Une Nouvelle Fete Baroque

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, Em?ke 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.