He began his singing career as a chorister in the Cathedral of Notre Dame and studied the organ and flute at Versailles Conservatory. He later studied singing as a pupil of Alfred Deller. In 1978 he founded the Ensemble Clément Janequin, with which he continues to perform today, and is a founding member of Les Arts Florissants.
His opera engagements include Oreste/La Belle Hélène (Aix, Salzburg, Tel Aviv); Perelà, L’Homme de fumée (Opéra National de Paris); Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, Rinaldo (Munich); Agrippina (Munich, La Monnaie, Champs-Elysées); La Calisto (Vienna, Luxembourg, Munich); Nireno/Giulio Cesare (Champs-Elysées), Nutrice/L’incoronazione di Poppea (Champs-Elysées, Opéra National de Paris); Don Quichotte (Innsbruck).
He has worked with conductors such as Jacobs, Malgoire, Herreweghe, Koopman, Christie, Curtis, McGegan, Rousset, Bolton and King, in the opera houses of Berlin, Munich, Amsterdam, Lausanne, Montpellier, Houston and Barcelona. He has toured in Japan and North America, and appeared at the Aix and Edinburgh Festivals. He has made more than 50 recordings, principally for Harmonia Mundi.