Messiaen Barbara Hannigan & Bertrand Chamayou, Charles Sy, Vilde Frang

• Olivier Messiaen (1908 - 1992): Chants de Terre et de Ciel:
• 1 Messiaen: Chants de Terre et de Ciel: I. Bail avec Mi (pour ma femme) 03:36
• 2 Messiaen: Chants de Terre et de Ciel: II. Antienne du silence (pour le jour des Anges gardiens) 01:48
• 3 Messiaen: Chants de Terre et de Ciel: III. Danse du bébé-pilule (pour mon petit Pascal) 05:41
• 4 Messiaen: Chants de Terre et de Ciel: IV. Arc-en-ciel d'innocence (pour mon petit Pascal) 05:06
• 5 Messiaen: Chants de Terre et de Ciel: V. Minuit pile et face (pour la mort) 04:12
• 6 Messiaen: Chants de Terre et de Ciel: VI. Résurrection (pour le jour de Pâques) 04:11
• Poèmes pour Mi, Premier Livre:
• 7 Messiaen: Poèmes pour Mi, Premier Livre: I. Action de grâces 05:58
• 8 Messiaen: Poèmes pour Mi, Premier Livre: II. Paysage 02:03
• 9 Messiaen: Poèmes pour Mi, Premier Livre: III. La Maison 01:21
• 10 Messiaen: Poèmes pour Mi, Premier Livre: IV. Épouvante 02:33
• Poèmes pour Mi, Deuxième Livre:
• 11 Messiaen: Poèmes pour Mi, Deuxième Livre: V. L'épouse 01:42
• 12 Messiaen: Poèmes pour Mi, Deuxième Livre: VI. Ta voix 02:58
• 13 Messiaen: Poèmes pour Mi, Deuxième Livre: VII. Les deux guerriers 01:25
• 14 Messiaen: Poèmes pour Mi, Deuxième Livre: VIII. Le collier 03:08
• 15 Messiaen: Poèmes pour Mi, Deuxième Livre: IX. Prière exaucée 02:37
• La mort du Nombre:
• 16 Messiaen: La mort du Nombre 10:12
• Total Runtime 58:31

Info for Messiaen

Soprano Barbara Hannigan and pianist Bertrand Chamayou unite to record the vocal music of Olivier Messiaen, presenting his two major song cycles from the 1930's. Existing in both the sensual and sacred realms, the Poèmes pour Mi are inspired by the precious relationship of Messiaen and “Mi” - the nickname of his first wife; violinist and composer Claire Delbos. Chants de terre et de ciel also emerges from Messiaen's marriage to Delbos, written just after the birth of their son, Pascal. Both cycles oscillate between hypnotic meditation and ecstatic songs of love, supported by Messiaen's intense spiritual faith. Inspired by Messiaen's words, "It is a glistening music we seek...", Hannigan and Chamayou delve into the composer's complex language to reveal a natural and flowing music, whose roots extend from the earth upwards to a shimmering realm. As a final work on the album, Hannigan and Chamayou included a rarely performed "scena" of Messiaen: La Mort du nombre (1929) is a dialogue between two souls, in which they are joined by the Canadian tenor Charles Sy and the Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang.

"Hannigan’s silvery, flexible sound may lack the sheer heft of the “dramatic soprano” that Messiaen specifies for both cycles, but the way in which she uses her voice and her superb projection of the French texts are more than adequate compensation. In fact, it’s hard to imagine a weightier voice bringing such beguiling, soft-edged intimacy to parts of each cycle as she does." (The Guardian)

Barbara Hannigan, soprano
Bertrand Chamayou, piano
Vilde Frang, violin
Charles Sy, tenor

Barbara Hannigan
Embodying music with an unparalleled dramatic sensibility, soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan is an artist at the forefront of creation. Her artistic colleagues include John Zorn, Krszysztof Warlikowski, Simon Rattle, Sasha Waltz, Kent Nagano, Vladimir Jurowski, Andreas Kriegenburg, Andris Nelsons, Esa Pekka Salonen, Christoph Marthaler, Antonio Pappano, Katie Mitchell, and Kirill Petrenko. The late conductor and pianist Reinbert de Leeuw has been an extraordinary influence and inspiration on her development as a musician.

The Canadian musician has shown a profound commitment to the music of our time and has given the world première performances of over 90 new creations. Hannigan has collaborated extensively with composers including Boulez, Zorn, Dutilleux, Ligeti, Stockhausen, Sciarrino, Barry, Dusapin, Dean, Benjamin and Abrahamsen.

The past few seasons have brought the premiere of a new production of Poulenc's opera La Voix Humaine, in which she both sings and conducts, interacting with live video. This new production and concept was created by Hannigan in collaboration with video artist Denis Guéguin and premiered with l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. The acclaimed performance has toured to various orchestras and halls including Copenhagen, Gothenburg, London, Rotterdam, Spoleto, Ludwigsburg, Winterthur, Wroclaw and Munich. Recent world premieres include Golfam Khayam's I am not a tale to be told with Iceland Symphony Orchestra, John Zorn's Split the Lark for soprano and piano with Stephen Gosling and Star Catcher for soprano, piano, upright bass and drums with Gosling, Jorge Roeder and Ches Smith, Zosha di Castri's In the Half Light with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and a new project with Katia et Marielle Labeque inspired by the life and music of Hildegard von Bingen. 2023/24 includes further world premieres by John Zorn, Salvatore Sciarrino, and Jan Sandström,

Last season, Barbara made her conducting debut with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, with further debuts with Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, as well as ongoing musical collaborations with Gothenburg Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, LSO, Santa Cecilia, Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, and appearances at festivals in Spoleto, Oslo, Copenhagen, Hanover, Ludwigsburg and Aix en Provence.

On record, Barbara Hannigan’s fruitful relationship with Alpha Classics began in 2017 with the release of Crazy Girl Crazy, which won the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal album, among other awards including an Edison (Holland) and a Juno (Canada). Five critically-acclaimed recordings followed, including Vienna: fin de siècle with pianist Reinbert de Leeuw, La Passione featuring works by Nono, Haydn and Grisey, and most recently Infinite Voyage, joining her colleagues of the Emerson String Quartet for their final album, in works of Schoenberg, Hindemith, Berg and Chausson. Spring 2024 brings the release of the ecstatic vocal works of Messiaen with pianist Bertrand Chamayou.

Barbara’s commitment to the younger generation of musicians led her to create the mentoring initiatives Equilibrium Young Artists (2017), and Momentum: our Future Now (2020), both initiatives offering both guidance and performing opportunities to young professional artists. She was recently named the Reinbert de Leeuw Professor of Music at the RAM. Her awards and honours include the Dresdener Musikfestspiele Glashütte Award (2020), Denmark’s Léonie Sonning Music Prize (2021), Canada's De Hueck and Walford Career Achievement Award (2023), the Order of Canada (2016), Germany's Faust Award (2015), Sweden's Rolf Schock Prize for Musical Arts (2018) and the 2021 Stena Foundation's Cultural Scholarship, Officier des Arts et des Lettres in France (2022), and Gramophone Magazine’s 2022 Artist of the Year.

Barbara resides in Finistère, on the northwest coast of France, directly across the Atlantic from where she grew up in Waverley, Nova Scotia.

Vilde Frang
Recognised worldwide for her exquisite sound and virtuosity, Vilde Frang continues to develop into one of the most sought after young violinists on the concert platform. In 2012 she was unanimously awarded the Credit Suisse Young Artists Award which led to her acclaimed debut with the Vienna Philharmonic under Bernard Haitink at the Lucerne Festival.

Regularly appearing with the leading orchestras, her recent highlights have included performances with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchester, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunk and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. The 2015-16 season will include debuts with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de Belgique, Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin and the NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg. She will make her debut with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle as part of their annual Europa concert. She has enjoyed collaborations with conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Mariss Jansons, Ivan Fischer, Krzysztof Urbanski, James Gaffigan, Vladimir Jurowski, Vasily Petrenko, Jakub Hrusa, Paavo Järvi, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Yuri Temirkanov.

A keen chamber musician, Vilde regularly appears at festivals in Salzburg, Verbier, Lucerne, London Proms, Rheingau, Lockenhaus, George Enescu Festival and the Prague Spring Music Festival. 2016 will see Vilde as artist in residence at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival. Amongst her collaborators were Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Lawrence Power, Nicolas Altstaedt, Steven Isserlis, Truls Mørk, Leif-Ove Andsnes, Martha Argerich and the Ébène Quartet.

Vilde has toured internationally with her recital partner Michail Lifits. The duo have performed at venues including the Concertgebouw, Musikverein, Philharmonie Berlin, Wigmore Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Tonhalle Zurich, Bozar Brussels as well as part of the Vancouver Recital Series, Boston Celebrity Series and San Francisco Performances. In March 2016 the duo will make their debut at Carnegie Hall in New York.

Vilde Frang is an exclusive Warner Classics artist and her recordings have received numerous awards. She is the recipient of the Edison Klassiek Award, Classic BRIT Award, “Editor’s Choice by Gramophone Magazine, “Diapason d’Or” by Diapason Magazine, Deutsche Schallplattenpreis and Echo Klassik Award.

Born in Norway in 1986, Vilde was engaged by Mariss Jansons at the age of twelve to debut with Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. She studied at Barratt Due Musikkinstitutt in Oslo, with Kolja Blacher at Musikhochschule Hamburg and Ana Chumachenco at the Kronberg Academy. She has also worked with Mitsuko Uchida as a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship winner 2007, and was a scholarship-holder 2003-2009 in the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation.

Vilde Frang performs on the ‘Rode’ Guarneri del Gesù from 1734.

Charles Sy
has been recognized locally and nationally as a promising young artist with a “softly lyric sound, a natural sense of phrasing coupled with a rare willingness to project beyond the apron” (National Post). He is described as “vocally and dramatically mature with a delicious dark tenor sound that [stretches] easily into shining high notes” (Schmopera).

Charles completed his BMus and MMus degrees at the University of Toronto and is an alumnus of several prestigious opera training programs including Music Academy of the West, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, the Britten-Pears Young Artist Program, and the Opera as Theatre program at the Banff Centre. He is a graduate of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio and received First prize and Audience Choice in the COC’s 2014 Centre Stage Competition. He is currently completing an Artist Diploma in Opera Studies at The Juilliard School.

This season, he makes his Juilliard Opera debut as Belfiore/La finta giardiniera and also makes his Carnegie Hall debut as the Evangelist and Tenor Soloist in Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium under the baton of Maestro Mark Shapiro. In Canada, he sings Grimoaldo/Rodelinda with Voice Box: Opera In Concert and wraps up the season with Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with Pax Christi and Mozart’s Requiem and Davide Penitente with the Ottawa Choral Society and the St. Lawrence Choir. Previous opera roles include Nemorino/L’elisir d’amore, Tamino/Die Zauberflöte, Don Ottavio/Don Giovanni. He will be making his Vancouver Opera debut as Prince Ramiro in Rossini’s La Cenerentola in 2019.

An enthusiastic interpreter of song, Charles was selected for an Art of Song Fellowship at the Toronto Summer Music Festival in 2012 where he had the opportunity to work with the world-renowned Gerald Finley and Craig Rutenberg. He was also awarded the 2014 Jim and Charlotte Norcop Prize in Song at the University of Toronto. Charles received first place in the Ottawa Choral Society’s 2014 New Discoveries Competition and is a Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques Laureate for 2014, winning the Prix Lyrique Italien and the Prix Jeunes Espoir Lyrique Canadien. He is a 2014 Jacqueline Desmarais Grant recipient and is also the recipient of the 2013 Hnatyshyn Foundation Developing Artist Grant for Classical Voice after being nominated to represent the University of Toronto and competing at the national level.

Booklet for Messiaen