Created in 2019 by sopranos Camille Allérat, Julie Roset and Ana Vieira Leite, ensemble La Néréide showcases baroque repertoire for equal voices alongside featured instrumentalists. The trio connected while studying at Haute École de musique de Genève and chose the name as a reference to the mythical water sirens, les Néréides, keeping the singular form to represent their unity as an ensemble.
In their debut album, Il Concerto Segreto, released on Ricercar in September 2023, La Néréide present an all-Italian programme exploring the last years of the 16th century in the court of Ferrara, where there was an exceptional musical community dominated by a remarkable trio of female voices. This trio was nurtured by the court’s resident music master, composer Luzzasco Luzzaschi, and attendance at the concerts was by personal invitation of the Duke of Ferrara only, the repertoire was a closely guarded secret and only partially published in 1601. La Néréide’s first recording is centred around these publications, recreating the original conditions in which the works would have been performed, with the accompaniment of harpsichord, originally played by Luzzaschi himself, as well as viol, harp and luth, on which the Ladies of Ferrara would have accompanied themselves at the time.
