Member
Contact Information
director@bostoncamerata.orgLocation
Amesbury, Massachusetts
Early Music Skills & Interests
Early Music Affiliations
Music/Artistic Director, Opera Director, Performer
Biography
French-born vocalist and scholar Anne Azéma directs the American early music ensemble The Boston Camerata, and the French ensemble Aziman. As a performer, she has been acclaimed by critics on five continents for her original, passionate, and vivid approach to songs and texts of the Middle Ages. De Volkskrant (Amsterdam, Holland) noted that “Azéma is, in her genre, as great as Callas or Fischer Dieskau.” Anne Azéma's singing has also been widely praised in many other repertoires, from Renaissance lute songs to Baroque sacred music to twentieth-century music theatre. Her appointment as director of the Boston Camerata has been described as “an inspired choice” by Musicalcritiscism.com (UK).
Anne Azéma is not only the performer, but also the creator of her programs. She researches and edits the repertoire, frequently transcribing the material herself from original sources. Ms. Azéma’s productions for Aziman include, The Night’s Tale: A Tournament of Love, (Arsenal.Metz and Luxembourg, 2007; a 2016 US reprise); CD on the K 617 label, France. For The Boston Camerata, she has created Land of Pure Delight (2008), A Distant Haven (2009), A Symphony of Psalms (2009), The Maria Monologues (2010), Alexander the Great: Hero, Warrior, Lover (2010 – 2012 – 2014). In 2011, Anne Azéma and the Boston Camerata were commissioned to create five new programs of Medieval music, in celebration of the anniversary (1211-2011) of the Reims Cathedral,France: La Messe de Machaut, Portes dou Ciel, Thibaut de Champagne, Une galerie de Rois. More recently and for the Boston series, she created Patriots and Heroes (2011), The Harvest (2012), Of all the Flowers (MIT commission, 2015). She has recently edited, directed and staged The Play of Daniel, premiered in Boston (2014, reprise in the US 2017) and slated for touring in the US and Europe (2018). In early 2017, she premiered a new project of early Renaissance music linked with Flemish objects, 1500-1540, in collaboration with several major museums (Canada, US, Holland).
Anne Azéma has been a soloist with numerous ensembles, large and small, early and contemporary. Her ongoing collaboration with the Tero Saarinen Company (Helsinki, Finland) around early American songs has been praised on three continents. She is also the co-founder of the Camerata Mediterranea, touring with them internationally and appearing on all of their CDs (Edison Prize).
The second film in which she has appeared has received two prizes at the Montréal FIFA (2014). Her festival and concert series invitations as a soloist, recitalist or director include Amsterdam, Abu Dhabi, Antwerp, Graz, Dresden, Leipzig, Utrecht, Spoleto, Seville, Savannah, Versailles, Jerusalem, Berlin, Boston, Bergen, Ambronay, Utrecht, Casablanca, Cambridge (UK), Perth, Montpellier, Wellington, Kyoto, Tanglewood, Tokyo, Trieste and Treviso.
Ms Azéma's current discography numbers over thirty-five recordings as a soloist, recitalist or director, on the Warner, Erato/Warner (Grand Prix du Disque – Edison Prize), Calliope, K 617, ATMA, Harmonia Mundi, Bridge, and Virgin labels.
Among her teaching activities are master classes, seminars, and residencies at conservatories and universities here and abroad. She has contributed articles to scholarly and general audience publications. In 2011, Ms. Azéma was named Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government. Ms. Azéma has been the Robert M. Trotter Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Oregon, Eugene in 2012, has lectured at New York University, Boston University, is faculty at the Longy School of Music of Bard College. In 2015, she has been invited to teach at the Fondazione Cini, Venice; the Fondazione Benetton, Treviso ; the Schola Cantorum, Basel and was a Visiting Artist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2016, the University of Manitoba, Canada and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville as well as the San Francisco Early Music Society have extended invitations for her to share her knowledge on early performance practices. In Spring of 2017, Anne Azéma was awarded the Distinguished Artist Award by the St Botolph Club, Boston.
