2014-10-28-featured-press

Philippe Jaroussky on Facebook – ¡Por fin llegado a Buenos Aires!

2014-10-28, Philippe Jaroussky on Facebook

¡ Por fin llegado a Buenos Aires! Algunos días de descanso antes del principio de la gira Vivaldi que comienza el 3 y 5 de noviembre al mítico Teatro Colon!
Enfin arrivé à Buenos Aires! quelques jours de repos avant le début de la tournée Vivaldi qui commence le 3 et 5 novembre au mythique Théâtre Colon!

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2014-10-02 featured press

El País – La beluga Yulka canta a Vivaldi

2014-10-02 El Pais, by Ferran Bono

“Estoy impresionado por la concentración del animal. Voy a soñar toda mi vida con ello. Me ha dado toda su confianza para jugar como si fuera una niña. Espero haber sido digno de merecerla”, afirmaba un encantado Jaroussky, que ha creído percibir un tono más agudo en el animal conforme ambos se iban conociendo más. De hecho, el primer día de ensayos, el miércoles, Yulka apenas prestó atención al cantante. Un día después, sin embargo, no se ha separado del intérprete y le ha dado la réplica a su manera en todo momento. “Creo que ha sido muy importante mirarla a los ojos”, comentaba el cantante. “Un contacto visual que a veces es preferible no mantener con las sopranos”, añadía bromeando el artista.

2014-10-02 El Pais, by Ferran Bono

2014-07-12 featured press

Opera Today – Music for a While: Improvisations on Henry Purcell

2014-06-12, Opera Today, by Claire Seymour

Jaroussky sings with wonderful precision and control; his beautiful, clean sound strokes the long, phrases into being, with just a dash of flexibility to bring a modern touch to the classical melodies.  […]

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2014-05-15 featured press

Neuilly Journal – Philippe Jaroussky à Neuilly pour fêter les 15 ans de l’association IRIS, ce vendredi 16 mai

 

2014-05-15, Neuilly Journal, NJI

“Depuis trois ans, nous avons décidé avec la Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine, d’organiser des concerts au profit d’IRIS en partenariat avec des conservatoires. La Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine a immédiatement répondu positivement et s’est engagée avec nous dans un projet qui se reconduit désormais chaque année. Je crois que son directeur Gaël Darchen a une volonté de sensibiliser ses jeunes chanteurs, et de leur montrer que, à travers la musique, on peut défendre des idéaux, notamment de solidarité. Je l’en remercie ainsi que tous les enfants et les jeunes qui ont toujours répondu présents avec beaucoup d’enthousiasme et de chaleur humaine. Nous les adultes, prenons exemple sur eux !”

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2014-05 featured opera news press

Opera News – 21st Century High – Philippe Jaroussky, France’s Superstar Countertenor

2014-05,  Opera News, by Sylvia L’Écuyer

ON: Do you initiate these projects, such as the Handel operas, or are they proposed to you?

PJ: Both. I have reached a point where I can initiate an opera project in order to sing a particular role. However, I have to accept that I will likely never perform the role of my dreams, Handel’s Ariodante. Singing “Dopo notte” after “Scherza infida” is more than I can manage onstage. I did include these in a Farinelli recital program in February for a U.S. tour, but Ariodante will remain a major disappointment in my life.

I have also just realized that I like to work with the same people over and over again, and I believe I have reached a certain balance in my artistic life because of this. It is always reassuring to know the person you are working with.

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2018-03-02 featured press

Deceptive Cadence – Philippe Jaroussky And The Impossibly High Male Voice

2014-03-02, Deceptive Cadence, by NPR Staff

MUSIC MAKERS
Philippe Jaroussky And The Impossibly High Male Voice

March 2, 20144:00 PM ET

Heard on All Things Considered

NPR STAFF

Philippe Jaroussky’s new album is Farinelli: Porpora Arias.
Marc Ribes /Erato/Warner Classics

Transcript

Philippe Jaroussky cuts a masculine figure on the cover of his new album, Farinelli: Porpora Arias, but you might do a double take upon hearing the music. The arias the French opera singer performs on this release were written in the 18th century for a castrato — a boy singer castrated to retain his high singing voice through adulthood.

Jaroussky is still intact, as they say. He’s a countertenor who achieves that high pitch through vocal technique — singing in a ‘head voice,’ the way the way a female soprano would, rather than in his speaking register. It’s the reason, he says, that he’ll never sound exactly like a real castrato.

“They were sounding more brilliant than us because they are bigger. They have enormous chests, with very small vocal cords,” Jaroussky explains in an interview with NPR’s Arun Rath. “That was probably pretty impressive to hear. And we know that they could keep a sound for one, two minutes, without breathing at all. You can imagine, the impact on the audience was probably amazing.”

Jaroussky took a particular interest the music Neapolitan composer Nicola Porpora wrote for the castrato Farinelli, perhaps Porpora’s most famous pupil. Audible in the work, Jaroussky says, is a mutual understanding between teacher and student that singing is about more than just biology.

“It wasn’t enough to make the operation on a child. They were training, practicing, for many, many years. They were practicing for eight hours, 10 hours a day,” he says. “What I liked with this Porpora music, particularly, is it wasn’t based about virtuosity. I think he’s respecting Farinelli more like a musician, and not only a vocal monster.”

Jaroussky says the point of taking on this repetoire was never to emulate Farinelli — though at least one critic has needled him for not sounding enough like the master.

“I don’t want to say that I’m singing like Farinelli. That would be very pretentious,” Jaroussky says. “But I think the people, they need to hear this music! When I was a student I practiced a lot, all these technical points. But now, what matters for me is really to sing for the audience in front of me. And the audience in front of me is a modern one.”

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2014-02-27 featured press

The New York Times – An Orchestra Plays Backup Band as a Countertenor Takes Center Stage

2014-02-26, The New York Times, by James R. Oestreich

There are countertenors, and then there is Mr. Jaroussky.

[…] with Mr. Jaroussky, there is scarcely a sense of anything artificial in the vocal production. He sings with an ease and fluidity that you would think could come only from a natural voice. And that is before you lay on his keen intelligence and his tremendous artistry.

[…] But there was no fault to find with the performances. In the repeats of da capo arias, Mr. Jaroussky ornaments his lines lavishly yet so smoothly and naturally that if you hadn’t just heard him sing the opening relatively straight, you wouldn’t believe he was making this up.

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2014-02-04 featured press

la Croix – Philippe Jaroussky, voix d’ange et artiste prudent dans les pas de Farinelli

2015-02-04, la croix, AFP

Avec quinze ans de carrière derrière lui, ce grand gaillard au visage enfantin n’a plus rien d’un débutant, et peut déjà faire un premier bilan.

“Curieusement ma tessiture n’a pas réellement changé depuis mes débuts. C’est plutôt la manière de chanter: ma voix a gagné en projection, en largeur, en brillance”, précise l’artiste, qui subjugue le public avec ses pyrotechnies vocales — au point d’avoir été surnommé “la mitraillette”.

D’une santé vocale insolente, il assure néanmoins être très prudent. “On parle souvent de sopranos et de ténors qui vont se brûler les ailes dans un répertoire trop large pour leur voix. C’est aussi un danger pour le contre-ténor”, observe-t-il.

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2013-12 featured press

Gramophone – Arias for Farinelli

2013-12 (?), Gramophone, by David Vickers

 

Jaroussky’s rapid passagework in quick heroic arias is precise (the spectacular ‘Nell’attendere il mio bene’ from Polifemo) and Cecilia Bartoli pops up for a couple of love duets but the outstanding moments are slow arias that could have been tailor-made for Jaroussky’s sweetly graceful melodic singing (‘Le limpid’onde’ from Ifigenia in Aulide, featuring the pastoral delicacy of horns, flutes and oboes).

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2013-10-31_02 featured press

Núvol – Jarousskelli desferma passions al Liceu

2013-10-31, Núvol, by Ovidi de Cardona

“El Liceu ja té el seu Messi dels contratenors.”

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