Philippe Jaroussky | countertenor 

If our contemporary era has made a legend of Farinelli (and rightly so, for he was a phenomenal singer by all accounts), it tends to underestimate his great rival, Giovanni Carestini, whom some admired for the absolute perfection of his singing, in the words of the composer Johann Adolf Hasse.  Farinelli worked with many great composers but never with Handel - in London he was even a member of the rival Caro Sassone company.  In contrast, Carestini created several of the great Handelian roles.  Philippe Jaroussky masterfully resurrects the art of these two sacred monsters of song, drawing on the masterpieces of Handel but also Porpora, Farinelli's teacher and a composer courted throughout Europe.  Two arias suffice to give a glimpse of the musical heights these giants flew to: the impalpable 'Alto Giove' from Porpora's Polifemo and the deeply moving 'Scherza infida' from Handel's Ariodante.  The eighteenth century was definitely a blessed time, capable of producing voices of this calibre and such inspired geniuses.  Surrounded by the musicians of the Concert de la Loge, conducted by the violin virtuoso Julien Chauvin, Philippe Jaroussky is without doubt the singer best able to do justice to the sublime vocal lines and transcendent virtuosity of this period.

PRODUCTION Théâtre des Champs-Elysées