His taste for the arts, creative feeling for Baroque aesthetics, explorer’s flair and love of collective projects naturally led Vincent Dumestre to delve into the repertoire of the 17th and 18th Centuries and in 1998 create Le Poème Harmonique. Mr. Dumestre is one of the most inventive and versatile artists of the Baroque revival as a conductor and director, while continuing to pursue his first love – playing plucked string instruments. He graduated from the École du Louvre (art history) and the École normale de musique de Paris (classical guitar), and studied lute, baroque guitar and theorbo with Hopkinson Smith, Eugène Ferré and Rolf Lislevand, playing with the Ricercar Consort, La Grande Écurie & La Chambre du Roy, Hespèrion XX and La Simphonie du Marais. He is in demand with Le Poème Harmonique on the world’s great stages for Baroque music. Mr. Dumestre is also regularly invited as guest conductor with other ensembles such as the Orchestre régional de Normandie, Capella Cracoviensis and Orkiestra Historyczna. Mr. Dumestre is an Officer of the National Order of Arts and Letters and a Knight of the National Order of Merit.