Philippe Jaroussky is a French sopranist

Sopranist

A sopranist is a male singer who is able to sing in the vocal tessitura of a soprano usually through the use of falsetto vocal production. This voice type is a specific kind of countertenor...

 countertenor

Countertenor

A countertenor is a male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of a contralto, mezzo-soprano, or a soprano, usually through use of falsetto, or far more rarely than normal, modal voice. A pre-pubescent male who has this ability is called a treble...

. He began his musical career with the violin, winning an award at the Versailles

Versailles

Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...

 conservatory and then took up the piano before turning to singing. He is noted for a virtuosic coloratura

Coloratura

Coloratura has several meanings. The word is originally from Italian, literally meaning "coloring", and derives from the Latin word colorare . When used in English, the term specifically refers to elaborate melody, particularly in vocal music and especially in operatic singing of the 18th and...

 technique and for compelling and enlivened interpretations of baroque

Baroque music

Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...

 cantata

Cantata

A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....

s and operas.

Jaroussky was inspired to sing by the Martinique-born countertenor Fabrice di Falco. He received his diploma from the Early Music Faculty of the Conservatoire de Paris

Conservatoire de Paris

The Conservatoire de Paris is a college of music and dance founded in 1795, now situated in the avenue Jean Jaurès in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, France...

. Since 1996, he has studied singing with Nicole Fallien. He has formed his own ensemble called Artaserse, and also often performs with the Ensemble Matheus

Ensemble Matheus

Ensemble Matheus is a French baroque orchestra. Based in Brittany, the ensemble gives concerts in a number of French cities, including Brest at Le Quartz, where it has enjoyed a residency since 1996, Vannes , and Plougonvelin...

 under Jean-Christophe Spinosi

Jean-Christophe Spinosi

Jean-Christophe Spinosi is a French conductor and violinist, the founder of Quatuor Matheus , a group that later grew into Ensemble Matheus. He is especially well-known for his interpretation of the instrumental and vocal music of the Baroque, most notably the operas of Vivaldi...

 and with L'Arpeggiata

L'Arpeggiata

L'Arpeggiata is a European early music group led by Christina Pluhar, and founded by her in 2000.-Discography:* La Vilanella * Homo Fugit Velut Umbra * La Tarantella * All'Improvviso * Rappresentazione di Anima et di Corpo...

 under Christina Pluhar.

Reception and awards

According to La Terrasse, "this young singer with the tone of an angel and the virtuosity of the devil has come into the limelight in only a few years as the great new French vocal talent." He received the 2007 best French lyrical artist award. Jaroussky was awarded "The Best Singer of the Year" at the Echo Classic Awards, 2008.

Discography

• Alessandro Scarlatti
  Alessandro Scarlatti
  Alessandro Scarlatti was an Italian Baroque composer especially famous for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the founder of the Neapolitan school of opera. He was the father of two other composers, Domenico Scarlatti and Pietro Filippo Scarlatti.-Life:Scarlatti was born in...
  
  : Sedecia, Re di Gerusalemme. Lesne, Pochon, Harvey, Padmore. Il Seminario Musicale, Gérard Lesne
  Gérard Lesne
  Gérard Lesne is a French countertenor. He also the founder and artistic director of the baroque music ensemble, Il Seminario Musicale...
  
  . Virgin Veritas (rec. November 1999, École Sainte-Geneviève, Versailles, France)
• Claudio Monteverdi
  Claudio Monteverdi
  Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, gambist, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period. He developed two individual styles of composition – the...
  
  : L'incoronazione di Poppea
  L'incoronazione di Poppea
  L'incoronazione di Poppea is an Italian baroque opera comprising a prologue and three acts, first performed in Venice during the 1642–43 carnival season. The music, attributed to Claudio Monteverdi, is a setting of a libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello...
  
  . Laurens, Oliver, Schofrin, Oro. Ensemble Elyma, Gabriel Garrido
  Gabriel Garrido
  Gabriel Garrido is an Argentinian conductor specialising in the recovery of the baroque musical heritage of Latin America.Garrido was born in Buenos Aires, and at the age of 17 Argentine recorder quartet, Pro Arte, undertaking two tours in Europe...
  
  . K617 (rec. July/August 2000, Chiesa San Martino, Erice, Italy)
• Pierre Menault
  Pierre Menault
  Pierre-Richard Menault was a French Baroque composer.Although a provincial chapel master and priest at Dijon he printed vespers dedicated to Père François de la Chaise, confessor of Louis XIV,-Works, editions and recordings:...
  
  : Vêpres pour le Pére la Chaize. Greuillet, Janssens, Lombard, van Dyck. Ensemble La Fenice
  Ensemble La Fenice
  Ensemble La Fenice is a period wind band based in the town of Auxerre in the Bourgogne region of France. Founded in 1990 by the cornett player Jean Tubéry, the ensemble specializes in music of the Baroque era played on period instruments.-External links:...
  
  , Jean Tubéry. K617 (rec. April 2001, chiesa Saint-Lazare, Avallon, France)
• Giovanni Battista Bassani
  Giovanni Battista Bassani
  Giovanni Battista Bassani was an Italian composer, violinist, and organist.Battista was born in Padua. It is thought that he studied in Venice under Daniele Castrovillari and in Ferrara under Giovanni Legrenzi. Charles Burney and John Hawkins claimed he taught Arcangelo Corelli, but there is no...
  
  : La morte delusa. Galli, del Monaco, Piolino, Sarragosse. Ensemble La Fenice, Jean Tubéry. Opus 111 (rec. August 2001, Delft, Nederland)
• Antonio Vivaldi
  Antonio Vivaldi
  Antonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...
  
  : Catone in Utica. Edwards, Laszczkowski, Cangemi, Faraon. La Grande Écurie, Jean-Claude Malgoire
  Jean-Claude Malgoire
  Jean-Claude Malgoire is a French conductor.He was born in Avignon, France and studied music locally and at the Paris Conservatory. His early musical career was as an oboist....
  
  . Dynamic (rec. November 2001, Théâtre Municipal, Tourcoing, France)
• Antonio Vivaldi
  Antonio Vivaldi
  Antonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...
  
  : La Verità in cimento. Rolfe-Johnson, Stutzmann, Laurens, Mingardo. Ensemble Matheus, Jean-Christophe Spinosi. Naïve
  Naïve
  Naivety , is the state of being naive—having or showing a lack of experience, understanding or sophistication. One who is naive may be called a naif.- Etymology :...
  
   – Opus 111 (rec. September 2002, Eglise de Daoulas, Bretagne, France)
• Solo recital: Benedetto Ferrari
  Benedetto Ferrari
  Benedetto Ferrari was an Italian composer, particularly of opera, librettist and theorbo player.Ferrari was born in Reggio nell'Emilia. He worked in Rome , Parma , and possibly in Modena at some time between 1623 and 1637. He created music and libretti in Venice and Bologna, 1637-44...
  
  : Musiche varie. Ensemble Artaserse. Ambroisie (rec. October/December 2002, Chapelle Jésus-Enfant – Paroisse Ste. Clothilde, Paris, France)
• George Frideric Handel
  George Frideric Handel
  George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
  
  : Agrippina
  Agrippina
  Agrippina may refer to:In people:* Vipsania Agrippina , daughter of Caecilia Attica and first wife of the Emperor Tiberius* Vipsania Marcella Agrippina , daughter of Claudia Marcella Major and first wife of general Publius Quinctilius Varus* Julia the Younger or Vipsania Julia Agrippina , daughter...
  
  . Gens, Perruche, Smith, Grégoire, di Falco. La Grande Écurie, Jean-Claude Malgoire. Dynamic (rec. March 2003, Théâtre Municipal, Tourcoing, France)
• Solo recital: Un concert pour Mazarin. Ensemble La Fenice, Jean Tubéry. Virgin Classics, 2004 (rec. June 2003, Abbaye de Saint-Michel, Thiérache, France)
• Claudio Monteverdi
  Claudio Monteverdi
  Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, gambist, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period. He developed two individual styles of composition – the...
  
  : Selva morale e spirituale. Spiritualità e liturgia / I salmi vespertini / Vespro dei Martiri / L'eloquenza divina. Ensemble Elyma
  Ensemble Elyma
  Ensemble Elyma is an early music ensemble specialising in the baroque musical heritage of Latin America, led by Gabriel Garrido.-Selected discography:See...
  
  , Gabriel Garrido
  Gabriel Garrido
  Gabriel Garrido is an Argentinian conductor specialising in the recovery of the baroque musical heritage of Latin America.Garrido was born in Buenos Aires, and at the age of 17 Argentine recorder quartet, Pro Arte, undertaking two tours in Europe...
  
  . Ambronay Edition (rec. 2003/2004, Festival d'Ambronay, France)
• Antonio Vivaldi
  Antonio Vivaldi
  Antonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...
  
  : Orlando furioso
  Orlando Furioso
  Orlando Furioso is an Italian epic poem by Ludovico Ariosto which has exerted a wide influence on later culture. The earliest version appeared in 1516, although the poem was not published in its complete form until 1532...
  
  . Larmore, Lemieux, Cangemi. Ensemble Matheus, Jean-Christophe Spinosi. Naïve – Opus 111 (rec. June 2004, Eglise de Daoulas, Bretagne, France)
• Claudio Monteverdi
  Claudio Monteverdi
  Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, gambist, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period. He developed two individual styles of composition – the...
  
  : L'Orfeo. van Rensburg, Gerstenhaber, Thébault, Gerstenhaber, Gillot, Kaïque. La Grande Écurie, Jean-Claude Malgoire
  Jean-Claude Malgoire
  Jean-Claude Malgoire is a French conductor.He was born in Avignon, France and studied music locally and at the Paris Conservatory. His early musical career was as an oboist....
  
  . Dynamic (rec. October 2004, Théâtre Municipal, Tourcoing, France)
• Solo recital: Antonio Vivaldi
  Antonio Vivaldi
  Antonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...
  
  : Virtuoso cantatas. Ensemble Artaserse. Virgin Veritas (rec. October 2004, Chapelle des sœurs auxiliaires, Versailles, France)
• Antonio Vivaldi
  Antonio Vivaldi
  Antonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...
  
  : Griselda
  Griselda
  Griselda is a feminine given name used in the English, Italian, Spanish, and Germanic languages. According to the 1990 United States Census, the name was 1066th in popularity among females in the United States....
  
  . Lemieux, Cangemi, Kermes, Ferrari, Davies. Ensemble Matheus
  Ensemble Matheus
  Ensemble Matheus is a French baroque orchestra. Based in Brittany, the ensemble gives concerts in a number of French cities, including Brest at Le Quartz, where it has enjoyed a residency since 1996, Vannes , and Plougonvelin...
  
  , Jean-Christophe Spinosi
  Jean-Christophe Spinosi
  Jean-Christophe Spinosi is a French conductor and violinist, the founder of Quatuor Matheus , a group that later grew into Ensemble Matheus. He is especially well-known for his interpretation of the instrumental and vocal music of the Baroque, most notably the operas of Vivaldi...
  
  . Naïve
  Naïve
  Naivety , is the state of being naive—having or showing a lack of experience, understanding or sophistication. One who is naive may be called a naif.- Etymology :...
  
   – Opus 111 (rec. November 2005, Salle Surcouf, Foyer du Marin, Brest, France)
• Solo recital: Beata Vergine, Motets à la Vierge entre Rome et Venise, Grandi, Legrenzi, Cavalli, Antonio Rigatti, Giovanni Paolo Caprioli, Frescobaldi
  Frescobaldi
  The Frescobaldi are a prominent Florentine noble family that have been involved in the political, sociological, and economic history of Tuscany since the Middle Ages;. Originating in the Val di Pesa in the Chianti, they appear holding important posts in Florence in the twelfth century...
  
  , Sances, Ensemble Artaserse. Virgin Classics (rec. December 2005, Eglise Notre-Dame du Liban, Parigi, France)
• Solo recital: Vivaldi Heroes. Ensemble Matheus, Jean-Christophe Spinosi. Virgin Classics (rec. October 2006, Auditorium de l'Ecole Nationale de Musique, Brest, France)
• Solo recital: Carestini, the story of a castrato. Le Concert d'Astrée, Emmanuelle Haïm. Virgin Classics, 2007
• J. S. Bach: Magnificat – G. F. Handel: Dixit Dominus. Dessay, Deshayes, Spence, Naouri. Le Concert d'Astrée, Emmanuelle Haïm. Virgin Classics, 2007
• Antonio Vivaldi
  Antonio Vivaldi
  Antonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...
  
  : Nisi Dominus and Stabat Mater
  Stabat Mater
  Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Roman Catholic hymn to Mary. It has been variously attributed to the Franciscan Jacopone da Todi and to Innocent III...
  
  . Philippe Jaroussky, Lemieux. Ensemble Matheus, Jean-Christophe Spinosi. Naïve (rec. July 2007, Salle Surcouf, Brest (France))
• Solo recital: Opium – Mélodies françaises. Philippe Jaroussky, Jerôme Ducros. Virgin Classics, 2009. – songs by Debussy
  Claude Debussy
  Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
  
  , Hahn
  Reynaldo Hahn
  Reynaldo Hahn was a Venezuelan, naturalised French, composer, conductor, music critic and diarist. Best known as a composer of songs, he wrote in the French classical tradition of the mélodie....
  
  , Fauré
  Gabriel Fauré
  Gabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers...
  
  , César Franck
  César Franck
  César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck was a composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher who worked in Paris during his adult life....
  
  , Massenet
  Jules Massenet
  Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas...
  
  , Ernest Chausson
  Ernest Chausson
  Amédée-Ernest Chausson was a French romantic composer who died just as his career was beginning to flourish.-Life:Ernest Chausson was born in Paris into a prosperous bourgeois family...
  
  , André Caplet
  André Caplet
  André Caplet was a French composer and conductor now known primarily through his orchestrations of works by Claude Debussy.-Biography:...
  
  , Saint-Saëns
  Camille Saint-Saëns
  Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
  
  , Paul Dukas
  Paul Dukas
  Paul Abraham Dukas was a French composer, critic, scholar and teacher. A studious man, of retiring personality, he was intensely self-critical, and he abandoned and destroyed many of his compositions...
  
  , Guillaume Lekeu
  Guillaume Lekeu
  Guillaume Lekeu was a Belgian composer of classical music.- Life :Lekeu, who was born in Verviers, Belgium, took his first lessons at the conservatoire in that city. In 1879, his parents moved to Poitiers, France. There, he finished school while he continued his music studies autodidactically...
  
  , Cécile Chaminade
  Cécile Chaminade
  Cécile Louise Stéphanie Chaminade was a French composer and pianist.-Biography:Born in Paris, she studied at first with her mother, then with Félix Le Couppey, Marie Gabriel Augustin Savard, Martin Pierre Marsick and Benjamin Godard, but not officially, since her father disapproved of her musical...
  
  , Gabriel Dupont
  Gabriel Dupont
  Gabriel Édouard Xavier Dupont was a French composer, known for his operas and chamber music.Dupont was born in Caen. Following after his father who was teacher at the Malherbe secondary school and the organist at the Church Saint-Étienne in his home town, at the age of 15, Dupont began his studies...
  
  , Vincent d'Indy
  Vincent d'Indy
  Vincent d'Indy was a French composer and teacher.-Life:Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy was born in Paris into an aristocratic family of royalist and Catholic persuasion. He had piano lessons from an early age from his paternal grandmother, who passed him on to Antoine François Marmontel and...
  
  .
• Via Crucis. Claudio Monteverdi
  Claudio Monteverdi
  Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, gambist, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period. He developed two individual styles of composition – the...
  
  , Benedetto Ferrari
  Benedetto Ferrari
  Benedetto Ferrari was an Italian composer, particularly of opera, librettist and theorbo player.Ferrari was born in Reggio nell'Emilia. He worked in Rome , Parma , and possibly in Modena at some time between 1623 and 1637. He created music and libretti in Venice and Bologna, 1637-44...
  
  , Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, Giovanni Legrenzi
  Giovanni Legrenzi
  Giovanni Legrenzi was an Italian composer of opera, vocal and instrumental music, and organist, of the Baroque era...
  
  , Luigi Rossi, Tarquinio Merula
  Tarquinio Merula
  Tarquinio Merula was an Italian composer, organist, and violinist of the early Baroque era. Although mainly active in Cremona, stylistically he was a member of the Venetian school...
  
  , L'Arpeggiata
  L'Arpeggiata
  L'Arpeggiata is a European early music group led by Christina Pluhar, and founded by her in 2000.-Discography:* La Vilanella * Homo Fugit Velut Umbra * La Tarantella * All'Improvviso * Rappresentazione di Anima et di Corpo...
  
  , dir. Christina Pluhar, Philippe Jaroussky, Nuria Rial, Enzo Gragnaniello, Barbara Furtuna. Jean-Philippe Guissani, Giovanni Antonio, Pandolfi Mealli, Roccu Mambrini, Toni Casalonga, Nando Acquaviva, Lorenzo Allegri, Virgin Classics, 2010.
• Solo recital: J. C. Bach Opera arias. Le Cercle de l'Harmonie, dir. Jérémie Rhorer Virgin. – awarded the Diapason d’Or de l’Année 2010 in France.
• Solo recital: Caldara in Vienna (Forgotten Castrato Arias) Philippe Jaroussky / Concerto Köln
  Concerto Köln
  Concerto Köln is a Baroque music chamber ensemble.The group formed in 1985, one of many groups associated with the surging interest in period instruments in that decade. Its members consisted mainly of recent graduates of conservatories from across Europe. They began touring the Continent, often...
  
  , Emmanuelle Haïm
  Emmanuelle Haïm
  Emmanuelle Haïm is a French harpsichordist and conductor with a particular interest in early music and Baroque music....
  
  
• Vivaldi Ercole sul Termodonte Diana Damrau
  Diana Damrau
  Diana Damrau is a German lyric coloratura soprano of the operatic stage.-Biography:Diana Damrau was born in 1971 in Günzburg, Bavaria, Germany, and began her operatic studies with Carmen Hanganu at the Musikhochschule in Würzburg. After graduating from music conservatory she worked in Salzburg...
  
  , Vivica Genaux
  Vivica Genaux
  Vivica Genaux is an American coloratura mezzo-soprano. Her father, an American of Belgian-Welsh descent, was a biochemistry professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and her mother, Mexican-born of Swiss-German extraction, was a language teacher...
  
  , Romina Basso, Patrizia Ciofi
  Patrizia Ciofi
  Patrizia Ciofi, born in Casole d'Elsa, Siena, on June 7, 1967, is an Italian operatic soprano. She is married to the conductor Luciano Acocella....
  
  , Joyce DiDonato
  Joyce DiDonato
  Joyce DiDonato is an award-winning American operatic mezzo-soprano particularly admired for her interpretations of the works of Handel, Mozart, and Rossini...
  
  , Rolando Villazon
  Rolando Villazón
  Emilio Rolando Villazón Mauleón is a Mexican tenor. He settled in France and in 2007 became a French citizen.-Early life and education:...
  
  , Philippe Jaroussky, Topi Lehtipuu
  Topi Lehtipuu
  Topi Lehtipuu is a Finnish operatic tenor. He has sung a variety of roles from different periods, including the title role in Benjamin Britten's Albert Herring at the Finnish National Opera, several roles in Mozart operas, including Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Tamino in Die...
  
  , dir. Fabio Biondi
  Fabio Biondi
  Fabio Biondi is an Italian violinist and conductor.Born in Palermo, Sicily, Biondi began his international career at the age of 12 playing a concerto with the RAI Symphony Orchestra. When he was 16, he performed Bach's violin concertos at the Musikverein in Vienna...
  
  , Europa Galante
  Europa Galante
  Europa Galante is an Italian period instrument Baroque orchestra founded by violinist Fabio Biondi in 1990 and directed by him since that time....
  
  , Virgin Classics. 2011

External links

• Concerts Parisiens
• Philippe Jaroussky International Forum
• Performance of aria "Vedrò con mio diletto" (Vivaldi, "Il Giustino") on YouTube
• Philippe Jaroussky recordings on Virgin Classics
• Philippe Jaroussky videos on MaleSopranos.com
• New York Times Sunday Magazine profile