Dualità: Handel Opera Arias (Emöke Baráth & Philippe Jaroussky)

Role change: Countertenor Philippe Jaroussky conducts Handel : For world star Philippe Jaroussky, the recording "Dualità" is a debut album: "The best countertenor of the present" (Der Spiegel) dedicates it to the diverse soprano parts of the baroque composer George Frideric Handel. But Jaroussky is in front of the orchestra as conductor this time, leaving the stage to Hungarian soprano Emőke Baráth. The two have already been performing arias and duets together on tour for years - but this is the first time Jaroussky has now taken up the baton for a recording. The album title "Dualità" is an allusion to the complementary opposites of woman and man: it is both female and male roles that Emőke Baráth interprets. After all, Handel wrote quite a few of his heroic roles for the brilliant coloratura voices of the castrati. And so, in addition to the typical female roles, such as the sorceress Alcina or Cleopatra, there are also male roles on the recording, including the title figure of the Thracian prince Radamisto with the famous aria "Ombra cara". Emőke Baráth is a specialist in early music and an internationally sought-after interpreter for whom "neither demanding coloratura, nor intonationally delicate harmonies (for example in the lamenti)" are a problem, according to rbb Kulturradio. Her solo album on Warner Classics received an Opus Klassik in 2019. The singer has already worked with Philippe Jaroussky in previous opera productions. For the countertenor, in turn, the recording of "Dualità" is a continuation of his successful first conducting engagements in France and Salzburg. He leads the ensemble Artaserse, which he founded in 2002 and with which he performs throughout Europe.