Born in 1956, he studied musicology at Lyons, the recorder with Gabriel Garrido in Geneva, and the oboe and Renaissance reed instruments with Michelle Vanderbrouke and Michel Henry in Paris. After graduating with a degree in musicology, he obtained teaching diplomas for Early Music and the Recorder.

In 1981 he embarked on a career as an orchestral and chamber instrumentalist, the latter with the recorder trio I Dilettanti (S. Marcq, C. Michon). He then turned solo with the Limoges Baroque Ensemble, the Jean-Marie Leclair Ensemble and the Nice Baroque Ensemble, with which he performed a repertoire of Baroque concertos at various French festivals and other venues.

Passionately interested in singing, Denis Raisin Dadre gave courses in vocal technique at Beaune and Toulouse (Opéra Minima), before forming Doulce Mémoire in 1990, with young singers and instrumentalists who share the same desire to rediscover the specific performance techniques of Renaissance music.

Since then Denis Raisin Dadre has devoted himself exclusively to Doulce Mémoire, with concerts at the great venues and festivals of France and other countries, recordings that have been unanimously hailed by the critics, and new, original programmes each year.

Working regularly with directors (Philippe Vallepin, Mireille Laroche and the company Han-Tang Huefu in 1999, Lukas Hemleb for a new production in 2005), he also presents programmes combining theatre and music, such as La Dive Bouteille (based on Rabelais) and La Roulotte du savetier Calbain (Renaissance farce and song). Four performances of the latter were given at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris in 2001.

Denis Raisin Dadre continues to explore the Baroque repertoire with Les Corsaires du Roy, an ensemble formed by founder members of Doulce Mémoire (Jérémie Papasergio and Elsa Frank).

He is also a member of the Department of Early Music (Tours Conservatoire - CNR), where his teaching focuses on Renaissance music, and more specifically on improvisation and diminution in the form of workshops. Other activities include teaching at academies for young professionals (the Gijon Early Music Academy in Spain, for example) and pedagogical activities with amateurs and schoolchildren, in association with concerts given by Doulce Mémoire.

Denis Raisin Dadre was made a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the Ministry of Culture in 1999.