Tim Mead counter-tenor

Mais la véritable claque de cette production, c’est le contre-ténor Tim Mead (Ottone). Une technique hors pair, un timbre d’une pureté presque désincarnée, une virtuosité stupéfiante qui touche au coeur

Mais la révélation de cette distribution, c'est assurément le contre-ténor Tim Mead(photo). Dans le plus pur style anglais, avec un timbre proche de celui d'Alfred Deller, il profite du port altier du seul personnage un tant soit peu noble de cette parodie héroïque pour afficher une maîtrise vocale et une sensualité continues. Allongé au milieu d'un des rares décors prévus par le metteur en scène, sa plainte pastorale en duo avec le hautbois solo au milieu du deuxième acte touche au sublime, affichant des graves insolents en début d'air, utilisant le vibrato juste ce qu'il faut, dessinant des volutes mélodiques qui sculptent à merveille le chagrin de son personnage. Une révélation à suivre au printemps prochain, toujours à Dijon et sous la baguette d'Emmanuelle Haïm, cette fois-ci pour l'Ottone du Couronnement de Poppée de Monteverdi.

The most distinguished singing comes from Tim Mead (Eustazio) and Luca Pisaroni (Argante).

Tim Mead, as Eustazio, confirmed his status among the best of today's younger counter-tenors

Mention must also be made of Tim Mead's Eustazio. Focused of tone and displaying the musicanship so lacking elsewhere, his curtain-call cheers were well deserved.

Tim Mead was outstanding as Eustazio

Mead's bone-china legato and spitfire coloratura are impeccable throughout.

Tim Mead, making his Scottish Opera debut, produced a technically impressive performance of this terrifyingly difficult role, delivering tender arias while prone on a hospital trolley, cleverly underplaying the notoriously demanding, tempo-changing “mad scene” at the end of Act Two

It was countertenor Tim Mead as Orlando whose constantly evolving performance held the audience in breathless silence as he finally succumbed to madness. From his first sweet refrains, through the unhinged ‘Spirits from Hades!’ to the opiate-infused ‘My eyelids grow drowsy’, Mead’s performance somehow maintained a precarious position on a path between duty and raw passion.

Counter-tenor Tim Mead sings the title role with great sensitivity to the character's mood swings and looks every inch a fly ace.

A hospital set can be drab, but Yannis Thavoris's designs add just enough period detail to keep things stylish. Anyway, Mead's Orlando needs little decoration: his voice is gorgeous, expressive form, and hs acting is utterly convincing.

Tim Mead as Admeto is a countertenor of unusual dignity, which is terrific for this role. His voice has the depth to accomplish his breadth of phrasing.

...golden-age singing from Tim Mead...

Tim Mead, in the (surprisingly unassuming) title role captures just the right ironic edge of semi-serious and heroic. His is a full-blooded countertenor with just the right veneer of affability.

...il suo falsetto, fascinosamente morbido ed elegante, tipicamente anglosassone per l’involo angelicato, eppure non privo calore e intensità, è certamente il punto di forza della compagnia di canto...Mead trasforma la sofferta disperazione del re in un’oasi di languida, emozionantissima disperazione ipnotica

Als glamourös falsettierender Jungspund tritt Tim Mead auf – in der Rolle des Honoricus, des Sohnes von Gensericus, der Angst vor der Liebe hat.

Admeto himself has to be the strongest character, both vocally and dramatically, and happily we had a fantastic interpreter in Tim Mead. Mead’s was by far the most distinctive voice among the three countertenors: heroic when necessary, clear, bright and very beautiful. His opening arioso, Chiudetevi miei lumi, was deeply moving, and his interpretation grew in stature through the second act, culminating in the two great scenas of Act 2 where he comes to terms with his dilemma over whether to love Alceste or Anitgona. He also carried himself with the demeanour of a Handelian hero, no mean feat considering his surroundings.

It opens with an astonishing solo in which the king (Tim Mead, rounded in timbre and noble in demeanour) dreams his own death.

Tim Mead is a fine David, singing with dulcet, sensitively shaded tone in the sublime prayer 'O Lord whose mercies numberless', and later rivalling Lawrence Zazzo (for Jacobs) in dramatic fire.

Wem gebührt die Krone? Wohl dem britischen Kontertenor Tim Mead, der erstmals in Wien zu hören war. Schon die Stimmlage – die Rolle wurde für Altsolo geschrieben – deutet die Transzendenz einer Figur an, die über allem Irdischen schwebt. Der 27-jährige Mead setzt die betörende Leuchtkraft seiner Stimme so verhalten ein, dass er zum Medium wird, zum Reiseführer durch ein himmlisches Jerusalem.

Um die Gunst der ach so keuschen (und doch recht lüsternen) Diana bewirbt sich schmachtend auch Endimione (Staatsopern-Debütant TIM MEAD mit strahlenden Countertenor-Tönen)...

La sua vocalità, pur non discostandosi dall'elegiaca vocazione propria alla tradizione angelicata propria ai falsettisti inglesi con i quali si è formato, vanta una cromia timbrica più morbida, una sensibilità espressiva ed un ventaglio di finezze che lo vedono tratteggiare con stilizzata e soffusa intonazione profetica l'aria di sortita (Almighty pow'r), in cui chiede all'onnipotente di avvolgerlo di "splendore e di benedetta sapienza" domandando protezione per il nuovo tempio appena edificato, por poi fare, nella successiva "What though I trace", un gesto di umiltà nel riconoscere il potere di Jehova.

Replacement Tim Mead proved a sensation.

Laieszhalle.

In fact, he was the replacement of a replacement. The last hope, as it were - he jumped in cold with only two days' rehearsal. But Tim Mead seized the moment with both hands and for his role debut in the title role of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice received prolonged and enthusiastic applause from the audience in the Laeiszhalle.

Right from the start, in his call for his beloved (and apparently lost) Euridice during the opening chorus, the 24 year-old countertenor showed his immense vocal potential. And then during the evening his wonderfully luminous and voluptuous timbre began to emerge. On purely vocal grounds Mead can already hold his own with his famous teachers Bowman, Brett and Blaze. A major discovery!