Baroque Music Recital: Guillemette Laurens and Mirella Giardelli

After the summer break, two extraordinary concerts will kick off the musical season at the Académie de France in Rome.

On Thursday, September 27, at Villa Medici, mezzo-soprano Guillemette Laurens, accompanied by harpsichordist Mirella Giardelli, will perform rare Roman works from the first half of the 17th century. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, October 2, at the Palazzo Sacchetti—opened especially for the occasion—mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink will give a recital of Roman works from the second half of the 17th century, accompanied by harpsichordist Giorgio Paronuzzi and cellist Emilia Gliozzi. “Organizing concerts featuring the most beautiful Roman music from its golden age, the 17th century…”

“To fill with music palaces that are not—or only rarely—open to the Roman public: this is the ambition behind the Villa Medici’s musical projects, of which this year’s two recitals serve as ‘previews’.” Jean-Michel Damian (curator of the event and journalist for Radio France) Guillemette Laurens, mezzo-soprano; Mirella Giardelli, harpsichordist

Program :

Stefano Landi (1586–1639) “Aria di Teti,” excerpt from *Orfeo*; Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583–1643) Toccata in D; Girolamo Frescobaldi “Dunque dovro” “Se l’aura spira” “Cosi mi disprezzate” Girolamo Frescobaldi Toccata in A Luigi Rossi (…–1653) “Tornate, i miei sospir” Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757) Sonata K. 312 Excerpts from *Il Primo Omicidio*, arias by Eve, Cain, and God Domenico Scarlatti Sonata K. 268

The concerts on September 27 and October 2 will offer the audience a unique and special opportunity—thanks to the exceptional opening of the Palais Ricci Sacchetti and the intimate nature of the recital—to discover the bond that unites these two palaces. Guillemette Laurens, Mezzo After receiving the Honorary Prize from the Toulouse Conservatory (piano, voice, chamber music), she joined the Opéra-Studio de Paris in 1976. She made her debut at the Salle Favart the following year in Stravinsky’s *The Rake’s Progress*, conducted by Sylvain Cambreling.

She was a member of the Atelier Lyrique du Rhin before joining William Christie’s Les Arts Florissants. Since 1980, Guillemette Laurens has performed on major concert stages across Europe and around the world (the United States, Colombia, Japan), has been a guest artist at several festivals dedicated to 17th-century Italian music, and has worked with highly acclaimed ensembles (La Petite Bande conducted by Gustav Leonhardt, Les Arts Florissants with William Christie, Concerto Vocale with René Jacobs, etc.).

In 1998, she performed the role of Penelope in Monteverdi’s *Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria* at the KustenFestival des Arts in Brussels, a co-production directed by Philippe Pierlot that went on to receive acclaim in Vienna, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Zurich. Guillemette Laurens has recorded for Harmonia Mundi, Teldec, Erato, EMI, Philips, and Audivis. Mirella Giardelli, harpsichordist Trained as both a pianist and harpsichordist, Mirella Giardelli served as Jean-Claude Malgoire’s musical assistant at the Atelier Lyrique de Tourcoing, where she also worked as a vocal coach. In the summer of 1997, she was engaged by the Salzburg Festival as a vocal coach for a Mozart opera conducted by Marc Minkowski.

Since then, she has regularly participated in productions by Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble as both a performer and vocal coach: Rameau’s *Platée*, Handel’s *Hercules*, Monteverdi’s *The Coronation of Poppea*, Offenbach’s *La Belle Hélène*, Mozart’s *The Marriage of Figaro* and *The Abduction from the Seraglio* at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. In November 2003, she joined the permanent staff of Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble to develop a new artistic and cultural project in the Grenoble region, in collaboration with Marc Minkowski. During the 2003–2004 season, she presented three experimental programs: “A Day Around Semele,” “Tribute to Purcell,” and “L’Enfance de l’Art,” which foreshadowed the “Atelier des Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble,” inaugurated in January 2005, and for which Mirella Giardelli has served as music director ever since.