Philippe in the USA

Philippe is rocking the USA again ! Just have a look at the review of his concert at Duke University.

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He was great.
Well, what can I say? We knew before, didn't we ?

I just hope he'll sing "Ombra Mai Fu" also as an encore in Hamburg....

Duffy

Though, I dislike the sentence about "a woman's voice", the rest is quite OK.

Thank you for this review.

Philippe Triumphans!

But he called him exceptionally handsome at least. Perhaps the critic can see better than he can hear? And he mentioned P's excellent technique and timing.

The emotion is the same over the world The "P's" voice is a supernatural event. We are happy to acces at that . Can we to appreciate our luck! Thanks for all.

Im very exited im in new york finally and im comming to boston nextfriday to watch and hear P. Jaroussky, is anybody going? I would like to meet somebody else from here! Soooo exited!

Duffy’s link doesn’t work on my PC but I found this.
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Lucky people who can go to the concert. Tell us all about it.

For those of you who couldn't use the link: Here's the review of the concert at Duke
University


Philippe Jaroussky & Apollo's Fire Light up the Sky for Duke Performances
Simon Fowler



Duke Performances: Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor, with Apollo's Fire
$48, $36, Duke students $5. -- Reynolds Industries Theatre , 919-684-4444 , [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] -- 8:00 PM

By John W. Lambert

October 26, 2011 - Durham, NC:


Even as the historically-informed performance movement has matured, countertenors remain vocal oddities. They're basically our non-surgical answers to the castrati, the last of whom seems to have been Alessandro Moreschi, whose few recordings give pale hints of the grandeur of an artistic era that is gone forever. (Hear his recording of the Bach-Gounod "Ave Maria" here.)

Starting with Alfred Deller, countertenors have gradually displaced the use of altos (or outright transpositions) in music composed for (altered) male sopranos or mezzo-sopranos. Among the great ones since Deller (who sang a recital at St. Mary's in the '50s) have been James Bowman, René Jacobs, and David Daniels (who was born in Spartanburg). To that short list one must now add Philippe Jaroussky, the brilliant young French artist who made his area debut in a concert presented by Duke Performances in Reynolds Industries Theater. Jaroussky is the real thing, the genuine article, a singer whose vocal qualities include the finest attributes of his best predecessors and virtually none of their shortcomings. Here’s a voice that is even, flexible, warm, of ample size, and with never a hint of falsetto in the traditional sense. Those "bucketsful of vocal diamonds" cited long ago in connection with the first countertenor who lived here (C. Michael Hawn) were constantly evident during Jaroussky's program of seven arias - and three encores!

He sang with Apollo's Fire, the baroque orchestra, based in Cleveland, that Jeannette Sorrell has made one of the finest in the world. The concert was the first joint appearance of the chamber orchestra with Jaroussky and the first date of a major tour. It was also one more example of the amazing, world-class programming being offered here in the Triangle!

The lineup consisted of music by Handel and Vivaldi, and the question posed to the audience in Sorrell's program note was this: "Does Vivaldi deserve a place beside Handel on the baroque opera stage?" Based on what we heard, the answer is surely "yes," but, truth to tell, we’ll require a good deal more staged performances of Vivaldi operas - to compare with the flood of Handel that has been part of that composer's relatively recent renaissance - before we can know for sure.

That said, there's much in common in the composers' approaches to the formal ABA arias that were presented. These are basically two-sentence songs, the first line being given reasonably straightforwardly, the second, briefer sentence coming in contrasting tempo and mood, and the first then repeated, generally with extensive elaboration and ornamentation.

The arias given were from Handel's Oreste (1734), Parnasso in Festa (a serenata or ode, usually listed with the oratorios, 1734), Imeneo (1740), and Ariodante (1735), and encores from Rinaldo (1711) and Serse (1738), from Vivaldi's Catone in Utica (1737), Giustino (1724), and Tito Manlio (1720), and, as the first encore, from Nicola Porpora's Polifemo (1735). Although three of the Handel works are reasonably well- known, the sources probably don't matter very much, for (as Handel himself often demonstrated) the arias were often interchangeable.

The singing was from start to finish extraordinary - no other single word will suffice. Those who could get over a woman's voice coming from the body of an exceptionally handsome young man - and the packed auditorium seemed to contain few who could not! - were rewarded with some of the very best countertenor singing yet heard.

And the fact that Apollo's Fire was the backup band was just so much icing on the musical cake. In truth, the chamber orchestra - 14 artists, including its harpsichordist/director - would have been one of the season's top attractions, even without the vocalist, so exceptionally fine is its ensemble and finesse. Here's a HIP group that plays incisively, with wide-ranging dynamics, with a remarkable variety of tone color and nuance, and always in tune - and without stopping every few minutes to re-tune! Director Sorrell arranged several pieces for her group - an Allegro by Vivaldi that served as an overture and introduction for the singer's first number, and a prelude for harpsichord by Handel that led directly into a Handel chaconne, the two serving as the "overture" to the concert's second half. Along the way, two brilliant Vivaldi concerti demonstrated the high accomplishments of the band: the Concerto in G minor for Two Cellos (featuring René Schiffer and Stewart Pincombe) and a Sorrellization of "La Follia" (after the Sonata No. 12) for two violins (with Olivier Brault and Johanna Novom). There was virtuosity of the highest order in these works and in the accompaniments, too. This was all old music, but the performances brought everything to vivid life, as if the scores were being tried out for the very first time - and with the composers lurking in the wings (albeit probably on opposite sides of the stage...).

As noted, this was the first joint appearance of the singer and this orchestra, but even after the tour, it cannot be the last. Those who heard these artists at work were richly rewarded. Those who didn't should be on the lookout for them, together or singly, downstream.

Till then, there are online performances by Jaroussky of the three encores (alas without Apollo's Fire) - Porpora's "Alto Giove,"and Handel's "Venti turbini" and "Ombra mai fu" Enjoy!

United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County

I've just found another review.

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And thank you very much Duffy for posting the article.

It's an enthusiastic diary from LA:

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Wow, the more I read the more I get thrilled, looking forward to his Händel concert in
Hamburg! I know the described impression of being hypnotized !
temp, you're welcome.

It seems Philippe is going on like that in Canada.......

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Music review: French counter-tenor Jaroussky thrills in Toronto debut

Nov 01, 2011

Awesome isn’t one of those words that classical music people use very often. But there aren’t a lot of superlatives to describe Philippe Jaroussky.

The 32-year-old French singer brought a special vocal magic to Toronto for the first time on Tuesday night, in a recital at Koerner Hall with Cleveland, Ohio-based period performance ensemble Apollo’s Fire.

It was a program of instrumental pieces interwoven with opera arias by two of the baroque era’s greatest composers: German-born Englishman George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) and Italian Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741).

Both composers’ full operatic output is still being reintroduced to the modern world, and it is a rich musical legacy. In these plays, the hero’s part was invariably sung by a castrato, a male emasculated at puberty so that his voice would remain unchanged.

The castrati were the vocal rock stars of their day, commanding princely salaries and attracting groupies at every royal court and opera house.

Philippe Jaroussky is a counter-tenor, the closest we get to the singing of a castrato. It’s not a sound that’s part of our musical mainstream, but, when performed with the grace, expressiveness, power and sheer technical brilliance that Jaroussky brings to his art, it is an object of wonder.

This artist is worthy of every bit of the adulation that his illustrious predecessors enjoyed two-and-a-half centuries ago.

First and foremost, the singer has been blessed with a smooth, flexible, steady voice that charms even when singing a single note. He is also capable of getting a range of expression out of his instrument that would shame many a modern diva.

Jaroussky produces long, arching melodies that tug the heartstrings. He can then turn around and toss off runs and ornaments with a deftness that makes a hummingbird look lazy and slow.

Tuesday night’s program was well chosen, wowing us with fire — “Agitato da fiere tempeste” (“Shaken by a Fierce Tempest”) from Handel’s Oreste started things off — and then soothing us with lovely serenades, such as “Vedrò con mio diletto” (“I Will See With My Delight) from Vivaldi’s Catone in Utica.

As far as the cheering audience was concerned, Jaroussky could have kept singing all night.

The 13 members of Apollo’s Fire, led by Jeannette Sorrell from a harpsichord, were excellent accompanists, and did a nice job with their instrumental solos, which were well matched with the opera selections.

Apollo’s Fire lacked the precision and polish Torontonians are used to hearing from our own Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, but the ensemble produced a beautifully burnished sound and tastefully expressive interpretations.

Even so, Jaroussky stole the show with his awesomeness.



Well, Philippe is a bit older (I'm sure he even would have liked this) and "Vedro"
is not from "Catone in Utica", but nevertheless a real success, one has to say.

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PROGRAM

Vivaldi: Allegro from Concerto Grosso in D, after Concerto RV 511

(arr. Sorrell)

Handel: “Agitato da fiere tempeste,” from Oreste

Handel: "Ho perso il caro ben" from Il Parnasso in Festa

Vivaldi: Concerto in A minor for Two Violins, Op. 3 no. 8, RV 522

Handel: "Se potessero i sospir miei," from Imeneo

Handel: "Con l'ali di costanza,” from Ariodante

Handel: Prelude in A major, for solo harpsichord (arr. Sorrell)

Handel: Chaconne from Terpsichore (Il pastor fido), HWV 8c

Vivaldi: "Se mai senti spirati sul volto," from Catone in Utica

Vivaldi: Concerto Grosso “La Follia” (Madness), after Sonata XII

(arr. Sorrell)

Vivaldi: "Vedro con mio dilettto," from Giustino

Vivaldi: “Frà le procelle,” from Tito Manlio

Three encores as well: Alto Giove, Venti turbini and Ombra mai fu.


I just hope, some nice people would like to write any lines about Philippe´s exceptional performance there!

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I quite like the "wild orchid" comparison; much better than the inevitable "angel" comparison, anyway ...