After studying music at the University of Toulouse and the Conservatoire de Toulouse, Joël Suhubiette started his career by singing with Les Arts Florissants and William Christie, then with Philippe Herreweghe’s two choirs: La Chapelle Royale in Paris, and Collegium Vocale Gent in Belgium. This was to be a decisive meeting for in 1990 Herreweghe gave him the role of assistant and over the following eight years, Suhubiette worked on a large repertoire representing four centuries of vocal musicAt the same time, in 1993, he succeeded Jean-Pierre Ouvrard as the conductor of the vocal and instrumental Ensemble Jacques Moderne in Tours, performing early European music from Renaissance polyphony to Baroque vocal music.
In 1997, in Toulouse, he founded the Chamber choir Les Eléments, consisting of 16 to 40 singers, to perform contemporary creations, the 19th and 20th century a cappella repertoire, and masterpieces of baroque and classical oratorios.
With his two ensembles, Joël Suhubiette has frequently appeared in the principal French venues and festivals and has toured throughout Europe (Spain, Portugal, Germany, UK, Switzerland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Latvia, Czech Republic…), Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco, Japan, and the Americas (USA, Canada, Colombia). He has recorded more than 25 albums with many labels such as Virgin Classics, Hortus, Caliope, Ligia, Naïve, l’Empreinte Digitale and more recently, Mirare.
In addition to his vocal work, he has also conducted several major French orchestras and instrumental ensembles (Café Zimmermann, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre de Chambre de Toulouse, Les Passions, Concerto Soave, Les Percussions de Strasbourg, Ars Nova, Concerto Soave…) and as well as performing on the concert stage, he has conducted operas in Dijon, Saint-Céré, Massy…
Since 2006, he has also been the Artistic Director of the Festival Musique des Lumières de l’Abbaye-école de Sorèze and was recently awarded the prestigious Officier des Arts et des Lettres honour by the French Ministry of Cultural Affairs.
