Philippe Jaroussky

French counter-tenor Philippe Jaroussky initially learnt the violin and piano, before being inspired to take up singing by Fabrice di Falco. He studied with the Early Music Department at the Paris Conservatoire, specialising in music of the Baroque period, as befits his vocal range. He has a vast Baroque repertoire, from the 17th century arias of Monteverdi, Sances and Rossi, to the more operatic Handel and Vivaldi. He has performed and recorded with several notable period instrument orchestras and ensembles, including L'Arpeggiata, Les Arts Florissants and Europa Galante, and conductors including William Christie, René Jacobs, Emmanuelle Häim and Jean-Christophe Spinosi. In 2002, he set up his own Baroque orchestra called Ensemble Artaserse. Jaroussky has been part of the cast for operas on several album recordings and is signed exclusively to Erato Records. He produced several compilation albums of solo arias including 'Heroes' in 2007, which is a selection of Vivaldi opera arias. This was certified Gold for sales, as was his album 'La Dolce Fiamma' (2009) which is a selection of forgotten Castrati arias. Moving away from Baroque, he released an album of French songs in 2009 called 'Opium' with the pianist Jerôme Ducros. In 2008, the contemporary French composer Marc-André Dalbavie composed 'Sonnets de Louise Labé' for counter-tenor and orchestra for Jaroussky. He performed the sonnets at the Salzburg Festival in 2014. In 2012, Jaroussky and his orchestra Ensemble Artaserse revived the Vinci opera of the same name which had gone out of fashion and not been performed since shortly after it was composed in 1730. The performance had a male only cast and starred five counter-tenors in the leading roles. 2013 saw Jaroussky reviving the work of renowned castrato Farinelli with the release of a disc of arias by composer Nicola Antonio Popora, written for Farinelli. Also in the same year, Jaroussky performed on the Erato album with soprano Julia Lezhneva in a recording of Pergolesi's 'Stabat Mater' with the I Barocchisti orchestra conducted by Diego Fasolis. This won Best Baroque Vocal Album at the International Classical Music Awards in 2014. 2019 marked 20 years of performing for Jaroussky, and he celebrated this with the release of a triple album called 'Passion Jaroussky' which contains a selection of new and previously recorded material ranging from the 16th to the 21st century and showcases his collaborations with a selection of artists of various genres with input from the worlds of both classical music and pop.

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