Handel: Ode To Queen, Anne Dixit Dominus

Composed to celebrate the birthday of Queen Anne of England, this Ode was subtitled 'Ode for the Peace' in reference to the Treaty of Utrecht which the monarch was about to sign, marking the end of the War of the Spanish Succession. Six years earlier, the 22-year-old composer exploited in his sacred music what he had just learnt from Italian opera: the result was the powerful, intensely passionate Dixit Dominus. For almost fifteen years,Andreas Scholl has consistently collected the top international awards for his many solo and ensemble recordings (Diapason d'Or in 1996 and Gramophone Award for Vivaldi's Stabat Mater [see our special box sets!]; another Gramophone Award and Diapason d'Or for Caldara's Maddalena ai piedi di Cristo, under the direction of Rene Jacobs, and Singer of the Year Award at the Classical Brits in 2006. He now appears in the world's foremost concert halls and festivals. He has worked with the finest orchestras, and with such conductors as Philippe Herreweghe, René Jacobs,William Christie, Chiara Banchini, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Christophe Rousset, and Paul McCreesh. In 1998, his operatic debut at Glyndebourne in Handel's Rodelinda (Bertarido) won unprecedented praise from the British press. He made his debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera in this role in 2006.