Le Poème Harmonique is a musical ensemble founded in 1998 by Vincent Dumestre to recreate and promote early music, in particular that of the 17th century. Using rare instruments such as the theorbo, the lirone, the tiorbino and the arpa tripla, Le Poème Harmonique aims to recapture the poetry of early music, particularly of the late renaissance and early baroque era. The early 17th-century French and Italian madrigal is a special interest. Le Poème Harmonique also teaches singers in collaboration with the Centre de Musique Baroque (Center for Baroque Music) at Versailles. The group's recordings with the French Alpha record label of Jean-Paul Combet contributed to the critical and commercial establishment of the label, and included the 1st and 100th releases of the label's primary 'Ut Pictura Musica' series.