The recording features 4 works dedicated to the Virgin Mary (2 in Italian, 2 in Latin). The soloists are accompanied by a luscious 15-piece orchestra.
The voices are gorgeous, and perfectly matched. But ultimately it’s the conjunction of sensual beauty and intense sorrow that floors the listener. – Tamara Bernstein,The National Post (Canada).
Ah! Che troppo ineguali Handel, G. F.
French soprano Agnès Mellon entered in 1980 successively at the Chapelle Royale, directed by Philippe Herreweghe, and at Les Arts Florissants, directed by William Christie. Her career as a soloist has led her to sing under the direction of many noted conductors, such as Gardiner, Malgoire, Koopman, Leonhardt, Sigiswald Kuijken, and René Jacobs.
Agnès Mellon has performed in some of the world’s most prestigious concert venues, such as the Opéra de Paris, the Théatre des Champs-Elysées, the Salle Pleyel, Carnegie Hall, as well as the Amsterdam’s Concertgebow and Opera and numerous halls in Japan.
Agnès Mellon created her own ensemble “Barcarole ” with harpsichordist Kenneth Weiss and can be thus given to her passion: chamber music with voice. She is accompanied, in her recitals of Lieder and French melodies by various pianists: Claude Lavoix, Jean-François Heisser, Marie-Joseph Jude, Billy Heidi, François Kerdoncuff, Christian Ivaldi and Laure Colladant with the pianoforte. Her discography (over a hundred recordings) covers a broad repertoire.
She is frequently invited as a guest of the academy of French Music in Kyoto, where she gives masterclasses with the professors of the CNSM of Paris.
Matthew White was born in 1973 and began singing as a treble with St.Matthew’s Men and Boys Choir in Ottawa, Canada. He graduated in English Literature at McGill University and currently studies with Jan Simons in Montreal. His singing career has already taken him all over North America, to Europe, South America, Asia, and New Zealand. Upcoming operatic engagements include work with Glyndebourne Festival Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, and Chicago Opera Theater. He has also worked for Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Cleveland Opera, Opera Atelier, and Pacific Opera Victoria.
On the concert stage he works regularly with groups such as, Bach Collegium Japan, Arion, Les Violons du Roy, Tafelmusik, the Boston Handel & Haydn Society, Le Concert Spirituel, Oregon Bach Festival, the Nederlands Bach Vereniging, the Capella Brugensis, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Poland’s Arte dei Suonatori, Aradia Ensemble, Le Parlement de Musique, the Carmel California Bach Festival, Israel Camerata, the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, and the Portland Baroque Orchestra. He has also appeared as a soloist at the Vancouver, Boston, and Utrecht Early Music Festivals.
Matthew is the programming director for Montreal’s Ensemble Les Voix Baroques.
We would like to thank André Guimond for his overwhelming devotion.
The sheet music of the HWV 230 and HWV 234 cantatas were generously given to Arion by Dominique Visse, who has prepared and edited these works using the manuscripts.