Rossini: Figaro? Sì! Florian Sempey, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine & Marc Minkowski

• Gioachino Rossini (1792 - 1868):
• 1 Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia: Aria. Largo al factotum (Figaro) 04:22
• 2 Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia: Duet. Ma dite, signor Figaro-Dunque io son (Rosina, Figaro) 06:41
• 3 Rossini: La scala di seta: Aria. Amore dolcemente (Germano) 08:58
• 4 Rossini: La Cenerentola: Duet. Un segreto d'importanza (Dandini, Don Magnifico) 05:27
• 5 Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia: Overture 06:43
• 6 Rossini: L'italiana in Algeri: Chorus. Viva il grande Kaimakan 04:55
• 7 Rossini: L'italiana in Algeri: Duet. Ai Cappricci della sorte (Isabella, Taddeo) 07:47
• 8 Rossini: L'italiana in Algeri: Overture 08:09
• 9 Rossini: L'occasione fa il ladro, scena 3: Aria. Che sorte che accidente (Don Parmenione, Martino) 05:32
• 10 Rossini: Le comte Ory: Aria. Dans ce lieu solitaire (Raimbaud) 05:26
• 11 Rossini: Péchés de vieillesse, Miscellanée de musique vocale No. 11: II. La chanson du bébé 03:03
• Total Runtime 01:07:03

Info for Rossini: Figaro? Sì!

The French baritone Florian Sempey has established himself as a key player on today’s operatic scene. For his first solo recital, Rossini was the obvious choice, first of all because he has already performed the title role in Il barbiere di Siviglia in the leading opera houses, from Paris to London, and of course by way of Orange and Pesaro. But there is another reason: ‘Rossini was the first composer’s name I heard in my life. At my grandparents’ house, there was a bust above the piano, on a little rococo display stand’ – the bust that appears on the cover of this album. ‘Rossini’s music is a challenge for singers and also a great and very strict technical training for them. It calls for the highest standards and degree of precision. This programme presents arias in French and Italian, mingling the most famous (including Figaro’s ‘Sono il factotum’) with rarities such as Germano’s aria from La scala di seta and Don Parmenione’s from L’occasione fa il ladro. It also includes magnificent duets with two dream partners, Karine Deshayes and Nahuel Di Pierro. And who better to conduct the Orchestre de l’Opéra National Bordeaux Aquitaine than the accomplished Rossinian Marc Minkowski, who gives this music an inimitable sparkle?

Florian Sempey, baritone
Karine Deshayes, mezzo-soprano
Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine
Marc Minkowski, conductor

Florian Sempey
Baritone and exceptional performer, the baritone Florian Sempey is one of the most sought-after lyric artists on the international scene.

His thunderous career has already led him to perform in the title role of Il Barbiere di Siviglia on the stages of the Opéra de Paris, the Royal Opera House in London, the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, the Opera di Roma, the New National Theatre in Tokyo, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Opéra national de Bordeaux-Aquitaine, the Opéra de Marseille, the Grand Théâtre du Luxembourg, the Chorégies d'Orange and the Opéra de Saint-Etienne.

He has also been invited, among others, to the Opéra national de Paris (Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Valentin in Faust, Nevers in Les Huguenots, Dandini in La Cenerentola, Bellone and Adario in Les Indes Galantes), at the Royal Opera House in London (Marcello in La Bohème), at the Cologne Opera (Enrico in Lucia di Lamermoor), at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam (Valentin in Faust), at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (the title role in Hamlet, Alfonso XI in La Favorite), at the Fondazione Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo (Donizetti's L'Ange de Nisida), at the Drottningholms Slottsteater (the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro), at the Opéra-Comique de Paris (Doctor Falke in Die Fledermaus), at the Marseille Opera (Cecil in Maria Stuarda), the Limoges Opera (Dandini in La Cenerentola), the Saint-Etienne Opera (Ciboulette and Le Mage), and the Bordeaux and Avignon Operas (Enrico in Lucia di Lamermoor).

In concert he has been heard alongside the Wiener Symphoniker (Berlioz's Lélio ou le retour à la vie), the Berliner Philharmoniker (Handel's Apollo e Dafne ), the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse (Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen), the NDR Sinfonieorchester (Chausson's Poème de l'amour et de la mer), the Orchestre National de France (Puccini's Messa di Gloria), the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France (Lalo's La Jacquerie), the Orchestre national de Lille (Zurga in Les Pêcheurs de Perles and Escamillo in Carmen), the Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Paris (Claudio in Béatrice et Bénédict), the Orchestre national Bordeaux-Aquitaine (Ramiro in L'Heure espagnole), the Musiciens du Louvre (Hidraot in Armide) ...

Noteworthy during the 2021/2022 season: Dandini (La Cenerentola) at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Belcore (L'Elisir d'Amore) at the Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo, Guglielmo (Cosi fan tutte) at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Count (Le Nozze di Figaro) at the Opéra national de Bordeaux, Figaro (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) at the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, Valentin (Faust) at the Opéra national de Paris, and concerts with the Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Bordeaux, the Talens Lyriques, the Musiciens du Louvre, the Concert d'Astrée and the Chapelle Harmonique. ..

Florian Sempey is represented by the agency RSB Artists since 2012.

Karine Deshayes
After brilliant musical studies having been a pupil of Mireille Alcantara and receiving advice from Régine Crespin, Karine Deshayes first joined the troupe of the Lyon Opera, where she performed in the roles of Cherubino, Stephano, among others, and especially in her first Rossini role as Rosina.

His career quickly took off afterwards. She was invited to perform on all the major French stages: Avignon, Lyon Strasbourg, Marseille, Toulouse, Tours, Chorégies d’Orange, Bordeaux etc. She regularly performed at the Paris Opera where she won great acclaim in the Rossini roles of Angelina, Rosina, Elena, but also as Poppea in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Sesto (in Handel’s Giulio Cesare), Romeo (in Bellini’s I Capuleti e I Montecchi ) and in the Mozart roles of Cherubino and Dorabella. It was also at the Paris Opera that she took on the title-role of Carmen for the first time, as well as the role of Charlotte in Werther.

Karine Deshayes’s career has also extended into major international stages, including the Salzburg Festival (Die Zauberflöte under the baton of Riccardo Muti), the Teatro Real in Madrid, and the Liceu in Barcelona (the title role in Massenet’s Cendrillon). At the invitation of the New York Metropolitan Opera, she debuted in the role of Siebel before returning there to play Isolier in the Le Comte Ory, and more recently, Nicklausse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann directed by James Levine, where she drew particularly rave reviews from the New York music critiques. She followed this by performing in the role of Angelina in the Cenerentola at the San Francisco Opera, again to great success.

Subsequently, she has sung the role of Donna Elvira at the Opera of Paris for the first time, a role that she made own, as the public and the critics unanimously agreed. In concert, she beautifully played the role of Elisabetta in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda at the Avignon Opera. Karine Deshayes’s vast repertoire has allowed her to perform regularly in concert and recital under the direction of such conductors as Emmanuel Krivine, David Stern, Kurt Masur, Emmanuelle Haïm, Louis Langrée and Myung-Whun Chung, and with such artists as Philippe Cassard, Renaud Capuçon, Nicolas Angelich, L’Ensemble Contraste, the Quatuor Ebène, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and many more.

At the Victoires de la Musique Awards in 2016, Karine Deshayes was named Lyric Artist of the Year for the second time in her career.

Recently, she was onstage a great Adalgisa (Norma) at the Madrid Teatro Real and Charlotte in a concert version of Werther at the Moscow Tchaïkovsky Concert Hall. She sang for the first time the part of Concepción (L’Heure Espagnole) in a concert at the Bordeaux Opera, the title-role of Rossini’s Armida, with a triumph, at the Montpellier National Opera and of Alceste at the Lyon National Opera. She was also Roméo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi) at the Marseille Opera. In concert, Rossini’s Stabat Mater at the Saint-Denis Festival and the part of Elvira (I Puritani) at the Montpellier Radio France Festival.

This season, she will make her debut as Marie de l’Incarnation (Dialogue des Carmélites) at Brussels La Monnaie Theater and in the title-role of Semiramide at the Saint-Etienne Opera. She will also perform the role of Stephano (Roméo et Juliette) at the New York Metropolitan Opera and the title-role of Cenerentola in concert at the Paris Théâtre des Champs-Elysées.

Booklet for Rossini: Figaro? Sì!