Handel: Qual nave smarrita (from Radamisto)

As a tribute to the artistry of Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, this retrospective gathers together many of the finest recordings of arias and duets made during her acclaimed association with harmonia mundi. The booklet notes include tributes from her husband, Peter Lieberson, Nicholas McGegan and her obituary from Le Monde.

Lorraine Hunt - who became Lorraine Hunt Lieberson after her marriage to the American composer Peter Lieberson in 1999 - was born on March 1st 1954, in San Francisco. Her father was a music teacher and a conductor, her mother a contralto and a voice teacher. She played viola professionally until she was 26, when she found that her voice could be a better and richer way to express her musicality and secure her professional future. Lorraine would have a professional singing career of only 2 decades (1984-2006), interrupted twice by illness. She died from cancer on July 3, 2006, aged 52.

For harmonia mundi, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson recorded operas, oratorios and Handel arias, conducted notably by Nicholas McGegan. For Erato, she added the rôles of Rameau’s Phèdre and Charpentier’s Medea, under William Christie. Since her death, other taped live performances have been added to her discography, including two Wigmore Hall Live recitals and Peter Lieberson’s Rilke and Neruda Songs.

In 2009 harmonia mundi issued a recital given at the Ravinia Festival in August 2004 with pianist Peter Serkin. More recently, new label Philharmonia Baroque has issued Lorraine’s live performances of Les Nuits d’Eté and Handel Arias.

A formidable musician, a natural-born actress, she was at her best in roles of sacrificed victims, which didn’t prevent her from displaying a dark sense of humour. After having sung during the same evening Stravinsky’s Jocasta and Britten’s Phaedra, she once said: ‘Two suicides in one night! That’s right up my alley’.

“For those who loved Lorraine and her singing, and for those who have not yet heard her, my gratitude to harmonia mundi.” PETER LIEBERSON (b.1946, d.2011)

In conjunction with the Orchestra’s 30th Anniversary Season, Music Director Nicholas McGegan and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra announce the launch of the ensemble’s own recording label, Philharmonia Baroque Productions. The label’s début release showcases the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson in a live 1995 recording of Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été and a live 1991 recording of arias from Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Ottone, Arianna, Radamisto and Agrippina. Hunt Lieberson had a long and fruitful relationship with McGegan and Philharmonia Baroque. The Berlioz is the last of seven acclaimed recordings she made with the orchestra and the first time she ever sang the full Berlioz song cycle in performance. Lorraine was in her element and the result was splendid. These incredibly moving performances are now available to a wide audience for the first time.

In more than two decades as its music director, Nicholas McGegan has established the San Francisco-based Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Philharmonia Chorale as the leading period-performance ensemble in America – and at the forefront of the 'historical' movement worldwide, thanks to notable appearances at such venues as Carnegie Hall, London Proms, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and the International Handel Festival in Göttingen, Germany, where McGegan has been artistic director since 1991. Born in England, he was educated at Oxford, Cambridge and the Royal College of Music. In 2010, he was awarded an OBE for “services to music overseas". Other awards include an official 'Nicholas McGegan Day' declared by the Mayor of San Francisco to mark his 20th anniversary with Philharmonia Baroque.The next release from Philharmonia Baroque will be of Haydn's Symphonies.