Violist

Project created on Saturday September 23, 2023 as part of a creative residency hosted by the Bel-Air Claviers Festival.

Goldberg Variations

Haapsalu Cathedral

A shared passion for early music combined with an openness to many other genres prompted the harpsichordist Jean Rondeau, flautist Anna Besson, gambist Robin Pharo and violinist Louis Creac’h to found the quartet Nevermind in 2013. The ensemble focuses on interpretations of Baroque chamber music, but jazz, folk music and contemporary works also feature in Nevermind’s performances. In Leipzig, the quartet will present their own arrangement of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Unlike in the original version for harpsichord, Nevermind’s interpretation brings out quite different, diverse musical colours.

No 105 The Goldberg Variations transformed

Gewandhaus

Join us for the Carnegie Hall debut of the vibrant Nevermind quartet. Self-described as “an ensemble whose virtuosity is equaled only by its youthful impetuosity and love of fine music,” the members’ shared passion is truly contagious—particularly when it comes to French Baroque music. The group comprises flutist Anna Besson, violinist Louis Creac’h, viola da gamba player Robin Pharo, and harpsichordist Jean Rondeau, whose last performance at the Hall was a widely hailed, sold-out recital. This enticing program celebrates Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, one of the few well-known women French Baroque composers, as well as Couperin and others.

EPSG:4326

Nevermind

Carnegie Hall

Early music audiences will fondly recall the 2019 PCMS debut of harpsichordist Jean Rondeau, one of the four musicians of this French ensemble that is expanding the artistic possibilities of period-instrument performance. They are imbuing the Baroque quartet repertoire (flute, violin, viola da gamba, and harpsichord) with a thoroughly engaging mix of virtuoso expertise and unpretentious charm, all of which will be on display in their arrangement of Bach’s famous Goldberg Variations.

American Philosophical Society

The love and passion of ancient repertoire and music from all horizons led Anna Besson, Louis Creac’h, Robin Pharo and Jean Rondeau to create Nevermind in 2013. Together, their mission is to share the works they love with a wide and varied audience, championing and transcending the quartet repertoire (flute, violin, viola da gamba and harpsichord) of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Nevermind’s numerous concerts have only reinforced their conviction and the friendship shared by these four musicians emanates through their passion and sincere love of playing, as is evidenced in the striking complicity of their collaborations.

St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church

Nevermind’s four founders each had a hand in transcribing one of the great landmarks of the keyboard repertoire for flute, violin, viola da gamba and harpsichord, creating thrilling new perspectives on Bach’s aria and 30 variations.

Espoo Cultural Centre

Recent years have seen surging interest in the multifaceted music of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Nevermind has played its part in the rediscovery of a genius hailed by his younger contemporary Charles Burney as creator of works ‘so rich in invention, taste, and learning, that … each line of them, if wire-drawn, would furnish more new ideas than can be discovered in a whole page of many other compositions.’ The period-instrument quartet’s programme confirms Dr Burney’s analysis with works that linger long in the memory.

Violist

Robin Pharo

Events

Upcoming events

Dec 7, 2026

Nevermind · Wigmore Hall

Past events

Jul 27, 2025

Goldberg Variations · Haapsalu vanamuusikafestival

Jun 17, 2025

No 105 The Goldberg Variations transformed · Bachfest Leipzig

Future and recently performed repertoire

Viola da Gamba in Goldberg Variations by Bach

Haapsalu vanamuusikafestival

Viola da Gamba in Keyboard Sonata in A Major by Bach

Wigmore Hall

Viola da Gamba in Quartet in A minor by Bach

Wigmore Hall

Viola da Gamba in Quartet in D Major by Bach

Wigmore Hall

Viola da Gamba in Quartet in G Major by Bach

Wigmore Hall

About

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