Gli Angeli Genève is celebrating its twentieth anniversary. For the occasion, conductor and artistic director Stephan MacLeod highlights a singular journey within the European Baroque landscape. Between Geneva roots, a quest for excellence, and wide-ranging exploration of the repertoire, the ensemble marks this milestone with a major event: the release of a box set gathering the complete Bach chorale cantatas, the result of nearly fifteen years of work. 
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Trained as a singer, Stephan MacLeod first approached Baroque music through the voice, a terrain where he discovered the expressive power of the sacred repertoire as well as the great German vocal frescoes. From his years as a soloist under the world’s leading conductors, he has retained a sharp sense of timbre, style, and sound architecture, along with an undiminished musicological curiosity. In 2005, he founded Gli Angeli Genève in Geneva, bringing together instrumentalists and singers who are free-spirited, committed, and open to several centuries of music. His ambition: to bring Bach’s essence to life, to explore the links between early polyphony and the Baroque, and to pass on these works with exacting standards that never exclude simplicity or humanity. Twenty years later, this pursuit finds a spectacular culmination with the release of Bach’s complete chorale cantatas, a flagship project in a career where rigour, intuition, and a collective spirit have always moved forward in harmony.
On the occasion of your ensemble’s twentieth anniversary, how would you assess its development, both from a musical and human perspective?
Stephan MacLeod: The ensemble was born out of almost nothing. I belonged to those who start with neither initial financial support nor a network of patrons. On the other hand, I benefited very early on from strong support from the Geneva authorities. In Switzerland, culture is the responsibility of the cantons and municipalities; there is no ministry. Geneva believed in our project, which was focused initially on Bach’s cantatas. I understood that a long-term programme would be decisive. The cantatas were seldom performed: they became our guiding thread. During the first years, we gave three concerts a year in Geneva. Then we needed to disseminate our work more widely…
How did that unfold?
S. M.: Our first recording caught the attention of Sony, which released our first two albums devoted to the cantatas, successfully launched in 2007 and 2009. Administrative development was slower. In Switzerland, it is easier to finance concerts than the organisation itself. For five to seven years, I did everything myself: administration, stage management, logistics. Little by little, we were able to put a few people on salary. Today, the ensemble has nearly three full-time equivalents and gives around thirty concerts a year, in Geneva and on tour. We are celebrating our twentieth anniversary, but we are still under construction…
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