madrigal to the virtuoso solo and concerto repertoire of the Baroque, the young French recorder player Julien Martin is gaining an outstanding reputation for his charismatic and persuasive performances on the premiere “original” instrument in the revival of the repertoire ranging from the Middle Ages to the high Baroque. With an unusually flexible and rich sound, his playing tends to come as a complete surprise to audiences who are accustomed to a less adventurous treatment of the recorder and its wide-ranging repertoire.
Julien Martin studied throughout Europe and received the Diplôme National d’Etudes Superieures de Musique from the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Lyon, where he studied with Pierre Hamon. He subsequently worked with Walter van Hauwe at the Amsterdam Conservatory, Pedro Memelsdorff at the Civica Scuola in Milan and Lorenzo Alpert at the Centre de Musique Ancienne in Geneva.
He is the recipient of the 2002 Capriccio Stravagante Prize, founded in 1998 to recognize and support exceptional individuality and talent in the fields of Renaissance and Baroque music.
Julien Martin is a soloist member of Capriccio Stravagante and the Capriccio Stravagante Renaissance Orchestra, and has toured and recorded in the company of Skip Sempe, Josh Cheatham, Doron Sherwin, Serge Saitta, Guillemette Laurens, Lynne Dawson, Cecilia Bartoli, Les Musiciens du Louvre and Chanticleer. Recent concerts in Europe include those at the Bach Festivals in Leipzig and Lausanne, the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, and the Festivals of Aldeburgh, Fenetrange and Loire-Atlantique, the Folles Journees of Nantes, Bilbao and Lisbon, the Arsenal in Metz, as well as performances in the United States at the Berkeley Early Music Festival.
In the last season he returned twice to the USA and Canada, for concerts with the Capriccio Stravagante Renaissance Orchestra and the Studio de Musique Ancienne in Montreal, and for a tour of duo concerts with Skip Sempe including performances in San Diego, Los Angeles, New Orleans, at Stanford University and at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.