performances at the major international festivals in Vienna, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Prague, Budapest, Cracow, Milan, Florence, Zurich, Geneva, Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Tokyo, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Melbourne, Adelaide, Boston, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Berkeley, York, Edinburgh, Montpellier, Utrecht, Brussels, Bruges, Antwerp, Bremen, Dresden, Innsbruck, Tenerife, Copenhagen, Oslo, etc. have often been singled out as the highlight of those events. Mr. O'Dette is also active conducting Baroque operas. His recording of Charpentier’s La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers with Stephen Stubbs and the Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Ensemble won a Grammy for “Best Opera Recording of 2014,” as well as an Echo Klassik Award in the same category. In 1997, together with Stephen Stubbs, he directed performances of Luigi Rossi's L'Orfeo at Tanglewood, the Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF) and the Drottningholm Court Theatre in Sweden. Since 1999 they have co-directed performances of Cavalli's Ercole Amante at the Boston Early Music Festival, Tanglewood, and the Utrecht Early Music Festival, Provenzale's La Stellidaura Vendicata at the Vadstena Academy in Sweden, Monteverdi's Orfeo and L'Incoronazione di Poppea for Festival Vancouver, Lully's Thésée, Conradi’s Ariadne (Hamburg, 1691) Mattheson’s Boris Goudenow, Lully’s Psyché, Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, Poppea, and Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Agostino Steffani’s Niobe and Orlando generoso, Handel’s Almira, Campra’s Le Carnaval de Venise, Telemann’s Pimpinone, and a double bill of Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona and Livietta e Tracollo for the Boston Early Music Festival. Six of their opera recordings have been nominated for Grammy awards, including Ariadne as “Best Opera Recording of 2005,” Thésée in 2007, Psyché in 2008, La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers in 2014, Niobe in 2015 and Charpentier’s Les Arts Florissants in 2019. The recording of Steffani’s Niobe, was awarded a Diapason D’or de l’année, an Echo Klassik Award and the prestigious Jahrespreis der Deutschenschallplattenkritik. O'Dette has directed numerous Baroque orchestras and opera productions on both sides of the Atlantic. Paul O'Dette has made more than 155 recordings, winning two Grammys, receiving eight Grammy nominations, 7 Diapason D’Or de L’année, 12 Diapason d’Or, 2 Echo Klassik Awards, a Jahrespreis der Deutschenschallplattenkritik, 7 Grammophone nominations, and numerous other international record awards. “The Complete Lute Music of John Dowland” (a 5-CD set for harmonia mundi usa), was awarded the prestigious Diapason D'or de l'année and selected as the “Best Solo Lute Recording of Dowland” by BBC Radio 3. “The Bachelar’s Delight: Lute Music of Daniel Bacheler” was nominated for a Grammy as “Best Solo Instrumental Recording of 2006.” In addition to his activities as a performer, Paul O'Dette is an avid researcher, having worked extensively on the performance and sources of seventeenth-century Italian and English solo song, Italian, German and French Baroque opera, basso continuo practices and instrumental music. He has published numerous articles on issues of historical performance practice and co-authored the Dowland entry in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Paul O'Dette is Professor of Lute and Director of Early Music at the Eastman School of Musicand Artistic Co-Director of the Boston Early Music Festival.
Appearing January 12, 2025
With a voice of “extraordinary suppleness and beauty” (The New York Times), GRAMMY-Nominated American soprano Teresa Wakim won First Place in the International Competition for Early Music in Brunnenthal, Austria, and was nominated for a GRAMMY in 2020 for the role of La Musique in Charpentier’s Les Plaisirs de Versailles with the Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF). Also with BEMF she recorded the role of Flore in their 2015 GRAMMY-Award Winning album of Charpentier’s La Descente d’Orphee aux Enfers. Other solo recordings include BEMF’s Acis & Galatea in the title role, Handel’s Almira, Charpentier’s Acteon, Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate and Coronation Mass with the Handel and Haydn Society, and the GRAMMY-Nominated recording of Brahms’ German Requiem with Seraphic Fire. She has performed as soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra, The San Francisco Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic, Iowa Symphony, Houston Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, BEMF, Wiener Akademie, Pacific Musicworks, Apollo’s Fire, the Handel and Haydn Society, Musica Angelica, Festival Bach Montreal, Boston Baroque, and Mercury Baroque, When not performing, Tess can be found caring for her young daughter, and discussing all things blue whales and space exploration with her scientist husband in Boston, MA.