Annick Massis - Handel: SEMELE, Myself I shall adore, Paris 2004

THE SONGBIRD: Annick Massis is one of the sopranos I most admire (hence, deserving of a YT thumbnail graphic template and playlist all her own). Massis was born to a musical household in 1958 in Paris. She got something of a late start on her singing studies and career, making her operatic debut in her early 30s in Toulouse. Massis gradually built an impressive performance and recording career in Europe and the U.S. singing florid baroque works, florid French lyric roles, and florid bel canto heroines. This aria is extracted from her complete performance in Paris in 2004 with Minkowski conducting. [Thumbnail Photo credit: Roberto Ricci]
THE MUSIC: Handel's oratorio "Semele" premiered at Covent Garden in London in 1744. It was only performed six times during Handel's life, but regained popularity in the 20th Century and is now regularly performed in concert and as a staged opera. The plot centers around the god Jupiter taking human form for his affair with Semele, a beautiful self-involved mortal. Jupiter's wife Juno discovers this adultery and plots Semele's downfall by cunningly using Semele's own vanity against her. At Juno's persuasion that it will make her immortal, Semele insists that Jupiter reveal his full divine form to her -- he reluctantly agrees and his fiery thunderbolts destroy her. From her ashes arises Jupiter's son Bacchus, god of wine and festivities.

[@handelnonpuomiamusa4982]

I feel that Massis lived a bit in Dessay's shadow and this is in part why she isn't a bigger name

[@GehanCooray]

Yes I think you're right.

[@onigbajamo]

Sounds almost birdlike in some parts...

[@GehanCooray]

She also has sharp aquiline facial features. :) Definitely a songbird