In 2002, after many collaborations in the most prestigious baroque ensembles in France and Europe, several musicians decided to form the Ensemble Artaserse. Those friends were Christine Plubeau (viola da gamba), Claire Antonini (theorbe), Yoko Nakamura (harpsichord and organ) and, of course, Philippe Jaroussky (counter-tenor). They gave in october 2002 a first and highly-acclaimed concert in the Theatre du Palais-Royal in Paris, with the Musiche a voce sola by the Italian composer Benedetto Ferrari. This music was immediately recorded and released by the French label Ambroisie, receiving then very prestigious awards (Diapason-decouverte by the magazine Diapason, 10 de Classica-Repertoire, Timbre de diamant by the magazine Opera International etc.).

After 15 years, Artaserse has now established a reputation as one of the most exciting period instrument ensembles.
With this ability to adapt to numerous repertoires including music by Antonio Vivaldi, George Friedric Handel but also venitian music of Monteverdi, Cavalli, the ensemble performed progressively in the most famous venues and festivals in France and abroad.
Artaserse has won over audiences in Europe and around the world: Paris, Salzburg, Vienna, Berlin, Hamburg, London, Rotterdam, Madrid, Barcelona, Wroclaw, Gstaad, Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Rio de Janeiro , Mexico City, Sao Paolo, Montevideo, Santiago de Chile, Boston, San Diego, Toronto...

Artaserse has collaborated with such great singers in the last seasons : the countertenor Andreas Scholl, the contraltos Marie-Nicole Lemieux and Nathalie Stutzmann, the sopranos Cecilia Bartoli and Emöke Barath.

For the first time, Ensemble Artaserse and Philippe Jaroussky was in the pit for the stage production of Händel Giulio Cesare on last may and june 2022 in Paris, Theatre des Champs Elysées and Montpellier Opera.

The Ensemble’s discography includes Benedetto Ferrari’s Musiche a voce sola (Ambroisie-Naïve) and two very acclaimed albums for Virgin Classics : Virtuoso cantatas by Vivaldi and Beata Vergine with 17th century Italian music devoted to the Virgin Mary (Timbre de Platine of Opera International etc), then Vivaldi Pietà for Erato-Warner Classics, the somptuous Händel album, which has acclaimed Philippe Jaroussky’s art. The two following were devoted to Francesco Cavalli (2019) and the sumptuous Oratorios pages with La Vanita del Mondo (2020).
Dualità album has just been released (2022à, in which the soprano Emoke Baráth tackles the great arias of Handelian opera, the first disc in which Philippe Jaroussky endorses his true habits as conductor.