Listen to Sandrine Piau in Atenaide
performing the aria "Della Rubella" :

After initially making her name with the public in Baroque music, working with such conductors as William Christie, Philippe Herreweghe, Christophe Rousset, Emmanuelle Haïm, Sigiswald Kuijken, Gustav Leonhardt and René Jacobs, Sandrine Piau today possesses a broad repertoire mirrored by her substantial discography, and has confirmed her key position in the new generation of French singers.
In the opera house, she alternates Baroque, Classical and Romantic roles: L'incoronazione di Poppea (Amsterdam, New York), Serse (Dresden, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées), Tamerlano (Drottningholm, Amsterdam), Arianna (Halle); Gluck, Mozart (Servilia, Pamina, Ismene, Konstanze) at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Geneva, Bordeaux and the Bayerische Staatsoper; Weber (Ännchen) at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Berlioz (Héro) at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Verdi (Nannetta), Massenet (Sophie), Britten (Titania), Offenbach (Wanda in La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein) at the Châtelet, and Prokofiev (Ninetta in The Love for Three Oranges). Sandrine Piau's concert appearances have included L'Enfant et les sortilèges (Myung-Whun Chung), Die Schöpfung (Daniel Harding), Honegger's Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher (with Kurt Masur at the Berlin Philharmonie), Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream (recorded with Philippe Herreweghe), and Mozart's C minor Mass at the Salzburg Festival. She made her New York debut at Lincoln Center with the Freiburger Barockorchester.
In the recital repertoire she is partnered by the pianists Corine Durous, Alexandre Tharaud, Christian Ivaldi, Georges Pludermacher, Susan Manoff, Myung-Whun Chung and Jos van Immerseel. With the latter she made a recording of songs by Debussy which was awarded the Prix Ravel at the Orphées de l'Académie du Disque Lyrique, following a first recital CD of Mozart opera aria with the Freiburger Barockorchester which won a Prix de l'Académie Charles Cros. Her Handel album with Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques was named 'Editor's Choice' by Gramophone Magazine and won the Stanley Sadie Handel Recording Prize for the year 2005. Most recently, her CD of Vivaldi's motets with Ottavio Dantone and the Accademia Bizantina was voted Baroque Recording of the year at the Midem Classical Awards.
Sandrine Piau was appointed Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres in 2006.

Listen to Vivica Genaux in Atenaide
performing the aria "M'accende amor":

Alaskan-born mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux is applauded on the international scene, not only for her technical and vocal qualities but also for her vivid character portrayals. Her affinities for the Baroque and bel canto repertoire have enabled her to perform some of the finest roles in opera. During the 2006-07 season she made her debut at the New York City Opera in Semele (Handel) before a return visit to Baltimore for L'assedio di Corinto (Rossini). She then rejoined Europa Galante and Fabio Biondi for Bajazet (Vivaldi) in Bilbao, and sang Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini) in Dallas. The year 2007 began with Ariodante (Handel) at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées for the fifteenth anniversary of Les Talens Lyriques and then on tour at the Barbican Centre in London and the Teatro Real in Madrid; her first engagement at the Atlanta Opera; and a second tour with Al Ayre Español. She also sang under the direction of Attilio Cremonesi, with Concerto Köln and Les Violons du Roy, and in recital with the pianist Craig Rutenberg.
The previous season saw Vivica Genaux make her San Francisco debut in L'italiana in Algeri (Rossini). She also appeared in Bajazet with Europa Galante (Vienna, Yokohama, Montpellier), La Cenerentola (Opera Carolina, Michigan Opera Theater) and Giulio Cesare (San Diego). Earlier career highlights included Hasse's Marc'Antonio e Cleopatra at La Monnaie in Brussels and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Il barbiere di Siviglia in Berlin, Vienna and at the Metropolitan Opera, Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream with Kurt Masur and the Orchestre National de France in Paris and Hong Kong, Rinaldo in Montpellier and Innsbruck, a recital at Carnegie Hall, and concerts in Paris, Palermo and Lyon.
Her extensive discography was enriched last year by a CD of Handel and Hasse arias with Les Violons du Roy and Bernard Labadie. Among her previous recordings are Vivaldi's Bajazet and Alessandro Scarlatti's La Santissima Trinità with Europa Galante, Bel Canto Arias with the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris and John Nelson, Arminio with Alan Curtis, and most notably Rinaldo and Arias for Farinelli, both conducted by René Jacobs.

Listen to Guillemette Laurens in Atenaide
performing the aria "Quanto posso":

Trained at the Toulouse Conservatoire (where she later taught, from 1985 to 1998), then at the Opéra Studio in Paris, Guillemette Laurens began a regular collaboration with the Atelier Lyrique du Rhin in 1979 while simultaneously participating in the foundation of Les Arts Florissants. Under the direction of William Christie, she sang in numerous productions, notably Il ballo delle ingrate (Monteverdi), Dido and Aeneas (Purcell), and Atys (Lully). Since then she has sung with the most of the ensembles that specialise in early and Baroque repertoire, including Sequentia, Capriccio Stravagante (which she founded with the harpsichordist Skip Sempé), Il Giardino Armonico, Le Poème Harmonique, Europa Galante, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Elyma, I Fiori Musicali, I Barocchisti, Fuoco e Cenere, Le Parlement de Musique, and the Ricercar Consort. With them she regularly appears in the major European venues and is a guest at numerous festivals.
Her operatic appearances have also taken in Mozart's La clemenza di Tito and Le nozze di Figaro, Bellini's I puritani, Castérède's La Voix écarlate, Britten's The Rape of Lucretia, Weill's Der Jasager and Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire. In recital, she sings French mélodies and German lieder (with Susan Manoff, Macha Belooussova and Alexandre Tharaud) and Rossini operatic arias. Among her other partners are Musique Oblique, the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, and Les Passions de l'Âme.
Her broad discography reflects her activities in the company of such major conductors as Philippe Herreweghe, Gustav Leonhardt, John Eliot Gardiner, William Christie, René Jacobs, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Gabriel Garrido, Marc Minkowski, and more recently Janos Komives (in his own comic opera Le Muet au couvent), Jean-Christophe Spinosi (Vivaldi's La verità in cimento), David Stern (Handel's Semele), Hugo Reyne (Lully's Isis) and Françoise Lasserre (Landi's La morte d'Orfeo), not forgetting her regular participation in the programmes of Capriccio Stravagante and the creation of her own ensemble, Unda Maris, with which she recorded a programme of Spanish music (Ay luna) in 2004.
Guillemette Laurens has been Chevalier des Arts et Lettres since 2002.

Listen to Romina Basso in Atenaide
performing the aria "Nel profondo":

Born in Gorizia in Italy, Romina Basso studied at the Venice Conservatory and graduated in Italian Literature from the University of Trieste. She took part in masterclasses with Peter Maag, Regina Resnik, Rockwell Blake, Claudio Desderi, Elio Battaglia and Claudio Strudthoff, and now specialises in the Baroque and Rossinian repertoires. She was a prizewinner at several national and international competitions (Toti Dal Monte, As.Li.Co, Seghizzi, Città di Conegliano, Modena Musica and Placido Domingo Operalia). She makes regular appearances in Italy and at the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Théâtre de La Monnaie, the Avignon Festival, La Folle Journée de Nantes, in Montpellier and Bordeaux, at the Cité de la Musique in Paris, the Munich Philharmonie, the Glyndebourne Festival, the Barbican Centre, Symphony Hall in Birmingham, the Santiago da Compostela Baroque Festival, the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, the Sociedad Filarmonica and Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao, the Palau de la Música in Valencia, and the Utrecht Early Music Festival, and has been seen as far afield as Japan (Kobe, Tokyo) and Australia (Melbourne International Arts Festival). She works with such groups as Il Complesso Barocco, Concerto Italiano, Europa Galante, the Venice Baroque Orchestra, Accademia Bizantina, the Ricercar Consort, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Münchner Rundfunkorchester. She has sung under the direction of such conductors as Peter Maag (Faust), Marcello Viotti (L'italiana in Algeri), Paolo Arrivabeni (Tancredi), Daniele Gatti (Manon Lescaut), Vladimir Jurowski and Sir Charles Mackerras (Die Zauberflöte), Alain Guingal (Dialogues des Carmélites), Ottavio Dantone (Le Comte Ory, Ascanio in Alba, Tito Manlio, Annibale in Torino), Alan Curtis (Lotario, Rodelinda, Tolomeo), Rinaldo Alessandrini (La Vergine dei Dolori), Fabio Biondi (La santissima annunziata, Bajazet), Jordi Savall (L'Orfeo, Madrigali guerrieri ed amorosi), Andrea Marcon (Andromeda, L'Atenaide, L'Olimpiade, and Bach's Mass in B minor). Romina Basso has recorded for numerous radio stations and for a variety of record labels, including Kikko Classic, Bongiovanni, Mirare, Fuga, Ricercar (Porpora's Notturni), and Deutsche Grammophon-Archiv (Vivaldi's Motezuma and Handel's Tolomeo with Il Complesso Barocco under Alan Curtis).

Listen to Nathalie Stutzmann in Atenaide
performing the aria "Cor mio che":

Considered as the possessor of one of the finest voices of our time, Nathalie Stutzmann has a repertoire stretching from the Passions and oratorios of the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods to works of the twentieth century. Her talent is recognised by today's finest conductors, including Riccardo Chailly, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Marc Minkowski, Seiji Ozawa, and Sir Simon Rattle, with whom she sings regularly. She appears with the most prestigious orchestras, among them the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Nathalie Stutzmann studied with her mother and subsequently at the École Lyrique de l'Opera de Paris and with Hans Hotter. She is today a highly regarded interpreter of the German lied and the French mélodie. Since 1994 she has appeared throughout the world with the pianist Inger Södergren, in an intensive collaboration documented by recordings of Schumann and French songs for RCA and of the great Schubert song cycles. In the opera house Nathalie Stutzmann plays leading roles in such Handel operas as Giulio Cesare, Rinaldo, and Radamisto, and has also sung Gluck's Orpheus and Erda in Wagner's Ring. She has made more than seventy recordings, notably lieder by Schumann, melodies by Chausson and Poulenc, and Mahler's Second Symphony with Seiji Ozawa, universally acknowledged as a benchmark version. Among her most recent releases is Mendelssohn's Elias with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under the direction of Herbert Blomstedt.
Nathalie Stutzmann is a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres. She gives masterclasses all over the world.

Listen to Paul Agnew in Atenaide
performing the aria "Ti Stringo" :

Paul Agnew was born in Glasgow and read Music as a Choral Scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford. As an outstanding interpreter of Baroque and classical repertoire he works regularly with the world's leading early music groups and conductors, both in concert and in opera. Regarded as the leading interpreter of the French Baroque haute-contre roles, he made his Paris opera debut singing the title role in Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie conducted by William Christie. He has returned to the Opéra National de Paris to give performances of Rameau's Platée, Les Boréades and Les Indes galantes. Other operatic performances include appearances at the Festival d'art lyrique d'Aix-en-Provence, the Opéra de Lyon and the Zurich Opera.
In continuous demand on the international concert platform, Paul Agnew was Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music Artist in Residence in 2004 and is a regular performer at the Edinburgh Festival. Other concert performances have included Berlioz's L'Enfance du Christ (Orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin), Mozart's Davidde Penitente at the Vienna Konzerthaus (Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra), Alceste in Vara's Zaterdag Matinee series at the Concertgebouw, Handel's La resurrezione (City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Radio Sinfonie Orchester Frankfurt), Idomeneo with Les Arts Florissants, and Haydn's 'Nelson' Mass with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI ( Jeffrey Tate).
Paul Agnew's discography includes Beethoven lieder, L'Enfance du Christ (La Chapelle Royale, Philippe Herreweghe), Mozart's 'Coronation' Mass and Bach cantatas (the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Ton Koopman), Monteverdi's Vespers, Charpentier's La Descente d'Orphée aux Enfers and Rameau's Grands Motets (Les Arts Florissants, William Christie), and Sally Beamish's In Dreaming (Fretwork). On DVD his performances in Les Boréades (as Abaris) and Les Indes galantes are both released by Opus Arte and his performance as Platée is released on TDK.

Listen to Stefano Ferrari in Atenaide
performing the aria "Alme perfide":

Stefano Ferrari began studying the violin at the Brescia Conservatory before devoted himself entirely to singing under the guidance of Scherman Lowe. He then embarked on a career that embraces sacred, symphonic and operatic music ranging from Baroque repertoire, through Romantic, down to our own day.
His first stage appearances at the dawn of the third millennium were in Mozart roles: Tamino (Die Zauberflöte) and Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Tito (La clemenza di Tito) and Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni). At this time he also appeared at the Teatro Regio in Turin in Philip Glass's In a Penal Colony and at the Ratzeburg Festival in Mendelssohn's Second Symphony. In 2002, he was invited by the Rossini Festival in Pesaro for L'equivoco stravagante and to Ravenna for Pergolesi's L'Olimpiade. In the following year he opened the Parma Verdi Festival with Beethoven's Missa solemnis, sang Scarlatti under Rinaldo Alessandrini at the Beaune Festival, where he was later to achieve a triumph in L'incoronazione di Poppea, then went on a Japanese tour in Verdi's Otello with the Teatro alla Scala. It is in Italy that he may be seen most frequently in the theatre, singing Alessandro in Il re pastore (Ancona), Ferrando in Così fan tutte (Milan), Paolino in Il matrimonio segreto (Treviso), but also in concert performances of symphonic and sacred works. He has appeared at La Fenice in Venice in Mozart's La finta semplice and Strauss's Daphne. He has also sung Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius in Salamanca. In France he recently distinguished himself in the concert performances of Griselda given by the Ensemble Matheus and Jean-Christophe Spinosi in Brest and at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris.
These different productions have enabled him to work under the direction of such conductors as Riccardo Muti, Giancarlo Andretta, Aldo Ceccato, Massimo de Bernart, Carlo de Martini, Peter Maag, Antonello Manacorda, and Corrado Rovaris. His future engagements include Mozart's Lucio Silla in Venice and at the Salzburg Festival, Paisiello's Il barbiere di Siviglia and Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria in Brussels, and Mozart's Il re pastore in Budapest, Idomeneo at the Beaune Festival, and Don Giovanni in Thessaloníki (Megaron) and Catania.

Photos credits : Sandrine Piau © Antoine Le Grand, Vivica Genaux © Harry Heleotis, Nathalie Stutzmann © Nicolas Buisson, Paul Agnew © Sandrine Expilly, Romina Basso, Stefano Ferrari, Guillemette Laurens © D.R.