2019-11-20_02 featured press

Die Zeit – Countertenöre – Geschlechterrolle vorwärts

2019-11-20, Die Zeit Online, by Volker Hagedorn, aus der Zeit No.48/2019

[…] Wenn er [Cenčić], im Gespräch gern sarkastisch und im Gesang mit brennendem Kern, der Teufel der Branche ist, dann ist Philippe Jaroussky – die beiden verstehen sich bestens – der Engel, mit besonderer Reinheit und Sanftheit der Stimme, weniger Rampensau als Exeget. 1978 bei Paris geboren, sang er im Schulchor, lernte Geige und Klavier und entdeckte seine Berufung, als er mit 18 Jahren den Counter Fabrice de Falco hörte. Längst hat Jaroussky selbst den Nachwuchs inspiriert, auch via Internet: “Von mir gibt es auf YouTube die Arie Vedrò con mio diletto von Vivaldi, und ich sehe eine Menge Videos von jungen Sängern, die diese Arie mit exakt meinen Verzierungen singen.” Einer lernt vom andern. […]

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2017-09-21 featured press

Die Zeit – Der gefeierte Star-Sänger Philippe Jaroussky: Das Händel-Projekt

2017-09-21, Die Zeit, by n. N.

 

In Arien aus zehn Opern zeigt Jaroussky die unterschiedlichsten menschlich-dramatischen Facetten von Händels Musik – von verführerischem Liebeswerben bis zu rasender Eifersucht, von wütender Verzweiflung bis zu ekstatischem Triumphgesang. Es ist gerade dieser immense Reichtum an psychologischer Figurenzeichnung, der Handel zum auch heute noch erfolgreichsten Meister der Barock-Oper macht – and außerdem Philippe Jarousskys Kunst eine perfekte Bühne bietet. […]

In arias selected from ten operas, Jaroussky highlights the most contrasting human and dramatic facets of Händel’s music – from beguiling courtship to raging jealousy, from desperate tantrums to triumphant ecstasy.  The immense richness in psychological character-painting is exactly what makes Händel so popular even today as a master of baroque opera – and at the same time, it lays out a perfect stage for Philippe Jaroussky’s art. […]

[…]

20. Oktober 2017
VICTORIA HALL Gent
22. Oktober 2017
PHILHARMONIE Berlin
7. November 2017
ELBPHILHARMONIE Hamburg
9. November 2011
PRINZREGENTENTHEATER München
11. November 2017
FESTSPIELHAUS Baden-Baden
HÄNDEL-KONZERTE MIT PHILIPPE JAROUSSKY
“The Händel Album”
ab 6. Oktober im Handel (Erato)
philippe-jaroussky.de

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(The article is only available in the print edition)

 

2017-01-12_03 featured press

Zeit Online – Hamburg, deine Perle

2017-01-12, Zeit Online, by Rabea Weihser

Als der Countertenor Philippe Jaroussky kurz vor der Pause die Arie Amarilli Mia Bella von Giulio Caccini singt, lediglich von einer Barockharfe begleitet, wirkt das Publikum zum ersten und einzigen Mal gebannt und betört, der angespannten Situation völlig entrückt. Dafür bedankt es sich mit Bravo-Rufen.

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2016-05-09_03 featured press

Die Zeit – Guten Morgen

2016-05-09, Die Zeit, by Mark Spörrle and Vera Tammen

Guten Morgen,

nur falls Sie es vergessen haben: Ab heute 10 Uhr können Sie Ihr Glück versuchen und sich hier zur Verlosung der Karten für die Eröffnungskonzerte der Elbphilharmonie anmelden. Die Konzerte finden am 11. und 12. Januar 2017 statt, insgesamt werden 450 mal 2 Tickets verlost, im freien Verkauf gibt es für diese Konzerte keine Tickets.

[…]
Zur Eröffnung spielt übrigens das NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester unter Leitung von Thomas Hengelbrock, zu den Stars gehören die Solisten Anja Harteros, Wiebke Lehmkuhl, Philippe Jaroussky, Jonas Kaufmann und Bryn Terfel. Noch nie gehört? Dann erst recht mitmachen!

 

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2013-10-01 featured press

Die Zeit – “Der Countertenor ist eine neue Art Mann” – English Translation

2013-10-01, Zeit Online, by Rabea Weihser

ZEIT ONLINE: Macht man sich als Countertenor ganz von allein Gedanken um ein männliches Rollenbild?

Jaroussky: Ein Countertenor zu sein ist eine Art auszudrücken, was ein Mann sein kann. Er kann seine weibliche Seite entdecken und eine Vielzahl von Gefühlen ausdrücken. Diese romantische Idee vom mutigen Helden, der in den Krieg zieht, ist längst abgelöst. Ich kann ein Mann sein und hoch singen. Wo ist das Problem? Ich kann genauso eine Frau sein und arbeiten gehen.

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Disclaimer: The following is not a professional translation. We believe its publication fulfills the requirements of “fair use,” discussion and study.  No infringement of copyright is intended.

“A countertenor is a new kind of man”

Philippe Jaroussky is one of the best sopranos in the world. Now he ventures on the arias of the castrato Farinelli. With this, does he overcome manliness? [this is awkward to translate to English. What is meant by manliness (as I see it), is an outdated concept of masculinity.]
Philippe Jaroussky was born in 1978 in Maisons-Laffitte, France. He describes himself as “mezzo with the colour of a soprano.”

ZEIT ONLINE: Monsieur Jaroussky , you’ve just released an album with the arias of the great Farinelli. We know his story from the movie – the absolute cliché when it comes to opera-castratos. Isn’t this a little too obvious?

Philippe Jaroussky: I was always afraid to record a Farinelli programme. But I’ve noticed that his repertoire fits my voice quite well. [Via this repertoire,]I thought it was a good idea to discover a different composer. I’m using the name Farinelli to tell something about Nicola Porpora. And what I wanted to show with this project is that castrato voices aren’t miracles. The singers had to work hard.

ZEIT ONLINE: In which way does your voice differ from Farinelli’s?

Jaroussky: Some critics say: His voice doesn’t sound like Farinelli at all.”

ZEIT ONLINE: Who knows for sure? Carlo Broschi, known as Farinelli, died in 1782.

Jaroussky: We know a lot about the qualities of his voice. He could sing a very high soprano and – in the same opera – an aria for contralto. And he used his chest voice far more often than I do. I cannot sing the entire repertoire of Farinelli’s. However, in Porpora’s music I have found many very touching arias and that’s the most important thing about this project: I want the audience to feel what Porpora felt for Farinelli.

ZEIT ONLINE: Porpora wrote the most virtuosic arias for Farinelli. How did you realize them?

Jaroussky: It’s gymnastics. To sing this music, you have to train, just as for as Verdi, Puccini and Wagner. You have to sing these high sections [in German, it is unclear if he means the whole aria or just the specific part of it] 50 times a day in order to survive on the stage.

ZEIT ONLINE: There is hardly another genre of classical music that is equally focused on the artistry of the performer. You step in front of the audience, and show how to overcome human and also male limits. At times, do you feel like a circus horse that’s showing off a few tricks?
Jaroussky: Naturally, during the concert, the audience most reacts to the virtuosic arias. People shout, they go mad. But when I’m talking to them later, they are talking about the emotional arias, not of the virtuosic ones.

ZEIT ONLINE: These are effects just in big pop music.
Jaroussky: Yes, and people have a strange relationship to castrato operas. Of course, they don’t want to see real castratos any more, that’s passé. But nonetheless, there’s this desire [“Sehnsucht” is such a beautiful German word. Hard to translate] to hear them again. These concerts with castrato repertoire are something very special.

ZEIT ONLINE: One could also say, the castrato opera was the first art form based on hormonal doping. By castration, the larynx and the vocal chords remained childlike, while the rest of the body continued to grow. Farinelli and his colleagues were rather tall, after all, had little heads on top of delicate bodies, narrow hips and wide chests.

Jaroussky: The hormonal imbalance turned them into monsters. The comparison with athletes who take hormones to pump up their muscles fits somehow. On stage, the castrati were treated like gods – in real life, they were treated like a doormat. They needed all these feathers and costumes, to gain themselves respect. Very dramatic with all that makeup. They were caught up in an artificial world; their life only happened on stage. Most castrati died quickly after they ceased to sing.

ZEIT ONLINE: Especially love duets between a high male voice and a soprano can often be irritating, because one cannot get to match the visual with the acoustic impression. On the other hand, there can hardly be a more appropriate analogy of intimacy than two lovers singing around each other in close third intervals.

Jaroussky: That’s right. There is this fantastic duet at the end of L’ Incoronazione di Poppea by Monteverdi…

ZEIT ONLINE: Emperor Nero sings mezzo, and his mistress Poppea soprano.

Jaroussky: And the two are always together very close. There are many productions of Poppea with tenor and soprano, and it renders an altogether different impression then.

ZEIT ONLINE: As a countertenor, does it come natural to give more thought than average to a male role models? [literally: Männliches Rollenbild is the image that others and oneself have of what ‘male’ might actually mean or imply.]

Jaroussky: To be a countertenor is one way to express what a man can be. He can discover his feminine side and express a variety of feelings. This romantic idea of the brave hero who goes to war is long a thing of the past. I can be a man and sing high. Where’s the problem? Equally, I can be a woman and go to work.

ZEIT ONLINE: It is said that we were in a post- gender era. Do you see any connection to the success of countertenors there?

Jaroussky: Of course. And there’s a whole new school, many young colleagues. A few of them are just as good as female mezzo-sopranos. Perhaps this sounds a little presumptuous, but I think that most from the new school of male sopranos have heard me. I think in the past ten years, I have contributed to direct the voice of countertenors in a different direction. Not only into the alto, but into the mezzo- soprano and soprano Fach. Today I listen to singers who have a greater vocal range than I do. A few years ago, this wasn’t the case.

ZEIT ONLINE: Who were your role models?

Jaroussky: We have to thank like Alfred Deller. Back then, they emerged out of nowhere and decided to sing a repertoire that no one was interested in. When I started , I listened to Andreas Scholl, David Daniels , James Bowman. And I never would have thought, but it’s really easier to sing when you have them as reference.

ZEIT ONLINE: Has the audience changed as well?

Jaroussky: Yes, for them it doesn’t suffice anymore just to listen to a countertenor. They already heard many. He has to sing with perfect intonation and with a strong voice. At the moment, there is a competition amongst countertenors, different colours of voices and different personalities. This is great. Some are giving their best to church music. Others have developed a Belcanto technique.

ZEIT ONLINE: And where is your place ? Forever in Baroque opera?

Jaroussky: I paused for eight months, thinking about what I wanted to sing in the future. This Farinelli project could be my last from the castrato repertoire. I’m not quite so athletic; sometimes I have no desire to exercise. That’s one reason why I want to sing something else. There are so many interesting parts in sacred music, by Bach, Purcell, or Dowland. There it isn’t about virtuosity; there it is all about how to interpret a piece of poetry. For me, this is getting more important.

2009-03-12 featured press

Die Zeit – Wie die Engel Singen

2009-03-12, Zeit Online, by Volker Hagedorn

»Wenn man bei Verlaine zu viel macht, bringt es die Lyrik um«, sagt er, »diese Erfahrung kann man auch aufs Barock übertragen. Ich werde immer einfacher. Man muss nicht immer gleich sterben.«

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