Gramophone Awards 2023
Finalist - Voice & Ensemble

Presto Editor's Choice
April 2023

Gramophone Magazine
May 2023
Editor's Choice

Michael Spyres (tenor), Il Pomo d’Oro, Francesco Corti

Lully: Persée
Handel: E il soffrirete… Empio, per farti guerra (from Tamerlano)
Vivaldi: Cada pur sul capo audace (from Artabano, Re de’ Parti)
Vinci, Leonardo: Si sgomenti alle sue pene (from Catone in Utica)
Porpora: Nocchier, che mai non vide l'orror della tempesta (from Germanico in Germania)
Sarro: Fra l'ombre un lampo solo (from Achille in Sciro)
Galuppi: Vil trofeo dun alma imbelle (from Alessandro nell'indice)
Latilla: Se il mio paterno amore (from Siroe, Re di Persia)
Hasse, J A: Solcar pensa un mar sicuro (from Arminio)
Rameau: Naïs: Cessez de ravager la terre
Mazzoni: Tu m'involasti un regno (from Antigono)
Gluck: J'ai perdu mon Eurydice (from Orphée et Eurydice)
Mozart: Se di lauri (from Mitridate, re di Ponto)
Piccinni: En butte aux fureurs de l'orage (from Roland)

• “A tenor who has the world at his feet.” – Opera 2017

• Michael Spyres’s new album is the perfect companion to his 2021 BariTenor release, which received rave reviews worldwide.

• Recorded with the fabulous Il Pomo d’Oro under Francesco Corti • Features works by Handel, Hasse, Mazzoni, Pergolesi, Porpora, Sarro, Scarlatti, Vinci, Vivaldi, and more – spanning even to Mozart

• These two albums show the progression of vocal writing for the natural male voice: in Contra-Tenor from 1707–1770, then BariTenor as the male vocal categorization begins to blur from 1790 through the mid-20th century

• Michael’s vision is to bridge the gap between “early music” and “classical music”, directing fans of both eras to each other’s territory through these unique and distinct album concepts

• He crafts these programs with great care and is intelligent, witty, and brilliant on the stage and in interviews!

• “In truth, this album’s concept was born out of my research to find the absolute extremes of the human voice whether it be yodeling, Tuvan throat singing, overtone singing, or the many categories of the classical voice. There has never been an album dedicated to this era of vocal history which is by all accounts uncategorizable by the fach system not to mention virtually unsingable to most singers in the present day” – Michael Spyres

"Spyres's versatility and sheer virtuosity emerge every bit as strongly on this all-Baroque programme as they did on its audacious predecessor Baritenor - the American singer is such a vocal chameleon that you'd swear that at least three different singers were involved in the project, and his phenomenal range is once again exploited to the max (an aria from Mazzoni's Antigone stops the virtual show with a three-octave cadenza reaching top G!)." - Presto Music, April 2023.