When Daniel Cuiller founded the Stradivaria ensemble in 1987, intending thereby to perform more music  by the great composers of the baroque period - Purcell, Lully, Rameau and Bach - he can hardly have foreseen the tremendous success he would enjoy and the first-class reputation he would gain at an international level.

The forces of this ensemble vary according to the programme to be performed, but consist of musicians chosen for the specialist knowledge, their commitment to musicological research and the high quality of their instruments.  In return for these demanding criteria, Daniel Cuiller obtains musicians who are familiar with his keen musical ear, his approach to the repertoire and the sound he wants to hear from them.  This thorough approach means that we now refer to the 'Stradivaria sound', rich, brilliant, alive, full of tenderness and poetry and immediately recognisable.  It is in a way a sound that has been reconstructed especially for baroque music, this repertoire which in the preceding decades had been performed too thickly and heavily under the continuing influence of musical criteria from the Romantic Era and the 19th century.  Stradivaria is above all a string repertoire, ranging from the sonatas of the 1620s to the concertos of the 18th century Venetian school. 

Although its stylistic reference and favourite repertoire is baroque, Stradivaria does not hesitate to extend its range into the Classical and Romantic eras for certain projects.  This is testified by its many recordings.  Stradivaria performs in large-scale operatic productions in many houses the world over.  They were lately acclaimed in Lully's court ballet, Le Ballet de l'Amour Malade, a World Première with the Eventail dance company, and in Amour et ..., or Bacchus, a musical divertissement created by Daniel Cuiller.

Whether he is conducting the '24 Violons du Roi' formation (used for the King's court orchestra at Versailles), an opera orchestra or an intimate chamber music group, Daniel Cuiller is always inspired by the same devotion to the quality of musical language.


Daniel Cuiller

Daniel Cuiller is first and foremost a violinist.  This was his training, and this the domain in which he rapidly made his mark in the musical world of the 1970s.  From 1981 to 1986 he was leader of the orchestra William Christie formed under a name which subsequently became famous - the vocal ensemble Les Arts Florissants.  This while still teaching the modern violin.  In 1982 he created the Ensemble Baroque de France, which in 1987 led him on to found and direct the Stradivaria ensemble, primarily devoted to purely instrumental music.

From 1992 to 2002 Daniel Cuiller taught the baroque violin at the Conservatoire Supérieur in Paris.  Although originally from Normandy, he settled in the Pays de Loire to teach chamber music at the Regional Conservatoire in Nantes;  Stradivaria is attached both to Rezé in the Loire and, since January 2006, to Nantes.  In addition to this, Daniel Cuiller gives frequent masterclasses, organises instrumental working sessions, and lectures at the Escorial in Madrid.

Violinist, teacher and conductor, Daniel Cuiller is invited to many continents (Helsinki, Oslo, Rome, Edinburgh, Calcutta, Taiwan and Montreal) to conduct baroque and classical ensembles, especially for programmes of 17th to 19th century music.

He also conducts many dance productions (Rameau with Philippe Lenaél, Lully with M G Masséo), theatrical productions and Premières of contemporary works (J Y Bosseur, G Garcin) with whom he works on contemporary composition for ancient instruments.  Daniel Cuiller's musical life would be inconceivable without historical research into the music he chooses to perform:  research of exemplary quality requiring humility and honesty with regard to the musical score in order to preserve its authenticity;  research into the works of composers who, though less well-known, are worth of much interest.  Whether from his baton or his bow, Daniel Cuiller adds continually to the edifice of our musical heritage and is a sort of international ambassador for French music.