Lemieux & Jaroussky perform Handel – September 24, 2022

Les Violons du Roy presents

Lemieux & Jaroussky en parfaite complicité

Les Violons du Roy and Jonathan Cohen open the season in spectacular fashion with two of the world’s most dazzling opera singers, the renowned Marie-Nicole Lemieux and Philippe Jaroussky, who will give their all for the pleasure of all.

Jonathan Cohen, conductor

Jonathan Cohen has forged a remarkable career as a conductor, cellist and keyboardist. Well known for his passion and commitment to chamber music Jonathan is equally at home in such diverse activities as baroque opera and the classical symphonic repertoire. He is Artistic Director of Arcangelo, Music Director of Les Violons du Roy, Artistic Director of Tetbury Festival and Artistic Partner of Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

The 22-23 season sees Jonathan returning to the USA to conduct the Handel and Haydn Society and St Paul Chamber Orchestra and his projects with Les Violons du Roy include Handel’s Alcina and programs with Carolyn Sampson and Philippe Jaroussky. He conducts Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Real Filharmonia de Galicia and Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla, as well as projects with Arcangelo including Handel’s Theodora.

Marie-Nicole Lemieux, contralto

It is no wonder that Marie-Nicole Lemieux shines today in the world of singing: the singer like the woman radiates an aura that belongs only to the greatest. Her vocal talents were revealed to the public in 2000 when she won the Queen Fabiola and Lied Prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium.

Her powerful voice, her superb sense of line and a faultless virtuosity as well as her sense of nuance and drama allows her to triumph in various repertories.

Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor

Countertenor Philippe Jaroussky has established himself as one of the leading singers on the international music scene, as can attest the several awards he has won at the French Victoires de la Musique (Révélation – artiste lyrique in 2004, and Artiste lyrique de l’année in 2007 and 2010) and at the 2016 Echo Klassik Awards ceremony in Berlin (the prestigious Singer of the Year prize, which he also received in 2008).

His impressive mastery of singing techniques allows him to perform with the most daring nuances and vocal acrobatics.

G.F. HANDEL, Duos et airs

To purchase your tickets visit: www.placedesarts.com

Les Violons du Roy takes its name from the celebrated court orchestra of the French kings. It was founded in 1984 by Bernard Labadie, now styled founding conductor, and continues under music director Jonathan Cohen to explore the nearly boundless repertoire of music for chamber orchestra in performances matched as closely as possible to the period of each work’s composition. Its minimum fifteen-member complement plays modern instruments, albeit with period bows for Baroque and Classical music, and its interpretations are deeply informed by the latest research on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century performance practice. The repertoire of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries receives similar attention and figures regularly on the orchestra’s programs.