Paul Agnew
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Biography
Scottish tenor and countertenor Paul Agnew is also known as a conductor, becoming William Christie's assistant musical director for Baroque music ensemble Les Arts Florissants. Born in Glasgow on April 11, 1964, he trained as a chorister at Oxford's Magdalen College, specializing in early music repertoire with such ensembles as Ex Cathedra, The Tallis Scholars, The Sixteen and The Musick Consort. Around 1994, he began a long and fruitful collaboration with the early music ensemble Les Arts Florissants, founded by William Christie, who took him on as a tenor and then countertenor, before training him as a conductor in preparation for his succession. Working alongside Christie, Paul Agnew has built up a vast repertoire in French Baroque music, notably in opera with Rameau's Grammy-nominated Les Fêtes d'Hébé (1997), as well as other works by Charpentier, Campra, and François Couperin, as well as Monteverdi's Il Vespro Della Beata Vergine in 1998. He has also taken part in numerous recordings of sacred works from the Renaissance and Baroque periods including performing a series of cantatas in 2000 with Ton Koopman, Philip Pickett, Robert King, Fabio Biondi, and John Eliot Gardiner. He also worked with Emmanuell Haïm (Purcell's Dido and Aeneas in 2003 and Monteverdi's L'Orfeo in 2004), Stephen Cleobury (J. S. Bach's Johannes-Passion / St. John Passion in 2008), Thomas Dunford, and Anthony Rooley. His repertoire continued to expand in both recitals of songs composed by Beethoven (2001) and Vivaldi operas with the Modo Antiquo ensemble conducted by Federico Maria Sardelli (2005-2007). He has also recorded other recitals including Purcell: The Food of Love (2009) and Les Maîtres du Motet (2018). In 2013, William Christie entrusted him with the direction of Les Arts Florissants for certain performances and recordings, a first in the ensemble's history. In this capacity, Paul Agnew sang and conducted two series of Italian madrigals, the first devoted to Monteverdi in three volumes (2014-2015) and the second based on Gesualdo's six books (2019-2023). In 2024, he began a cycle devoted to Bach's cantatas with A Life in Music, Vol. 1: Arnstadt & Mühlhausen (1703-1708), which rose to number 17 on the UK Classical Albums chart and number 13 in France.
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Albums
Top Tracks
- Track Popularity
- Exaudiat te Dominus (psaume 19): Hii in curribus (Duo de basses-tailles) featuring William Christie
- Exaudiat te Dominus (psaume 19): Impleat Dominus (Duo haute-contre/taille) featuring Alain Lanceron
- Exaudiat te Dominus (psaume 19): Lµtabimur in salutari tuo (Choeur & basse-taille) featuring Alain Lanceron
- Exaudiat te Dominus (psaume 19): Domine salvum fac Regem (Trio haute-contre/taille/basse-taille) featuring Alain Lanceron
- Exaudiat te Dominus (psaume 19): Ipsi obligate sunt (Choeur) featuring Alain Lanceron
- Exaudiat te Dominus (psaume 19): Et exaudi nos (Choeur) featuring Alain Lanceron
- Notus in Judea Deus (1729): Cum exurgeret (Recit de haute-contre) featuring Alain Lanceron
- Notus in Judea Deus (1729): De coelo auditum (Choeur) featuring Alain Lanceron
- Notus in Judea Deus (1729): Ab increpatione ( Recit de basse-taille & duo de basses-taille) featuring Alain Lanceron
- Notus in Judea Deus (1729): Dormierunt somnum suum ( Recit de dessus) featuring Alain Lanceron
- De profundis: Si iniquitates (Recit de haute-contre) featuring Alain Lanceron
- De profundis: De profundis clamavi (Recit de basse-taille) featuring Alain Lanceron
- Notus in Judea Deus (1729): Terribili et ei qui aufert (Choeur) featuring Alain Lanceron
- Notus in Judea Deus (1729): Vovete et reddite (Recit de taille) featuring Alain Lanceron
- De profundis: Et ipse rediment (Dialogue haute-contre/taille/basse-taille) featuring Alain Lanceron
- De profundis: Qui apus te (Trio haute-contre/taille/basse-taille) featuring Alain Lanceron
- De profundis: A custodia (Recit de dessus) featuring Alain Lanceron
- De profundis: Quia apus te (Choeur) featuring Alain Lanceron
- Exaudiat te Dominus (psaume 19): Memor sit omnis sacrificii tui (Dialogue haute-conte/basse-taille) featuring Alain Lanceron
- Exaudiat te Dominus (psaume 19): Mittat tibi auxilium ( Choeur) featuring Alain Lanceron
- Exaudiat te Dominus (psaume 19): Exaudiat te Dominus (Recit de taille) featuring Alain Lanceron
- De profundis: Requiem (Choeur) featuring Alain Lanceron
- Salvator mundi featuring William Christie
- Since God so tender a regard featuring William Christie
