CCMusic.com

In November 2021, Emmanuelle Haïm led two celebratory charity concerts - one in Berlin, the other in her home city of Paris - to mark 20 years of her ensemble Le Concert d'Astrée. The music, mostly from operas, was by Handel, Rameau, Purcell, Vivaldi and Campra, and the spectacular line-up of vocal soloists included sopranos Natalie Dessay, Sabine Devieilhe, Emőke Baráth and Sandrine Piau, mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre, tenors Michael Spyres and Rolando Villazón, bass-baritone Laurent Naouri, and bass Andrea Mastroni. In Berlin, a distinguished guest conducted extracts from Rameau's Les Boréades: Sir Simon Rattle, whom Emmanuelle Haïm describes as the 'godfather' of Le Concert d'Astrée. "I like richness and colour," she says, "I like to embody meaning in sound without ever losing the narrative thread... We are lucky to be making music, and it is wonderful to be able to share this joy with an audience."