Anne Azéma
Soprano Anne Azéma is a versatile figure who has been active as a conductor, scholar, stage director, and educator. She has become familiar to U.S. audiences since assuming the music directorship of the Boston Camerata in 2008.
Azéma was born in Niort, in western France, on October 19, 1957. In 1993, she turned to early music, specializing in that field ever since. In France, her specialty was the vernacular song of France and Provence in the Middle Ages. Several of her solo recordings, The Unicorn (1994), Le jeu d'amour (1997), Provence mystique (1999), and Troubadour Songs (2011), have focused on this repertory; she also issued Etoile du nord (2003), an album of sacred music. She toured Europe, the U.S., and Japan, and she founded the group Camerata Mediterranea. Azéma has given masterclasses and seminars in the U.S., France, and the Netherlands. She has been in demand as a university lecturer in the U.S.
Azéma was well known for solo recitals and ensemble concerts before joining the Boston Camerata; she began performing with that group in the 2000s. In 2004, she sang the role of Mother Ann of the Shaker sect in the multimedia work Borrowed Light in a Camerata production, choreographed by Tero Saarinen; she subsequently has included both the music of the Shakers and contemporary repertory among her interests. In 2008, Azéma became artistic director of the Boston Camerata, which had been led by her husband, Joel Cohen, since 1969. Cohen has remained active in a reduced capacity, and both spouses were designated as Chevaliers des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. She has continued her European activities, forming the new Aziman Ensemble, and taking the Camerata on tours to Europe.
Azéma has led the Boston Camerata on several recordings, including Free America!: Early Songs of Resistance and Rebellion in 2019.
© James Manheim /TiVo
Discography
9 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Hodie Christus natus est
The Boston Camerata, Anne Azéma
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Oct 29, 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Free America!
Anne Azéma, The Boston Camerata
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Sep 13, 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Unicorn. Medieval French Songs
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Warner Classics International on May 22, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Constantinople: Li Tans Nouveaus
Classical - Released by ATMA Classique on Mar 1, 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Etoile du Nord: Le miracle médiéval
Classical - Released by Anne Azéma on May 15, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Le jeu d'amour
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Warner Classics International on Apr 1, 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Le Tournoi de Chauvency (The Night's Tale)
Classical - Released by Anne Azéma on Mar 15, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Provence mystique. Sacred Songs of the Middle Ages
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Warner Classics International on May 21, 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Le Tournoi de Chauvency (Ensemble Aziman, Anne Azema)
Classical - Released by K617 on Sep 2, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo