Philippe Jaroussky

The 1994 film 'Farinelli' catapulted the countertenor voice into the limelight. Nearly 20 years later, one thing is clear: countertenors are sought after by opera houses, record companies and agents more than ever. The English singer James Bowman was one of the pioneers of the countertenor repertoire: his ability to create a luscious sound with a fluid legato is ably demonstrated in his legendary recording of the aria from Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, “Che faro senza Euridice”, and in “Va tacito e nascosto” from Handel’s Giulio Cesare.

In the French countertenor firmament Dominique Visse stands out for his musicianship. His voice takes on a biting, slightly stinging quality in the aria from Vivaldi’s 'Montezuma'. Gérard Lesne founded Il Seminario Musicale in 1985.

Today Lesne’s expanded musical horizons include both jazz and pop recordings. The American Derek Lee Ragin, took off with his recording of the 'Farinelli' soundtrack. The film’s director, Gérard Corbiau, had the bold idea of mixing Ragin’s countertenor voice with that of soprano Ewa Mallas-Godlewska, thereby creating the unique timbre of a castrato.

Andreas Scholl's excerpts from two Bach cantatas showcase his fascinating timbre as well as his sense of rhetoric and phrasing.

A brilliant new generation of counter-tenors continues to carry the torch. Foremost among them is Philippe Jaroussky; his instantly recognisable voice is of an audacious purity. Iestyn Davies, born in 1979, is a great admirer of James Bowman.

His voice combines expressive flexibility and technical agility, and these qualities stand out in his recording of an aria from Vivaldi’s 'Griselda'. The rising Korean star David DQ Lee displays robust vocal foundations and masterful breathing technique.

If further proof of the countertenors’ achievements were needed, it can be found in the fact that major opera houses now slate works with entirely male casts, bringing together up to nine countertenors! What was once just a fashion has become the cutting edge.

Autumn 2012 marks the release of Mission, a sensational new album from the world’s best-selling classical artist, Cecilia Bartoli, and a project with international politics, religious conflict, diplomatic secrecy, spying and sensational music at its heart.

The album showcases the music of a little-known Italian composer and will include solo arias of various moods and styles, several duets, solo numbers with chorus - all sung in Italian - and instrumental interludes that create an organic transition from one piece to the next and an arc that reaches from the beginning to the end of the album.

Such was the appeal of the project that longtime Bartoli admirer and global best-selling author Donna Leon decided to write a mystery novel - Jewels of Paradise - to accompany Cecilia’s album, which uses the mystery surrounding the composer’s story as the centre of its plot. Jewels of Paradise will be released simultaneously with Cecilia Bartoli’s album in English (UK and USA), German, French, Dutch, Spanish and Catalan.

Among the distinguished names appearing on Mission is star French counter-tenor Philippe Jaroussky who features in a first-time collaboration with Cecilia on a selection of duets, alongside the Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera, the period orchestra I Barocchisti from Lugano, Switzerland, and conductor Diego Fasolis.

A cinematographic vision of the album directed by Olivier Simonnet and filmed in the historic Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors) and in the gardens of the Chateau de Versailles will be available on DVD later in the year.

Autumn 2012 marks the release of Mission, a sensational new album from the world’s best-selling classical artist, Cecilia Bartoli, and a project with international politics, religious conflict, diplomatic secrecy, spying and sensational music at its heart.

The album showcases the music of a little-known Italian composer and will include solo arias of various moods and styles, several duets, solo numbers with chorus - all sung in Italian - and instrumental interludes that create an organic transition from one piece to the next and an arc that reaches from the beginning to the end of the album.

Such was the appeal of the project that longtime Bartoli admirer and global best-selling author Donna Leon decided to write a mystery novel - Jewels of Paradise - to accompany Cecilia’s album, which uses the mystery surrounding the composer’s story as the centre of its plot. Jewels of Paradise will be released simultaneously with Cecilia Bartoli’s album in English (UK and USA), German, French, Dutch, Spanish and Catalan.

Among the distinguished names appearing on Mission is star French counter-tenor Philippe Jaroussky who features in a first-time collaboration with Cecilia on a selection of duets, alongside the Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera, the period orchestra I Barocchisti from Lugano, Switzerland, and conductor Diego Fasolis.

A cinematographic vision of the album directed by Olivier Simonnet and filmed in the historic Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors) and in the gardens of the Chateau de Versailles

Philippe Jaroussky, described by Germany’s Die Zeit as “the Apollo of countertenors’, stands out among his many talented contemporaries as much for the soprano-like beauty of his tone as for the elegance and insight of his interpretations and his adventurous and erudite approach to repertoire – whether unearthing neglected scores by little-known composers or venturing beyond the Baroque into the 19th and 20th centuries.

Established as one of Virgin Classics’ bestselling artists, Jaroussky, now aged 34, has been honoured three times in the Victoires de la Musique awards in his native France and has also received Germany’s most prominent music prize, the Echo Klassik. His diverse achievements are saluted in two new collections on Virgin Classics – the 2CD set “The Voice” and the DVD and Blu Ray “La Voix des rêves: Greatest moments in Concert”.

“LA VOIX DES RÊVES - Greatest Moments in Concert” (available on DVD & Blu Ray) features video footage from a number of occasions and venues – including items from a concert given among the crystal chandeliers of the splendid Galerie des Glaces in the palace of Versailles, and works by Handel and Vivaldi performed in another jewel of French Baroque architecture, the sumptuously decorated Chapelle de la Trinité in Lyon. Also included are exclusive interviews an array of fellow musicians: Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Emmanuelle Haïm, Christina Pluhar; Jérôme Ducros, Quatuor Ebène, Gautier Capuçon, Marie-Nicole Lemieux and Renaud Capuçon.

Jaroussky and his appeal were aptly summarised in a recent profile in the French magazine Balthazar: “Philippe Jaroussky alternates between opera and recitals, bringing his sensual, graceful voice and matinee idol looks, and this has made him a key star of classical music. But his recordings also reveal a skilled musicologist who has revived numerous forgotten artists like the castrato Carestini [and the composers] Johann Christian Bach and Caldara. Jaroussky simply glows. Anyone who has had the opportunity to meet him will find it hard to forget his enthusiastic conversation and his magnetic gaze.”

The singer made his passions clear in an interview with Crescendo magazine, revealing that “I don’t like being told I have the ‘voice of an angel’, because that would just mean that it sounds pretty and takes people out of themselves … I want to be able to evoke more human emotions too: sorrow, despair, jealousy.” Speaking to the leading French newspaper Le Monde, he went into more detail on his philosophy as a maturing singer: “Ten years into your career, you reach a certain level of purity in your approach. You are always set on improving – strengthening your high notes, your low notes, your projection or your expressivity – but you also accept what it means to be an artist.”

Autumn 2012 marks the release of Mission, a sensational new album from the world’s best-selling classical artist, Cecilia Bartoli, and a project with international politics, religious conflict, diplomatic secrecy, spying and sensational music at its heart.

The album showcases the music of a little-known Italian composer and will include solo arias of various moods and styles, several duets, solo numbers with chorus - all sung in Italian - and instrumental interludes that create an organic transition from one piece to the next and an arc that reaches from the beginning to the end of the album.

Such was the appeal of the project that longtime Bartoli admirer and global best-selling author Donna Leon decided to write a mystery novel - Jewels of Paradise - to accompany Cecilia’s album, which uses the mystery surrounding the composer’s story as the centre of its plot. Jewels of Paradise will be released simultaneously with Cecilia Bartoli’s album in English (UK and USA), German, French, Dutch, Spanish and Catalan.

Among the distinguished names appearing on Mission is star French counter-tenor Philippe Jaroussky who features in a first-time collaboration with Cecilia on a selection of duets, alongside the Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera, the period orchestra I Barocchisti from Lugano, Switzerland, and conductor Diego Fasolis.

A cinematographic vision of the album directed by Olivier Simonnet and filmed in the historic Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors) and in the gardens of the Chateau de Versailles will be available on DVD later in the year.

Le Concert d’Astrée, under its founder and conductor Emmanuelle Haïm, celebrates its 10th anniversary in style with a charity concert in Paris featuring 23 of the world’s most distinguished singers of baroque repertoire.

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Le Concert d’Astrée, under its founder and conductor Emmanuelle Haïm, will give a concert entitled ‘Fête Baroque’ at Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Elysées on 19th December 2011. Joining Haïm and the orchestra are no less than 23 of the world’s most distinguished singers of baroque repertoire. Among the sources of the evening’s arias and ensembles are Giulio Cesare, Alcina, Rinaldo, Tamerlano, Come Ye Sons of Art, Thésée, Dardanus, Hippolyte et Aricie, and Les Indes galantes. The recording of this spectacular concert will join 15 discs that Haïm and Le Concert d’Astrée already have in the Virgin Classics catalogue.

The concert also benefits a good cause as will this CD. Under the patronage of Madame Simone Veil, the former President of the European Parliament, the proceeds of the concert will go to the Révolution Cancer 2010-2013 programme of the Institut Gustave Roussy in Villejuif, south of Paris. The institute, with a staff of 2,600, is the leading oncology centre in Europe.