Michael Spyres
Der US-amerikanische Tenor Michael Spyres ist einer der herausragendsten Sänger seines Fachs und tritt an den international renommiertesten Opern- und Konzerthäusern sowie bei führenden Festivals auf. Sein umfangreiches, auf zahlreichen CDs dokumentiertes Repertoire reicht vom Barock über Mozart bis Britten, wobei er sich inbesondere als Belcanto-Sänger und in französischen Partien einen Namen gemacht hat.

In den letzten Jahren gab Michael Spyres viele erfolgreiche Hausdebüts: an der Metropolitan Opera als Faust (La Damnation de Faust), an der Wiener Staatsoper als Don Ramiro (La Cenerentola), an der Pariser Opéra als Tito (La clemenza di Tito), an der Bayerischen Staatsoper als Hoffmann (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), am Opernhaus Zürich als Orlando (Orlando paladino), am Theater an der Wien als Licinius (La Vestale), an der Philadelphia Opera als Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), an der Oper Frankfurt als Vasco da Gama (L’Africaine) und am Grand Théâtre de Genève als Gualtiero (Il pirata). Außerdem sang er die Titelrolle in Benvenuto Cellini bei den BBC Proms, beim Festival Berlioz in La Côte-Saint-André sowie in der Berliner und der Pariser Philharmonie, Pollione (Norma) am Opernhaus Zürich und am Teatro Real in Madrid, Florestan (Fidelio) am Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris sowie Fernand (La Favorite) in Houston und am Liceu in Barcelona, wo er auch als Mozarts Mitridate auf der Bühne stand.

Weitere Höhepunkte in Spyres’ Karriere waren Il viaggio a Reims und La donna del lago an der Mailänder Scala, La donna del lago und Mitridate am Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Les Contes d’Hoffmann am Liceu, La gazza ladra an der Semperoper Dresden, Guillaume Tell und Mitridate an der Monnaie in Brüssel, La traviata an der Lyric Opera of Chicago, Mitridate und Carmen am Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, La Damnation de Faust und Beethovens Missa solemnnis bei den BBC Proms, Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno beim Festival d’Aix-en-Provence sowie La donna del lago, Ciro in Babilonia und Aureliano in Palmira beim Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro.

Michael Spyres, in Mansfield (Missouri) geboren, studierte in den USA und später am Konservatorium in Wien. Internationale Aufmerksamkeit erregte er erstmals 2008 als Rossinis Otello beim Festival Rossini in Wildbad und als Tamino an der Deutschen Oper Berlin. Zu den Dirigenten, mit denen er zusammengearbeitet hat, zählen Andrew Davis, Mark Elder, John Eliot Gardiner, Edward Gardner, Valery Gergiev, Emmanuelle Haïm, Fabio Luisi, Michele Mariotti, Riccardo Muti, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Kirill Petrenko, Evelino Pidò, Christophe Rousset, Simone Young und Alberto Zedda.

Christophe Rousset
During his youth in Aix-en-Provence, Christophe Rousset developed a passion for the Baroque aesthetic. At the age of thirteen he decided not to study archaeology but to satisfy his keen interest in the discovery of the past through music instead, by taking up the harpsichord. That took him to the Schola Cantorum in Paris, where he studied with Huguette Dreyfus, then to the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, to work with Bob van Asperen. At twenty-two he won the prestigious First Prize, as well as the Public Prize, in the Seventh Bruges Harpsichord Competition (1983).

At Aix he also developed his love for opera and the stage by attending rehearsals at the Festival d’Art Lyrique. It was there that opera gave him his first strong emotions, which still guide him in his work today.

Christophe Rousset’s performances as a harpsichordist soon attracted the attention of the international press as well as record companies. He became a member of Les Arts Florissants, then Il Seminario Musicale, before embarking on a career as a music director, which led him to form his own ensemble, Les Talens Lyriques, in 1991. Firing the ensemble with his enthusiasm as a conductor and researcher, he was soon among the front runners of Baroque, acclaimed in France and internationally.

Engagements at the world’s Baroque festivals, numerous recordings (Harmonia Mundi, L’Oiseau-Lyre, Fnac Music, Emi-Virgin, Decca, Naïve and Ambroisie), film soundtracks (Farinelli)… within a few seasons Christophe Rousset had established his reputation as a talented, industrious and conscientious young director with a passion for the voice and for opera, an indefatigable discoverer of original scores (Antigona by Traetta, La Capricciosa Corretta by Martin y Soler, Armida Abbandonata by Jommelli, La Grotta di Trofonio by Salieri, Temistocle, by Jean-Chrétien Bach …), a soloist and chamber musician always at his peak, and a patient and untiring teacher.

His various projects lead him to explore European music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (opera, cantata, oratorio, sonata, symphony, concerto, suite…), constantly shedding light on all the forms that played a part in the history of music before Rossini, and ‘serving’ music in a very personal way.

His many recordings include the complete harpsichord works of François Couperin, Jean-Philippe Rameau, d’Anglebert and Forqueray, and his interpretations of works by J. S. Bach (Partitas, Goldberg Variations, Harpsichord Concertos, English Suites, French Suites, Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann ) are regarded as references. With his ensemble Les Talens Lyriques, his great successes on disc include Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Mozart’s Mitridate, Overtures by Rameau, and Persée and Roland by Lully.

Christophe Rousset is an Officier des Arts et Lettres, and “Chevalier dans l’Ordre National du Mérite”.