T19.A11. ADDA SIMFÒNICA/KOOPMAN/MERTENES “La edad luminosa”

"An excellent master of his craft" (M. Harras): for four decades, the bass-baritone Klaus Mertens has been celebrated by critics both in concert and in his more than 200 CD recordings.

His performances, which range from early music to the avant-garde, have been described as "supernaturally radiant", "wonderfully slender, clearly declamatory" and "unalterably fresh and immensely homogeneous".

The possibilities of his voice and the awareness of always being a "medium" in the creative act of an authentic performance make him one of the leading interpreters in his field: expressive, but always within a "juste milieu".

Early music occupies a fundamental place in his artistic career, and for this reason he has been praised for his "naturally baroque rhetoric" in repertoires and styles from different national traditions.

One of the most singular milestones of his career is, without a doubt, the complete recording of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach on CD, as well as his performance around the world.

It is a unique case in the history of recorded music for a single singer to have taken on all the parts of his string in a complete recording of such magnitude.

The same can be said of the complete edition of Dieterich Buxtehude, completed shortly afterwards.

Both productions were made with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir under the direction of Ton Koopman.

The artistic relationship between Ton Koopman, Tini Mathot —producer of these recordings— and Klaus Mertens extends over decades, united by close musical and human complicity.

In addition to his collaboration with Koopman, Mertens has worked with almost all the great specialists in early music, as well as with numerous directors of modern orchestras from around the world, and is a regular guest at major international festivals.

In his discographic and concert projects, accompanied by research work, his main objective is to bring valuable unpublished or lost works back to life.

At the same time, he has always been dedicated with passion to repertoires ranging from the Renaissance to the Classical, Romantic and contemporary creation, including works written for him.

The lied also occupies an essential place in his activity, from the lute song to the string quartet and chamber ensemble.

Likewise, he enjoys new experimental forms of performance and increasingly assumes roles as a narrator.

In recognition of his work he received in 2016 the Georg Philipp Telemann Prize and in 2019 the Bach Medal of Leipzig.

Ton Koopman was born in Zwolle (Netherlands) and, after classical training, studied organ, harpsichord and musicology in Amsterdam, where he obtained the Prix d'Excellence in both instruments.

From the beginning of his studies he felt fascinated by authentic instruments and by an interpretation based on sound scholarship, and at 25 years old he created his first baroque orchestra.

In 1979 he founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and in 1992 the Amsterdam Baroque Choir.

Koopman has performed in the main halls and festivals of the five continents.

As an organist he has played prestigious historical instruments in Europe and, as a harpsichordist and director of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir, he has been a regular guest at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, the Musikverein and the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Philharmonie in Berlin, the Lincoln Center and the Carnegie Hall in New York, the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, as well as in London, Brussels, Madrid, Rome, Salzburg, Copenhagen, Lisbon, Munich and Athens.

Very active as a guest conductor, he has worked with orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Bruckner Orchestra in Munich, the DSO in Berlin, the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Radio France Philharmonic in Paris, the Vienna Symphony, the Boston Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra, of which he is a Resident Artist.

His extensive activity as a soloist, accompanist and conductor has been recorded by Erato, Teldec, Sony, Philips and Deutsche Grammophon.

In 2002 he created his own label, Antoine Marchand, distributed by Challenge Records.

Between 1994 and 2004 he directed and recorded all existing cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach, an undertaking for which he received the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, the Echo Klassik, the BBC prize and the Prix Hector Berlioz, in addition to nominations for the Grammy and the Gramophone.

More recently he embarked on the recording of the complete works of Dietrich Buxtehude, of which 16 volumes have been published.

Koopman publishes regularly, has participated in the complete edition of the organ concertos by Händel and has edited the Messiah by Händel and Das Jüngste Gericht by Buxtehude.

He directs the harpsichord class at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, is a professor at Leiden University, an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in London and artistic director of the French festival Itinéraire Baroque.