Les Siècles is a historical performance ensemble that uses appropriate instruments to realize works of various eras, often employing instruments from the group's own collection. Unusually, Les Siècles apply historical performance principles to music as far forward in time as the early 20th century.

Les Siècles ("The Centuries") was founded in 2003 by conductor François-Xavier Roth. The group succeeded quickly, partly by dispersing its performances among venues around France. It performs regularly at multiple Paris venues, including the Opéra Comique, Salle Pleyel, and Philharmonie de Paris, and in other cities around France as well as touring internationally. Les Siècles have appeared in Amsterdam (at the Concertgebouw), London (at the BBC Proms), and other European capitals as well as in Tokyo. The group also performs frequently in schools, hospitals, and prisons. Les Siècles gives performances of music from various eras, but they are notable for extending the realm of historically oriented performance into the repertory of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 2013, at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, the group participated in a 100th-anniversary re-creation of the original performance of Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps, using only instruments that would have been available in Paris in 1913; the performance was broadcast internationally.

Les Siècles have amassed a catalog of some 20 recordings, beginning with an album devoted to Saint-Saëns' Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78 ("Organ Symphony") and Piano Concerto No. 4 in C minor, Op. 44. That and the group's other early recordings were made for the Actes Sud label. Les Siècles moved to the Harmonia Mundi label in 2017 for a recording of Ravel's complete Daphnis et Chloé ballet and has continued to record for that label. The year 2020 saw three new Les Siècles recordings, including one of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, with François-Joseph Gossec's rare Symphonie à dix-sept parties. Les Siècles returned in 2021 with a new recording of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55; both recordings were part of a Harmonia Mundi cycle of historically oriented Beethoven symphonies, featuring various ensembles. ~ James Manheim

Conductor François-Xavier Roth is among the most versatile and prolific conductors in 21st century France, active in both modern-instrument and historically-oriented performances. Roth is the director of the period-instrument orchestra Les Siècles, which offers historically authentic performances of music from the 17th to the 20th century.

Roth was born in Paris on November 6, 1971. His father was the well-known organist Daniel Roth. François-Xavier took up the flute and entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique for studies on that instrument with Alain Marion before switching to conducting, working with János Fürst. Roth won the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition in 2000, leading to a two-year appointment as assistant conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. His turn toward early music came during the same period as an assistant to John Eliot Gardiner. In 2003, Roth founded Les Siècles, which, unlike most other historically oriented ensembles, has applied historical principles to music as far forward as the 20th century. The ensemble has toured continental Europe, Britain, and Japan, and in 2013, to mark the work's 100th anniversary, it performed Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring on period instruments at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt and the BBC Proms. The group has amassed a large collection of historical instruments from various periods.

Meanwhile, Roth was making inroads into the world of conventional symphony orchestras. He made his recording debut in 2005 with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg on a recording of music by Jean-Louis Agobet (1968-). He led the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège and then, in 2010, became the final conductor of Germany's SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg before its merger into the SWR Symphonieorchester. In 2014, he was named Generalmusikdirektor of the city of Cologne, which entailed conductorships of the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne and the Cologne Opera. Remaining in that position through at least 2022, Roth also became the principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra in 2017. Roth's recording catalog is large and covers the various ensembles with which he has been associated. Since his debut on Timpani, he has recorded for various labels, including Hänssler, Actes Sud, and since 2017, Harmonia Mundi, where, in 2020, he released an album with Les Siècles of Ravel's La Valse and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, using period instruments in both works. Roth remained extremely active during the COVID-19 pandemic, releasing a total of 18 albums between 2020 and 2023. These included a period-instrument recording of Ravel's Boléro and L'heure espagnole on Harmonia Mundi; in the former, Roth observed Ravel's instructions that the tempo should be kept constant. ~ James Manheim