Born in 1983, Maude Gratton has been fascinated by early keyboards and a wide variety of repertoires from an early age. Her first steps led her to the harpsichord at the age of five, followed a few years later by the great organ. Fascinated by the clavichord from an early age, she naturally began to explore the multifaceted world of early pianos at the age of twenty.

Eager to create a space where music could flourish freely, Maude founded the ensemble il Convito in 2005 on a chamber music basis with Claire Gratton at her side. The ensemble lived independently for ten years, guided by a 'Déclic' prize awarded by Cultures France and Radio France in 2007. In 2015, with the support of several musician friends, il Convito dropped anchor in La Rochelle: the structure was officially born.

Committed to sharing music and the arts, Maude has founded and directed a number of projects as artistic director in France and the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region: the Musiques en Gâtine festival, now the MM Festival (Festival de Musique en Mouvement in La Rochelle), and the Saison du MM.

Maude Gratton is a member of Collegium Vocale Gent conducted by Philippe Herreweghe and plays regularly with musicians such as Bruno Cocset & Les Basses Réunies, Philippe Pierlot & Ricercar Consort, Damien Guillon & Le Banquet Céleste, Romina Lischka & Hathor Consort, Pierre Hantaï, Sophie Gent, Ageet Zweistra, Claire Gratton, Camille Poul. Since 2011 she has taught at the Vannes Early Music Institute (Bruno Cocset).

She has made several recordings for the Mirare label: Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (Concertos for harpsichord & strings, Works for harpsichord & clavichord), Georges Onslow (Sonatas for cello & fortepiano with cellist Emmanuel Jacques), Beethoven (Sonatas for violin & fortepiano with violinist Baptiste Lopez). She has also recorded for the Phi - Outhere music label (Bach Leipzig Organ Works), and appeared as soloist on several recordings with Le Banquet Céleste (Bach), Ricercar Consort (Bach, Weckmann, Imitatio), Les Basses Réunies (Vivaldi, Ortiz, Beethoven), Edding Quartet (Beethoven), Les Siècles (Martin Matalon).

Forthcoming recordings include a solo disc devoted to Venetian music (from Cavazzoni to Merula), and il Convito's first orchestral recording with guest Pierre Hantaï of the Doubles Concertos for harpsichord(s) and fortepiano by the Bach sons.

Maude is a graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris in harpsichord, organ, basso continuo and Renaissance counterpoint. In 2003 she won 2nd prize at the Bruges International Organ Competition, and was named Young Soloist 2006 by the Radios Francophones publiques.

French tenor Jean-François Novelli, winner of the Concours Général, holder of a Master's degree in Musicology from the Sorbonne, First Prize in recorder, graduated of the CNSMD in Paris in singing and ADAMI young talent, turned quite naturally - from his first instrument - to early music, which he has practiced and continues to practise with great passion. This is borne out by some thirty recordings and DVDs with today's great conductors of early music. These include Silentium, a recital disc on the pruning voice that he recorded with Fabien Armengaud, and Tirannique Empire, a recital of cantatas by Jean-Baptiste Stuck with the ensemble Les Lunaisiens "première époque".

His recent engagements include roles like Remendado (Carmen) at the Teatro la Fenice in Venice, Torquemada (L'heure espagnole) on tour in Italy (Operas of Brescia, Como, Cremona and Pavia), the Herald (Godard's Dante) at the Opéra de Saint-Etienne, or Telemaco and Pisandro (Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria) ; a project that has been touring the world for 10 years (Europe: Opéra Massimo in Palermo, Théâtre Royal in Versailles, Spain... Asia: Korea, Hong Kong, United States: New York...)

This year he will also be Jean-Paul and Monsieur Victor in Ô Mon bel Inconnu by Reynaldo Hahn, directed by Emeline Bayard, first performed at the Grand Théâtre in Tours, then at the Théâtre de l'Athénée in Dijon, the Grand Théâtre in Avignon, the Théâtre des Arts in Rouen and Massy.

His love of stage performance led him to study clowning with Françoise Simon and Raphaël Almosni and theatre with Olivier Broche. He explores and exploits these teachings with delight in his own projects developped with the Compagnie l’Autre Voix that he created : Croustilleux la Fontaine, a recital of theatrical songs based on the licentious tales of Jean de La Fontaine set in music by Antoine Sahler and directed by Juliette, is still touring and has already been performed more than 80 times. An album of songs from the show was released in 2022 Ma vie de ténor (a novel that interests me a lot) based on a text by Berlioz about the singer's ego, directed by Olivier Broche that will be performed at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Michel for the « off »part of the Avignon Festival in July 2023.

He has also created a number of 'pocket' shows combining poetry and music: Divine bouteille, a recital based on wine, a subject that could not be more present in Baroque music, with lute, or La boite à Joujoux, a fantasy revisited with piano, based on the tale of Hellé and Claude Debussy's work of the same name.

He has just released a recital disc of French melodies, Vous souvenez vous? a tribute to the first rediscoverers of early music at the dawn of the 20th century and beyond, with Maude Gratton at the piano.

Jean-François Novelli has been represented by RSB Artists since 2013.