Ian Bostridge: Three Baroque Tenors

Ian Bostridge discusses his recording of Three Baroque Tenors featuring six world premiere recordings of arias by Caldara, Conti, Gasparini, Handel, Scarlatti, and Vivaldi.

John Beard, Francesco Borosini, Annibale Fabri: these three men helped to revolutionize music in the 18th century. Their voices moved the greatest composers of the time to increasingly write for tenors, a move from the Castrati, which had dominated opera since 1600. Now, three centuries since this trio’s brilliance encouraged a surge of new repertoire for the vocal range, world-renowned tenor Ian Bostridge celebrates their legacy with his stunning new release, Three Baroque Tenors.

This recording features works by the masters of the age, including six world premiere recordings of arias by Caldara, Conti, Gasparini, Handel, Scarlatti, and Vivaldi. The previously unrecorded Handel aria is Scorta siate a passi miei, from the “Borosini” edition of his famous opera Giulio Cesare. In this version, Borosini sang the role of Sesto, which was traditionally performed by a castrato with different arias. Much of the repertoire selected by Bostridge has rarely been performed in modern times.