Massenet: Thaïs (2-CD) – Erin Wall, Joshua Hopkins

Composer: Jules Massenet
Artists: Erin Wall, Joshua Hopkins, Andrew Staples, Nathan Berg, Neil Aronoff, Liv Redpath, Andrea Ludwig, Emilia Boteva, Stacey Tappan, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Sir Andrew Davis
Number of Discs: 2
Label: Chandos
CD Release Date: June 5, 2020

Following acclaimed performances at the Edinburgh Festival and then in Melbourne, Sir Andrew Davis’s recording of Massenet’s opera Thaïs features an outstanding cast, and exceptional performances from his Toronto forces. Written shortly after the premiere of Massenet’s masterpiece, Werther, Thaïs was composed for the American soprano Sybil Sanderson, who gave the premiere at the Paris Opéra in 1894. Sanderson’s performance was a triumph, but the opera itself had a mixed reception. After Massenet revised it in 1898, it went on to worldwide success in the years leading up to World War I and has enjoyed continuous and growing success in our own time.

The role of Thaïs has drawn many great artists, including Mary Garden, Geraldine Farrar, Maria Jeritza, Leontyne Price, Beverley Sills, and Renée Fleming. According to the Financial Times, Erin Wall is “the Thaïs of one’s dreams, wielding a soprano of radiance, pristine beauty and tingling top notes,” and she is joined on the recording by Joshua Hopkins in the role of Athanaël, while Nicias is sung by Andrew Staples.

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