Anne Azéma


Anne Azéma is a French-born soprano, scholar, and stage director. She is currently artistic director of the Boston Camerata. She has been an important or leading singer of early music since 1993. She has created and directed programs for the Boston Camerata and is also noted as a music scholar. She is perhaps best known for performing music from the Middle Ages, lute songs from the Renaissance period, Baroque sacred music, Shaker song, and contemporary music theater. She is also a music educator and a researcher. She has performed in Japan, Germany, the US, Australia and elsewhere.

Career

Anne Azéma's special field is secular/vernacular song of France and Provence in the Middle Ages. She shared a "Grand Prix du Disque" for her role as Iseult in the Boston Camerata's recording of Tristan and Iseult. Four solo recital albums, The Unicorn, The Game of Love, Provence Mystique and Etoile du Nord also document her original work in this area.
Ms. Azéma is a founding member of the Camerata Mediterranea, touring with them internationally and appearing on all of their CDs She has also been prominent in many of the Boston Camerata's American music projects, taking the role of Mother Ann Lee of the Shakers in the dance-and-music theater work "Borrowed Light" by Finnish choreographer Tero Saarinen and Azéma's husband, Camerata director emeritus Joel Cohen. Ms. Azéma's current discography numbers over thirty five recordings as a soloist, recitalist or director on the Warner — Erato, Harmonia Mundi, Virgin, Nonesuch, Bridge, Calliope, Atma and K 617 labels.
Anne Azéma is the founder and director of the European-based Ensemble Aziman.
In 2007 Ms. Azéma directed the music for a staged work Le Tournoi de Chauvency, performed in major theaters of eastern France and Luxembourg.
2008-2009 marked her first season as the Artistic Director of The Boston Camerata. During 2009-2010 she led the Camerata on tour in the United States, Germany and France. She has subsequently lead the Camerata on international tours to Canada, Brazil, Germany, and Italy, besides regular appearances in France and the United States.
In December, 2010, Anne Azéma was decorated as a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres of the French Republic, at a ceremony in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Discography

Soloist

A list of Anne Azéma Discography:
1. CDs Recordings: Recital and Music Direction