A Room of Mirrors: I Gemelli and tenors Emiliano Gonzalez Toro and Zachary Wilder Perform in NYC, Boston and Montréal November 16-22

This “perfect jewel” (Opera News) of a program features tenor duets by Monteverdi’s successors including d’India, Frescobaldi, Calestani, Marini, Castello and others
 
“Doubles and echoes take many forms, imitative homage not least among them. This affectionate musical tribute – to mutual talent, to musical forebears and to lovers forever twinned in shared emotion – celebrates them all. What a delight.”  Gramophone “Editor’s Choice”
 
“A stunning debut for the Gemelli Factory label. The program is cohesive but varied and ordered perceptively. The performances are uniformly superior in every way. Both the soloists and the ensemble players manage to make difficult technical challenges sound unforced, and nothing ever gets in the way of the music. The musicians are obviously enjoying themselves, and they give robust, committed performances during every second of the recording. Highly recommended.” Fanfare

NEW YORK, NY – October 11, 2023 – This November, the French Baroque ensemble I Gemelli, led by Emiliano Gonzalez Toro with tenor Zachary Wilder, comes to North America to perform a “delicious collection of two-tenor duos by Monteverdi’s successors” (Parterre) from their acclaimed and Diapason d’or-winning recording A Room of Mirrors (2022). The tour kicks off at the Morgan Library in New York (November 16) followed by engagements at Boston’s Jordan Hall (November 18) and at the Salle Bourgie in Montréal (November 22).
 
The Chilean-Swiss tenor Gonzalez Toro leads the Paris-based period instrument Ensemble I Gemelli, which specializes in Baroque music. Monteverdi – the giant against whom all Italian composers were measured throughout the seventeenth century – is a particular focus for the ensemble.
 
With A Room of Mirrors, Gonzalez Toro and Wilder focus on the reflections of this tutelary figure. It was Monteverdi who “invented” the opera duet, and more precisely the tenor duet, in L’Orfeo (1609), representing the dialogue between Orpheus and Apollo in a virtuosic and symbiotic style: the voices entwine in a profusion of melisma in which it is difficult to distinguish which of the two gods is the father and which the son. The technique was further developed in Monteverdi’s seventh book of madrigals.
 
It was a natural choice for I Gemelli to produce a recital based on twinned voices, and particularly in this tenor tessitura, which dominated the others in the early seventeenth century. They have chosen to represent the peak of the Baroque era with works by Castelani, Turini, Marini, Falconieri, Frescobaldi, Castello, Castaldi, Gregori, D’India, Notari and Sabbatini.
 
The Gemelli factory label was created in 2022 by Emiliano Gonzalez Toro and Mathilde Etienne to represent the projects of the ensemble I Gemelli, from chamber music like A Room of Mirrors to large-scale programs such as the recently released Monteverdi opera Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria.

I Gemelli with Emiliano Gonzalez Toro and Zachary Wilder
A Room of Mirrors North American Tour Dates

November 16 - New York City - Morgan Library (co-presented by the Boston Early Music Festival) 

November 18 - Boston - Jordan Hall presented by Boston Early Music Festival (available to stream online December 2-16)

November 22 - Montréal - Salle Bourgie

In 2019, the ensemble I Gemelli made a remarkable debut on the international baroque scene with an acclaimed first CD devoted to Cozzolani's Vespro, followed by Monteverdi's L'Orfeo at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. Since then, the ensemble has performed in some of Europe's finest concert halls. Founded by Emiliano Gonzalez Toro and Mathilde Etienne, the ensemble specializes in 17th-century vocal music. Its vocation is to champion the major works of the period, as well as lesser-known or even previously unpublished scores. 
 
In contrast to conducting from the pit or continuo, the ensemble obeys the inflections of a singer-conductor, following the rhetoric of the text. Historically informed, I Gemelli performs on period instruments, working closely with academics and musicologists to develop each programme. Guest artists include leading figures on the international scene as well as talents from the new generation of singers and instrumentalists. 
 
In 2022, the Gemelli Factory label was created in order to support the ambitious projects of the ensemble and its artists, by providing the resources needed for a sound production that is mastered from start to finish. 
 
A Room of Mirrors, the first CD released by Gemelli Factory, immediately won over audiences and critics alike. September 2023 saw the release of the new opus by the ensemble i Gemelli co-conducted by Emiliano González Toro and Mathilde Etienne, which won a Diapason d'Or, a Shock from Classica and a Diamant from Opéra Magazine. 

The 2023-2024 season sees the ensemble's debut in Belgium, Spain, the United States and Canada, as well as the recording of Monteverdi's Vespers for Gemelli Factory.

I Gemelli is supported by the City of Geneva, Adami, Spedidam, the CNM, the Orange Foundation, the Institut Français and the City of Toulouse. The 2023-2024 season is made possible by the generous support of Mrs. Aline Foriel-Destezet, the ensemble's principal patron.

About Emiliano Gonzalez Toro
Tenor, conductor, producer and director of the Froville Festival, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro has sung the great masterpieces of the 17th and 18th centuries with the greatest ensembles and conductors. To share his vast experience of the Italian Seicento, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro and Mathilde Etienne founded the ensemble I Gemelli, making a stunning debut in 2019 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées with Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, with Emiliano singing the title role. Shortly afterwards, the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse hosted this production for two evenings, followed by an acclaimed staged version at the Arsenal in Metz. 

In 2021, he conducted and sang the title role in Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria before taking on L'Incoronazione di Poppea in May 2023, which he conducted at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, Victoria Hall in Geneva and L'Arsenal in Metz. 

The 2023-2024 season will open with a major tour of the Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria, which will take in some of Europe's greatest venues. Emiliano will conduct and sing Monteverdi's Vespers in Geneva, as a prelude to the recording for the Gemelli Factory label (to be released in 2025). Other projects and collaborations include singing the role of Dancaire under René Jacobs, Aeneas in Graupner's Dido Queen of Carthage with the Cetra in Basel and Amsterdam conducted by Andrea Marcon, and touring and recording Bach's Mass in B with the Pygmalion ensemble conducted by Raphaël Pichon. 

The 23/24 season will conclude with the release of a new Latin/lyrical fusion album: La misa criolla by Ariel Ramirez with The Amazing Keystone big band and a number of prestigious guests.

About Zachary Wilder
American tenor Zachary Wilder has been recognized for his work in repertoire covering the 17th and 18th centuries and is sought after for concerts and opera productions on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2011, he was invited by the Festival d’Aix en-Provence, to play Corydon in Händel’s Acis and Galatea, a production which subsequently toured to La Fenice in Venice. During this period, William Christie selected him to join the ranks of the Jardin des Voix, the prestigious academy for young singers with the Arts Florissants. Zachary subsequently relocated to France which he now calls home. He continues to work with many eminent ensembles such as Ensemble Pygmalion, Les Arts Florissants, L’Arpeggiata, Les Talens Lyriques, Le Concert d’Astrée, Le Poème Harmonique, Le Concert Spirituel, Bach Collegium Japan, the Boston Early Music Festival, Cappella Mediterranea, Collegium Vocale Gent, Early Music Vancouver, English Baroque Soloists, Ensemble Matheus, I Gemelli, the Handel & Haydn Society, De Nederlandse Bachvereniging, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. Recent highlights from previous seasons include a seven month tour celebrating the 450th anniversary of Monteverdi’s birth with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists, where he performed the roles of Eurimaco in Il Ritorno d’Ulisse and Lucano in L’Incoronazione di Poppea, The Tale of Genji as the Spirit of Light at Kabukiza led by Ebizo Ichikawa, the Rolex Concert led by Rolando Villazon at the Opera de Paris, and numerous tours with Bach Collegium Japan in Europe, the United States, and Japan.

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