ANGELA LYONS
It’s not often that a child asks to take up a period instrument. Yet Théotime Langlois de Swarte was – and is – no ordinary musician. Now aged 26, the French artist began his violin studies at four, inspired by the similarity between his bow and the lightsabers of his hero Jedi Knights. But his playful imagination went hand in hand with a maturity well beyond his years, and at the age of nine he decided to learn Baroque violin in order to play chamber music with his elder sister, who was studying the harpsichord. It’s this combination of youthful enthusiasm and serious attention to detail that continues to inform Langlois de Swarte’s musical choices today, as he works with frequent collaborators including Les Arts Florissants founder William Christie and lutenist Thomas Dunford to bring to light neglected compositions of the past. On page 26 he speaks to Charlotte Gardner about his flurry of recording projects from the past year.