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Opening of the Festival

VIVICA GENAUX (coloratura mezzo-soprano, USA)

LES ACCENTS Ensemble (France)
Artistic Director and soloist THIBAULT NOALLY (violin, France)

Programme:
 
Instrumental works and excerpts from operas by Georg Friedrich Händel and Alessandro Scarlatti

Born in Alaska, a coloratura mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux has recently been focusing on baroque music. She began her professional career specializing in portrayals of Rossini heroines. The tile role in Händel’s ''Arminio'' was her first baroque role. During more than 20 years, Genaux has appeared in operas and oratorios by Händel,  Vivaldi, Hasse, Alessandro Scarlatti, Gluck, Donizetti and Meyerbeer among other composers. Concert tours have taken her around the North America, Europe, Israel, Australia and South America. Thus, when asked where the former Alaskan lives now she mentions Italy and adds with a smile that she lives in her suitcases!
 
Genaux has sung in the world’s major theatres, concert halls and festivals such as Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall in New York, Wiener Staatsoper and Konzerthaus, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, the Los Angeles Opera and Shanghai Grand Theatre. The soloist has earned a number of various awards; she is the subject of a documentary. The French Baroque Orchestra ''Les accents'' was formed in Beaune International Baroque Opera Festival in 2014. The ensemble performs the 17th–18th c. vocal and instrumental music, revives works of Antonio Caldara, Nicolo Porpora, Alessandro Scarlatti, Giovanni Bononcini, Alessandro Stradella as well as motets and church cantatas by various other composers. In addition, the orchestra specialises in violin repertoire of the aforementioned period. 
 
''Les accents'' has collaborated with illustrious vocalists such as Philippe Jaroussky, Vivica Genaux, Sonya Yoncheva, Léa Desandre, Gaëlle Arquez, Ana Quintans and Blandine Staskiewicz among others. Two years ago the orchestra’s debut CD ''Venezia 1700'' received ''Classica'' music magazine’s prize ''Chocs de l’année''. In 2017, the orchestra has delved into Alessandro Scarlatti’s output: revived and performed his masterpiece – opera Il ''Mitridate Eupatore''; investigates his oratorios. 
 
The orchestra’s music director and violinist Thibault Noally collaborates with various ensembles: Ensemble Baroque of Limoges, Concerto Köln, Matheus Ensemble and Les Musiciens of the Louvre Grenoble. As a soloist he has given performances in Paris, Tokyo, Madrid, Vienna, Shanghai and Hong Kong.       
 
 

More information: www.vilniusfestival.lt