Doulce Mémoire
represents above all the spirit of the Renaissance – a time of voyages and discovery, inventiveness and creativity. For almost twenty-five years now, this faithful, close-knit team of musicians and singers has been involved in artistic ventures of a constantly innovative nature, with the regular participation of actors and dancers. The ensemble’s productions range from the very serious Requiem for the Kings of France to the racy, bawdy and festive L’Honnête courtisane. One of the recent additions to the repertoire is a reconstruction of the Mass for the encounter of the Field of the Cloth of Gold.

Since it was founded, Doulce Mémoire has appeared at national theatres, opera houses and festivals all over France, as well as in many major cities abroad (Brussels, Rome, Riga, New York, Mexico City, Brasilia …).

Doulce Mémoire has established some fine artistic and personal relationships in the course of its travels: with the Hang Tang Yuefu Music and Dance Ensemble of Taiwan, for example, the fado singer Antonio Zambujo, the Iranian singer Taghi Akhbari, and the Turkish ney player Kudsi Ergüner.

Through its concerts and shows, Doulce Mémoire enables audiences to discover the music that could have been heard by great men of the Renaissance such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rabelais, François I and others, some of whom left their mark on the Loire valley and some of its fine Renaissance châteaux. For the past fifteen years the ensemble has been particularly active in Centre Region of France, with which it has developed a privileged relationship. Amongst other events, Doulce Mémoire organises Le Droict Chemin de Musique, an academy for young professional singers, launched in 2003 and held in the wonderful setting of the royal château at Chambord.

Doulce Mémoire records for Zig-Zag Territoires, Naïve and Ricercar, and regularly receives top ratings in the specialised music press. The ensemble has taken part in several documentaries for the cultural TV channel Arte.

Denis Raisin Dadre
After his musical studies – recorder, oboe and musicology – Denis Raisin Dadre formed the ensemble Doulce Mémoire in 1989. His keen interest in history, literature, and the arts in general, as well as music, leads him to devise programmes that are set in a historical context.

After twenty-five years of intense activity, with memorable achievements both in concert and on CD, his love for the Renaissance has never weakened. As Denis Raisin Dadre studies the material found in European libraries, transposes manuscript scores or tries out various instrumental possibilities, he questions preconceived ideas and sometimes even the vocabulary of music – and not only that of the Renaissance, for he often works with stage directors and choreographers on the creation of original types of performance.

He is regularly invited to take part in academies organised for the training of young musicians. Denis Raisin Dadre has taught, for example, at those of Gijon (Spain), Chiquitos (Bolivia), Prague (Czech Republic) and Havana (Cuba). He also teaches in the Department of Early Music at the Conservatoire in Tours, and since 2003 he has been director of the International Academy Le Droict Chemin de Musique for talented young singers.

Denis Raisin Dadre was made a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture in 1999.