Laurence Equilbey
Musical director and founder of Insula orchestra
Conductor and Artistic Director of Insula orchestra and accentus, Laurence Equilbey combines artistic excellence with an open and innovative vision. She founded accentus and later Insula orchestra in 2012, with the support of the Département des Hauts-de-Seine. The period-instrument orchestra inaugurated its residency at La Seine Musicale on Île Seguin in April 2017. With Insula orchestra, Laurence Equilbey is committed to regularly bringing to light the works of women composers overlooked by history. Following her complete recording of Louise Farrenc’s symphonies, several new releases are scheduled for 2026, including an album dedicated to Emilie Mayer (Warner Classics – Erato). Laurence Equilbey also curates guest artists at La Seine Musicale.
Each season, the conductor imagines staged productions in collaboration with artists from a variety of creative worlds. In 2023–2024, she revived Mozart’s Requiem in a staging by Yoann Bourgeois. In 2024–2025, she created a staged version of Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri, directed by Daniela Kerck. She is also developing, in collaboration with Antonin Baudry, an immersive production: Beethoven Wars, blending manga aesthetics with new technologies, which was revived in 2025.
In the operatic repertoire, Laurence Equilbey has conducted Weber’s Der Freischütz in a staging by the magic-theatre company 14:20, Mozart’s Lucio Silla with Rita Cosentino, Gounod’s La Nonne sanglante and Beethoven’s Fidelio with David Bobée, and Cherubini’s Médée with Marie-Eve Signeyrole at the Opéra-Comique.
As a guest conductor, she has led the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Handel and Haydn Society Boston, Hessischer Rundfunk, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Concerto Köln, Camerata Salzburg, Mozarteum Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, Gulbenkian Orchestra, as well as the orchestras of Lyon, Liège, Leipzig, Copenhagen, Salzburg, Barcelona, Bilbao, and many others.
Laurence Equilbey is an associate artist of the Grand Théâtre de Provence in Aix-en-Provence and maintains a close relationship with the Philharmonie de Paris.
With accentus, she continues to explore the vast repertoire of vocal music. Deeply committed to education, she serves as Artistic and Pedagogical Director of the Département supérieur pour jeunes chanteurs | CRR de Paris.
In 2025, Laurence Equilbey is launching Insula camerata, a professional training academy for young musicians dedicated to historically informed performance, under the mentorship of Insula orchestra.