The countertentor Jakub Józef Orlinski emerged as a vocal phenomenon in 2017 and 2018. There were several reasons for this: he comes from Poland, which has no tradition of countertenor singing; he has charisma to burn (he is a competition-level breakdancer in his spare time); and, above all, he has a creamy tone that diverges from the muscular castrato evocations that have become the norm. With his debut solo release, Anima Sacra, he adds yet more reasons to like him. Instead of playing it safe with the usual Handel arias, ...
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The countertentor Jakub Józef Orlinski emerged as a vocal phenomenon in 2017 and 2018. There were several reasons for this: he comes from Poland, which has no tradition of countertenor singing; he has charisma to burn (he is a competition-level breakdancer in his spare time); and, above all, he has a creamy tone that diverges from the muscular castrato evocations that have become the norm. With his debut solo release, Anima Sacra, he adds yet more reasons to like him. Instead of playing it safe with the usual Handel arias, he has chosen, with the help of researcher Yannis Franēois, sacred music by a group of composers who will be mostly unfamiliar even to hardcore Baroque hounds. The album would be worth your time for these alone, even if they were sung in a pedestrian way, for they include material to which other singers will want to return as soon as possible. Those by the Taranto-born Neapolitan Nicola Fago are especially nice, and you may want to sample "Inititum sapentiae timor Comini, from the...
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