Andreas Scholl

Counter-tenor

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“Scholl loves the great era of English song that stretches from Dowland to Purcell, and in this concert brought it to life in performances of heart-felt intensity. The canvas of these songs may be small, but Scholl made it seem immense.”
(Ivan Hewett, The Telegraph)

Andreas Scholl has released a series of extraordinary solo recordings including: Wanderer — a disc of German Lied in partnership with pianist Tamar Halperin; O Solitude – an all-Purcell album with Accademia Bizantina which won the 2012 BBC Music Magazine award, Arias for Senesino, Heroes — a disc of arias by Handel, Mozart, Hasse and Gluck, Robert Dowland’s A Musicall Banquet, Arcadia — a collection of rare and unpublished cantatas by composers from Rome’s Arcadian Circle, Wayfaring Stranger — a selection of specially arranged English and American folksongs with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Bach cantatas with Kammerorchester Basel and Vivaldi Motets with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, all of which are released on Decca. His most recent recording, Small Gifts of Heaven, is a collaboration with Dorothee Oberlinger and released on the Sony label this season.

Highlights this season include a new solo recital programme featuring 20^th century songs by Britten, Berg, Copland, Vaughan Williams and Pärt at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and the Kölner Philharmonie; Small Gifts of Heaven with Dorothee Oberlinger on tour in Europe; and a tour to the Far East with the English Concert.

Handel: Aure, deh, per pietà spirate (excerpt) Giulio Cesare © Salzburger Festspiele, Decca

Handel: Partenope (excerpt) © Decca Classics

Purcell: The Cold Song © Decca Classics

Schubert: Du bist die Ruh (excerpt) © Decca

Bach: Ich habe genug (excerpt) © Decca

Songs of Myself - Oswald von Wolkenstein (excerpt) © Harmonia Mundi

Al lampo dell'armi from Arias for Senisino (excerpt) © Decca

Monteverdi: Pur ti miro (excerpt) © Decca Classics

“Scholl’s voice, with its bright directness and woody lower register, is a natural partner for Oberlinger’s solo recorders, and the combination works particularly well in ‘Leget euch dem Heiland unter’ from Himmelskönig, sei wilkommen, where he and Oberlinger find a lovely combination of grit and polish for this heartfelt musical prayer.”

(Gramophone, February 2018)

“Andreas Scholl, who has been at the top of the tree since the 1990s [is] still a countertenor that matters.”

(The Times, March 2017)

“Andreas Scholl at his subtle best during a rare UK performance”

(Ivan Hewett, Telegraph, March 2017)

“[Giulio Cesare is] a role [Andreas Scholl] sings beautifully and plays with a dry, twinkle-in-the-eye irony which was captivating.”

(Opera Magazine, June 2016)

“Douce et impérieuse à la fois, la voix d’Andreas Scholl illumine le Théâtre des Champs-Elysées”

(Bachtrack, December 2015)

“Scholl loves the great era of English song that stretches from Dowland to Purcell, and in this concert brought it to life in performances of heart-felt intensity. The canvas of these songs may be small, but Scholl made it seem immense. He gave an epic breadth to the folk-song King Henry, and when he sang the words “trembling, trembling” in Purcell’s Sweeter than Roses, he really did tremble like a man possessed. The real test in these songs is to bring out the flirty quality of the light songs without seeming arch, a test which Scholl passed with flying colours.”

(The Telegraph, June 2015)