The historical performance ensemble Pygmalion is unusual in having been established as a joint choral-instrumental group. This background has equipped the group not only for choral music of various periods but also for the exploration of little-known operatic repertory. Pygmalion was founded in 2006 by singer-conductor-violinist Raphaël Pichon. The group recorded several albums for Alpha, making its debut in 2008 with two of Bach's Missae Breves. It moved to Harmonia Mundi in 2014, issuing a recording of Bach's rarely performed Köthener Trauermusik, BWV 244a. The group has continued to issue albums annually, some of them such as Enfers (2018) and Libertà! (2019), are thematic in nature. In 2023, the group issued a recording of Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine.