He is THE baritone who has been performing in France for about ten years. Florian Sempey launched his first album a week ago, a Rossini recital accompanied by none other than Marc Minkowski.
Posted yesterday at 4:30 p.m.
The cover shows the singer in profile risking a high pitch under the scrutiny of a bust of Rossini who, says the baritone in the accompanying booklet, sat enthroned on his grandparents’ piano and accompanied his awakening to music.
It is therefore no coincidence that the first opera watched by the young Florian was a video recording of the Barber of Seville, with Quebecer Gino Quilico in the title role. This character now sticks to his skin, he who, at 34, has already sung it on the biggest stages.
It is also no coincidence that it is the famous tune Largo al factotum from the same opera that opens this disc entitled Figaro? Yes ! Rossinibeautifully recorded by the Alpha house team.
The baritone obviously couldn’t miss this hit of hits, which didn’t prevent him from inserting rarer tunes from the Count Ory (in French that one), of The Silk Scale and of Opportunity knocks. The whole thing is sung with obvious pleasure and a remarkably malleable voice.
But that’s not all: he surrounded himself with friends like the mezzo-soprano Karine Deshayes (nothing less!) for duets from barber and of The Italian in Algiersand the bass Nahuel di Pierro for a duet of Cinderella.
The men’s choir of the Opéra national de Bordeaux also contributes on occasion. Marc Minkowski conducts the Orchester national Bordeaux Aquitaine, which is attached to the Bordeaux opera house, an institution he has directed since 2016. His overtures from barber and of The Italian shine with a thousand lights, even if the orchestra sometimes shows some limits in terms of precision and richness of timbre.
Opera
Figaro? Yes ! Rossini
Florian Sempey with the National Orchestra of Bordeaux Aquitaine and Marc Minkowski
Alpha