Bejun Mehta (2010, by Marco Borggreve)

Bejun Mehta (born June 29, 1968) is an American countertenor who performs in operas, recitals, and concerts. He records for Harmonia Mundi.

Early life and family[link]

Mehta was born June 29, 1968 in Laurinburg, North Carolina, and grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan.^[1] His father, Dady Mehta, a pianist born in Shanghai, China of Indian parents, is a cousin of conductor Zubin Mehta. His father was professor of piano at Eastern Michigan University. His mother, Martha Ritchey Mehta of Altoona, Pennsylvania, was a soprano and journalist who worked in the development office of the University of Michigan Museum of Art, and she was Mehta's first voice teacher.^[2][3] His brother, Navroj Mehta, is a violinist, and the artistic director of the Ventura Music Festival.

Early musical career[link]

From the ages of nine through fifteen, Mehta was a celebrated solo boy soprano in concerts and recordings. Of his CD for the Delos label in 1983 (Bejun DE 3019), Leonard Bernstein was moved to comment "It is hard to believe the richness and maturity of musical understanding in this adolescent boy."^[2][3] He was also honored by the magazine Stereo Review as the Debut Recording Artist of the Year.^[2]

After his voice changed, Mehta devoted his musical energies to the cello, both as a soloist and orchestral player, studying with Aldo Parisot at Yale University. Mehta graduated from Yale University with an honors degree in German literature.^[1] Concurrently he completed an internship at Delos, where he had recorded as a boy. This led to his working with many great artists as an independent recording producer for labels such as Sony/CBS, BMG/RCA, Deutsche Grammophon, and Delos. His production of Janos Starker’s final recording of Bach’s Cello Suites (BMG/RCA 61436) won the 1997 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra).^[2][4]

Mehta had attempted for several years to sing as a baritone, without much success. He became intrigued with idea that he might actually be a countertenor, after reading a 1997 New Yorker profile of the countertenor David Daniels, whose early experiences seemed to mirror his own. He began to experiment with singing in this range, and quickly discovered and developed his powerful and flexible countertenor voice,^[5] his natural range for singing.

In 1998, Marilyn Horne, who had known of his boy soprano work, offered him sponsorship through her Marilyn Horne Foundation, an organization which works to develop new talent and preserve the art of song recital. He made his operatic debut as a countertenor that same year, cast as Armindo in a New York City Opera production of Partenope by Handel. Two months later he substituted for none other than David Daniels when the latter fell ill on an international concert tour. Mehta's career took off.^[6] Mehta is now one of the most sought-after countertenors of his generation.

Countertenor career[link]

Mehta has appeared in leading roles in the most prestigious opera houses. These include Covent Garden, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opéra National de Paris, Théâtre du Châtelet, La Scala, Theater an der Wien, Berliner Staatsoper, Théatre de la Monnaie, Netherlands Opera, Barcelona Liceu, Teatro Real in Madrid, Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, Los Angeles Opera, San Francisco Opera, and New York City Opera. He has performed at the festivals of Salzburg, Glyndebourne, Edinburgh, Aix-en-Provence, and Verbier, and at the London BBC Proms.^[7]

Mehta's major operatic roles include, among many others: Orlando in Orlando, Tamerlano in Tamerlano, Giulio Cesare in Giulio Cesare, Bertarido in Rodelinda, Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice, Telemaco in Telemaco, Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Farnace in Mitridate, Didymus in Theodora, Hamor in Jephtha, Cyrus in Belshazzar, Arsamenes in Xerxes, Andronico in Tamerlano, Radamisto in Radamisto, Riccardo Primo in Riccardo Primo, Arsace in Partenope, Masha in Eötvös's Three Sisters, Ottone in Agrippina, and Emone in Antigone.

His orchestral concert work and recital partnership with pianist Julius Drake, in adventurous programs ranging from the Baroque to contemporary music, have been presented by the world’s leading concert venues including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Wiener Konzerthaus, Brussels’ Palais des Beaux Arts, the Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Zankel Hall, the 92nd Street Y, Bremen Musikfest, the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Teatro de la Zarzuela's Ciclo de Lied in Madrid, the San Sebastian Festival, and the Cité de la Musique in Paris.^[8]

Bejun Mehta has been profiled by CBS (60 Minutes II), A&E (Breakfast with the Arts), ORF 2 (Austria), Arte (France), and ARD (Germany). He was nominated for the Olivier Award for his portrayal of Orlando at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. His main voice teachers have been Phyllis Curtin of Boston University (baritone) and Joan Patenaude-Yarnell of the Manhattan School of Music and Curtis Institute (countertenor). The British composer George Benjamin is currently writing a lead role for him in his next opera, which will receive premieres in 2012/2013 at Aix-en-Provence, Netherlands Opera, Toulouse, Covent Garden, and La Scala.

Mehta is currently under exclusive recording contract with Harmonia Mundi. His first Harmonia Mundi CD, an aria recital entitled Ombra Cara, with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra conducted by René Jacobs, was released in November 2010. A CD of English songs entitled Down by the Sally Gardens, with pianist Julius Drake, appeared in September 2011. And a complete recording of Agrippina conducted by Jacobs with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin was released in October 2011.

Discography[link]

• Bejun. (Solo album). Arias and songs. Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Delos DE 3019

• Handel’s Rinaldo. (Mago cristiano). Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood. Decca CD 467087

• Handel’s Giulio Cesare. (Tolomeo). Les Musiciens du Louvre, Marc Minkowski. Archiv Produktion CD 4742102

• Peter Eötvös’s Trois Soeurs. (Masha). Théatre du Chatelet, Peter Eötvös. Chatelet DVD/TV

• Handel’s Messiah. (Alto/Middle Brother). Fully staged production by Claus Guth, Ensemble Matheus, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Theater an der Wien. Unitel/Classica DVD, C-Major Entertainment 703104

• Mozart’s Mitridate. (Farnace). Les Musiciens du Louvre, Marc Minkowski, Salzburg Festival. Decca DVD, Unitel/3Sat

• Handel’s Theodora. (Didymus). Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Ivor Bolton, Salzburg Festival. Unitel/Classica DVD, C-Major Entertainment A04001521

• Ombra Cara. (Solo album). Handel operatic arias. Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, René Jacobs. Harmonia Mundi HMC902077

• Down by the Sally Gardens. (Solo album). English songs. With Julius Drake. Harmonia Mundi HMC902093

• Handel’s Agrippina. (Ottone). Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, René Jacobs. Harmonia Mundi HMC902088.90

References[link]

• Kenneson, Claude, (1998), Musical prodigies: perilous journeys, remarkable lives, Hal Leonard Corporation, ISBN 1-57467-046-8

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Bejun Mehta at IMG Artists
• Bejun Mehta at Harmonia Mundi
• Bejun Mehta singing Handel's "Sento la Gioia" (video)
• Bejun Mehta and Rosemary Joshua singing Handel's "Sosarme (1732): Duetto Per le porte del tormento (II, 8)" (video)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2010)

René Jacobs
René Jacobs in Salzburg 2011
Born	(1946-10-30) 30 October 1946 (age 65) Ghent, Belgium
Nationality	Belgian
Occupation	musician

René Jacobs (born 30 October 1946, Ghent) is a Belgian (Flemish) musician. He came to fame as a countertenor but in recent years has become renowned as a conductor of Baroque and early Classical opera.

Early years, countertenor[link]

Jacobs began his musical career as a boy chorister at the Cathedral of Ghent.^[1] Later he studied classical philology at the University of Ghent while continuing to sing in Brussels and in The Hague.

The Kuijken brothers, Gustav Leonhardt and Alfred Deller all encouraged him to pursue a career as a countertenor, and he quickly became known as one of the best of his time.^[1] He recorded a large amount of less-known Baroque music by such composers as Antonio Cesti, d'India, Ferrari, Marenzio, Lambert, Guédron, William Lawes and others. He also sang in much-acclaimed recordings of the major works of Bach (such as the St Matthew Passion led by Gustav Leonhardt and Philippe Herreweghe).

Jacobs as conductor[link]

More recently, as a conductor, Jacobs has recorded numerous operas and sacred and secular works of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. His recording of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro is especially renowned, having won such awards as Gramophone's Record of the Year for 2004, "Le Monde de la Musique"'s Choc of the Year for 2004, a Grammy Award for "Best Opera recording of 2005", and two Midem Classical Awards in 2004. Other award-winning recordings include George Frideric Handel’s Rinaldo (Cannes Classical Award, 2004), and Joseph Haydn’s Die Jahreszeiten (Diapason d’Or of 2005). The partial discography below lists some of the many other awards won by Jacobs' recordings. His recordings and work have won numerous awards, including the Grammy Award for "Best Opera", Gramophone 's "Record of the Year", the "III Premio Traetta 2011", and numerous European awards. His recording of Mozart's Magic Flute was Record of the Year at the inaugural International Classical Music Awards in April 2011.

He is particularly noted as a singer's conductor, and for his handling of recitative.^[2]

Jacobs regularly conducts such orchestras and ensembles as the Concerto Köln, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Freiburger Barockorchester, Nederlands Kamerkoor and RIAS Kammerchor for recordings and concert tours. In 1992, the Berlin State Opera invited Jacobs to conduct.

From 1991 to 2009, Jacobs was the artistic director of the opera programs at Innsbruck's Festwochen der Alten Musik (Innsbruck Festival of Early Music). He also teaches the interpretation and the Baroque singing style at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.

Partial discography as a conductor[link]

• Bach - Mass in B minor
• Bach - Christmas Oratorio (Choc du Monde de la Musique; ClassicsToday.com)
• Bach - The Motets (award: Diapason d'or)
• Bach - Secular cantatas
• Blow - Venus and Adonis
• Buxtehude - Membra Jesu Nostri
• Caldara - Maddalena ai piedi di Cristo (awards: Gramophone Award; Diapason d'or)
• Cavalli - La Calisto (awards: Cannes Classical Award; Diapason d'or)
• Cesti - Cantatas
• Charpentier - Leçons de Ténèbres du Jeudy Sainct
• Charpentier - Salve Regina
• Couperin - Leçons de Ténèbres
• Gluck - Orfeo ed Euridice (awards: Cannes Classical Awards)
• Grandi - Vulnerasti cor meum and other sacred music
• Handel - Giulio Cesare
• Handel- Messiah
• Handel - Rinaldo ((awards: Cannes Classical Award)
• Handel- Saul ((awards: Editor's choice Gramophone; Choc du Monde de la musique; BBC Music Magazine Disc of the Month (October 2005))
• Cavalli - Xerxes - (awards: Choc du Monde de la Musique; Diapason d'or; Un événement Télérama (ffff))
• Haydn - Die Jahreszeiten (awards: Choc du Monde de la Musique; Edison Classical Music Award; Gramophone Award)
• Haydn - Die Schöpfung
• Haydn - Symphonies 91 and 92 (awards: Choc du Monde de la Musique; Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik; Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik)
• Keiser - Croesus (awards: Edison Classical Music Award; Diapaison d'or)
• Monteverdi - L'Orfeo (awards: Choc 2006)
• Monteverdi - Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (Diapason d'or; Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik)
• Monteverdi - L'incoronazione di Poppea
• Monteverdi - Vespro della beata Vergine
• Monteverdi - Madrigals
• Mozart - Così fan tutte (Cannes Classical Awards; Diapason d'or; Edison Classical Music Award)
• Mozart - Le nozze di Figaro (awards: 47th Grammy Award; Choc du Monde de la Musique; Edison Classical Music Award; Gramophone Record of the Year 2004; Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik
• Mozart - La clemenza di Tito (awards: Critics award at the Brits Classics 2007; 10 de Classica-Répertoire; Jahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik; Un événement Télérama (ffff)
• Mozart - Don Giovanni (awards: Gramophone Record of the Month, October 2007; Classics Today 10/10)
• Mozart - Symphonies Nos. 38 and 41 (awards: 10 de Classica-Répertoire; Diapason d'Or Arte)
• Mozart - Idomeneo (awards: Scherzo, Choc de Classica, Un événement Télérama (ffff)
• Pergolesi - Stabat Mater
• Purcell - Dido and Aeneas; (awards: Editor's choice Gramophone; Un événement Télérama (ffff)
• Scarlatti - Il primo omicidio (overo caïn) (awards: Diapason d'or; Editor's choice Gramophone; Gramophone Award; Le Timbre de Platine
• Scarlatti - Griselda (awards: 10 de Répertoire; Diapason d'or; Le Timbre de Platine)
• Schutz - Christmas Oratorio (awards: Diapason d'or; Un événement Télérama (ffff))

References[link]

• Kennedy, Michael (2006), The Oxford Dictionary of Music, 985 pages, ISBN 0-19-861459-4