“Me imagino que la vida de un contratenor será casi como la de un monje de clausura: nada de excesos, ni salidas nocturnas… No es mi caso. Cuando tengo la posibilidad de olvidar mi voz, lo hago. Por ejemplo, antes de la gira tuve dos semanas libres para disfrutar de la vida, los amigos, el vino, un poquito de fiesta… Es importante para mí. No quiero ser un esclavo de mi voz. Es cierto que mi vida no es normal: tengo muchos viajes, mucha presión…” […]
Son pocos los contratenores y, entre ellos, no hay ninguno como él. Vendrá con el director Julián Chauvin y Le Consert de la Loge. El sábado 10 de octubre de 2020, a las 20 […]
with Pacific MusicWorks co-Artistic Director Stephen Stubbs
There are a few elements of historical performance that, for obvious reasons, ought to remain in the past. In the 17th and early 18th centuries, the majority of male operatic leading roles were written for castrati, who most often sang in the soprano or mezzo-soprano range, and were particularly valued for their virtuosity and almost super-human breath control. Obviously, most modern countertenors don’t fulfill that first basic necessity of the soprano range (most would qualify as altos), but then in the early 2000s a major new talent burst onto the scene in the form of the young French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky. Beyond the sheer beauty of his voice and his highly-developed yet instinctive musicality, he possessed two even rarer qualities – the high tessitura of a mezzo-soprano, and the extreme virtuosity that could make sense of the wildest melismas that any baroque composer had devised. Suddenly, the vast repertoire of the castrati had a living advocate that could bring it back to life in our time!
We began our collaboration with Philippe in 2011 when he embodied the virtuoso role of Anfione in Agostino Steffani’s 1688 opera Niobe. How we came to work with Philippe on that project is part of the next chapter, but the result was this: a wildly successful stage production of Niobe by Gilbert Blin for the 2011 Boston Early Music Festival starring Philippe and Amanda Forsythe, followed by a recording on the Erato label which has received much glowing press and prizes, and finally a concert tour of Europe in 2014, (and unquestionably due to Philippe’s status as a European superstar) playing to full houses at some of the best halls in Europe from Madrid to Paris to Amsterdam.
In the next installment of OrfeoBlog, I will share how Amanda Forsythe, one of our favorite leading ladies, was chosen to be part of this exciting partnership. Stay tuned!
2019-10-15, Corriere della Sera, by di Giuseppina Manin
[…] È un giovane Amleto che vorrebbe vendicare il padre ma non ne ha ancora le forze – ricorda il controtenore Philippe Jaroussky -. È la mia prima volta alla Scala, l’ultima in questo ruolo. Ho 42 anni non posso più fare l’eterno adolescente». […]
Giulio Cesare in Egitto di Georg Friedrich Händel torna alla Scala dal 18 ottobre al 2 novembre in uno nuovo allestimento che è già tra i più attesi della Stagione, diretto da Giovanni Antonini con la regia di Robert Carsen, scene e costumi di Gideon Davey e uno straordinario cast che riunisce alcuni dei migliori interpreti di questo repertorio. […]
“Die Bartoli singt die Titelpartie, Countertenorstar Philippe Jaroussky den Ritter Ruggiero,Kristina Hammarström Bradamante, Sandrine Piau Morgana, Alastair Miles Melisso. Die Inszenierung betreut Damiano Michieletto in der phantasievollen Ausstattung Paolo Fantins & Agostino Cavalcas.” […]
“Le classique se joue de vous avec des artistes lumineux qui souhaitent sortir des codes ! Faites connaissance avec des grands noms de la scène classique tels que le contre-ténor Philippe Jaroussky, redécouvrez la voix suave de Jean-Marc Barr lors d’un théâtre musical de toute beauté, dans La sonate à Kreutzer, ou encore la poésie du Ballet Biarritz. La guitare sera à l’honneur avec son 3e Festival !” […]
“Compagnon de longue date d’Ambronay, où il fit l’un de ses premiers concerts professionnels, le contre-ténor Philippe Jaroussky célèbre les 40 ans du Festival en présentant le travail de son Académie de jeunes talents.”
“Le concert d’Electro Deluxe d’hier soir au festival Elizik de Narbonne ? Gratuit ! Jean-François Zygel improvisant sur Jean-Sebastien Bach vendredi ? c’est aussi gratuit, comme l’hommage aux Beatles donné ce soir, ou «Carmen» recréée jeudi, de même que le concert du contre-ténor superstar Philippe Jaroussky, qui poussera la note samedi… ” […]
