Le Stabat Mater de Pergolesi

Cellist and harpsichordist Jonathan Cohen is one of the most accomplished and sought-after British musicians of his generation. A fervent promoter of chamber music, he has mastered and explored repertoires ranging from baroque opera to the classical symphony. Cohen gained widespread recognition as associate conductor of Les Arts Florissants and, from 2010, as founder and artistic director of the Arcangelo ensemble. He has worked with Les Violons du Roy since 2014 and became their musical director in 2018. He also serves as artistic director of the Tetbury Music Festival and Boston’s prestigious Handel and Haydn Society.

A much-in-demand guest conductor, Cohen has appeared on both sides of the Atlantic with numerous ensembles, including the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Basel Chamber Orchestra, the Liège Royal Philharmonic, the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, the New York Philharmonic and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.

Throughout the 24-25 season, he returns to Kammerorchester Basel and directs performances of St Matthew Passion with both Rotterdam Philharmonic and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. He returns to Glyndebourne Festival for a revival of Barrie Kosky’s production of Handel Saul. He leads both Handel and Haydn Society and Houston Symphony Orchestra in Messiah, and with Handel and Haydn he also conducts Haydn The Seasons, Mozart Requiem and Beethoven Mass in C.

In addition to his impressive discography of almost 30 works as director of Arcangelo, he has recorded three albums with Les Violons du Roy, all of which have garnered national and international acclaim. His album devoted to Handel and Glass with American countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo earned Les Violons du Roy their first-ever Grammy nomination in 2019. Cohen has introduced several prestigious guest artists to audiences of Les Violons du Roy and has toured three times in Europe and North America with them.

Equally at home on the concert and opera stages, Carolyn Sampson has enjoyed notable successes in the UK as well as throughout Europe and the US.

On the opera stage her roles have included the title role in Semele and Pamina in The Magic Flute for English National Opera, various roles in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen for Glyndebourne Festival Opera (released on DVD) and both Anne Truelove The Rake’s Progress and Mélisande Pelléas et Mélisande in Sir David McVicar’s productions for Scottish Opera. Internationally she has appeared at Opéra de Paris, Opéra de Lille, Opéra de Montpellier and Opéra National du Rhin. She also sang the title role in Lully’s Psyché for the Boston Early Music Festival, which was released on CD and was subsequently nominated for a Grammy in 2008.

Carolyn’s numerous concert engagements in the UK have included regular appearances at the BBC Proms, and with orchestras including the BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, English Concert, Hallé, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, The Sixteen, and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. In the US Carolyn has featured as soloist with the Boston, Cincinnati, Detroit, Minnesota Orchestra and San Francisco Symphonies, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the St Paul Chamber Orchestra, and is a regular guest at the Mostly Mozart Festival.

Alongside her longstanding relationship with the BIS label she has released multi award-winning discs for Decca, Harmonia Mundi, and Hyperion, receiving accolades including the Choc de l'Année Classica, Gramophone Magazine Editor’s Choice, BBC Music Magazine’s Record of the Month, an ECHO Award, and a Diapason D’Or. Her recording with Ex Cathedra for Hyperion, A French Baroque Diva won the recital award in the 2015 Gramophone Awards. Carolyn was also nominated for Artist of the Year in the 2017 Gramophone Awards, and her recording of Mozart’s Mass in C minor and Exsultate Jubilate with Masaaki Suzuki and Bach Collegium Japan won the Choral Award. Their subsequent recording together of Bach St Matthew Passion also won the Choral Award in the 2020 Gramophone Awards.

Counter-tenor Tim Mead is praised for his “alluring” and “consistently excellent” interpretations (New York Times). With his “rich, mellifluous sound” (Guardian), he is recognized as one of the finest across the generations of counter-tenors.

Recent operatic highlights include Goffredo in Rinaldo at Glyndebourne; Endimione in La Calisto for Teatro Real, Madrid, and at the Bayerische Staatsoper; Bertarido in Rodelinda for Opéra de Lille; Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Opera Philadelphia, Glyndebourne, and Bergen National Opera; Hamor in Jephtha at the Opéra National de Paris; the title role in Akhnaten and Ottone in Agrippina for Opera Vlaanderen; the Boy/Angel in Written on Skin at the Bolshoi; Bertarido in Rodelinda at the English National Opera; and Arsamene in Cavalli’s Xerse with Le Concert d’Astrée at Opéra de Lille, Theater an der Wien, and Théâtre de Caen.

On the concert platform, recent highlights include Handel’s Jephtha with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at the BBC Proms; a European recital tour with Le Concert d’Astrée; Bach’s St. John Passion with Jonathan Cohen and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; an appearance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and Walt Disney Concert Hall; a tour of Asia with The English Concert; Athamas in Semele with the CBSO and the Handel and Haydn Society; Didymus in Theodora with Akademie für Alte Musik; the world premiere of Theo Loevendie in Spinoza at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam; Handel’s Messiah with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the New York Philharmonic, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE), Gabrieli Consort, the Handel & Haydn Society, the Academy of Ancient Music, and Le Concert d’Astree; the Bach B Minor Mass with The English Concert and Les Arts Florissants; Bach’s Magnificat with Le Concert d’Astrée; Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at the London Handel Festival and with the Netherlands Bach Society; Handel’s Theodora with the English Concert; Handel’s Solomon with Akademie für Alte Musik; Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus with the OAE; and Handel’s Joseph and his Brethren at the Internationale Händel-Festspiele Göttingen.