Although Rolf Lislevand built a reputation during the 20th century as a skilled Baroque guitarist and lutenist with a largely conventional approach, he shifted direction in the early 21st century by rejecting historically informed performance. He maintains that recreating the original sonic experience remains unattainable, so he instead recasts Baroque pieces with contemporary timbres, frequently introducing jazz-inflected or modern textures. His activities encompass both unaccompanied repertoire and ensemble settings featuring voice and instruments, the latter realized through Ensemble Kapsberger. That group regularly employs harp and voice—roles filled by Arianna Savall, daughter of Jordi Savall—alongside nyckelharpa and the 12-string Baroque guitar known as chitarra battente in both live appearances and recorded projects. A substantial portion of Lislevand’s professional life has been spent with Jordi Savall’s Hespèrion XX (later Hespèrion XXI), La Capella Reial de Catalunya, and Le Concert des Nations, contributing to concerts and releases. His discography appears on ECM, Naïve, and Astree.
Lislevand entered the world on December 30, 1961, in Oslo, Norway. Between 1980 and 1984 he pursued guitar and general music studies at the Norway Academy of Music. He then spent three years at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland, receiving instruction from lutenist Hopkinson Smith, a co-founder of Hespèrion XX, and from Eugen Dombois. By 1987 he had already begun performing with Hespèrion XX; that same year he settled in Verona to investigate 17th-century Italian repertoire. Among the many recordings he made with Savall’s ensembles, the 1993 Astree release España: Anthology of Spanish Music stood out for its critical and popular reception.
Lislevand joined the teaching staff of the Staatliche Hochschule in Trossingen, Germany, in 1993 and retained the position into 2021. Toward the end of the 1990s he established Ensemble Kapsberger to focus on Italian Baroque music; his son, gambist André Lislevand, became a member in 2010. The 2006 ECM album Nuove Musiche brought Lislevand widespread acclaim from both reviewers and listeners. Its success, together with his rising profile in the United States, led to an appearance on National Public Radio, where he discussed his interpretive stance on Baroque performance. He maintains an active schedule as soloist and chamber musician with Ensemble Kapsberger. His first solo ECM recording, La Mascarade, appeared in 2016. In 2020 he collaborated with Philippe Pierlot, Lucile Boulanger, and Myriam Rignol on the Mirare album Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe et ses filles.
