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Soprano Sandrine Piau initially established her reputation in Baroque repertory, most notably in the operas of Handel (Tamerlano, Xerxes, and others). However, she quickly branched out into the Mozart operas, scoring numerous triumphs in such roles as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte and Servilia in La Clemenza di Tito. She has hardly limited herself to the Baroque and Classical periods, however, and her repertory encompasses Brahms' Requiem, Massenet's Werther, Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges, Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress, Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier, and other 19th and 20th century staples. Her sizable recording catalog includes Adèle Hugo: Mélodies sur des poèmes de Victor Hugo.

Piau was born in the southwestern Paris suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux on June 5, 1965. She studied at Collège Lamartine and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique du Paris, where she received several citations and prizes for her vocal interpretations in Baroque and other repertory. She also became proficient on the harp. Piau possesses a small but versatile and quite lovely lyric-coloratura soprano voice, consistently even in range and exuding a sense of warmth. By the late '80s, her career was on the ascent, and soon, she was invited to appear in concerts led by some of Europe's leading conductors, including Philippe Herreweghe, William Christie, Gustav Leonhardt, Renè Jacobs, and many others. She also began singing regularly in the more prestigious opera houses at home and abroad: at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, she sang Ismène in Mozart's Mitridate, and at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, she scored a great success as Pamina. Piau has also appeared at Covent Garden, the Amsterdam Opera, and at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.

Piau gained international acclaim for her recordings in the '90s. Among her more successful early efforts was a pair of William Christie-led performances: Handel's Messiah on Harmonia Mundi (1994) and Purcell's King Arthur on Erato (1995) -- both demonstrated her superior talent in Baroque music. In the new century, she has sung Zdenka in Strauss' Arabella and Nannetta in Verdi's Falstaff, among others. Other recordings have included the 2006 releases of Mozart's Mass in C minor, under conductor Emmanuel Krivine, the all-Vivaldi disc In furore, Laudate pueri e concerti sacri, with conductor Ottavio Dantone, both on the Naïve label, and Frank Martin's Le vin herbé, conducted by Daniel Reuss on Harmonia Mundi. In the later part of her career, Piau was associated with France's Alpha and Aparte labels. She has continued to perform and record Baroque opera but has tended toward recitals like 2014's Mozart's Desperate Heroines and 2022's Rivales, recorded with soprano Véronique Gens. 2024 saw three separate releases from Piau: the orchestral song recital Reflet, the Baroque cantata album Lucrezia, featuring an ensemble of singers, and Adèle Hugo: Mélodies sur des poèmes de Victor Hugo -- all appeared on Alpha or Aparte. In 2006, the French government honored Piau as Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. ~ Robert Cummings & James Manheim

This tenor made his debut at the age of ten with the Petits Chanteurs de Sainte-Croix de Neuilly (the Little Singers of St. Croix of Neuilly). Lamy then went on to sing with the Choeur Grégorien de Paris, the Chapelle Royale in 1982, and then the Ensemble Vocal Européen directed by Philippe Herreweghe. He appears with them still at La Fenice, Akadêmia, Ricercar, and at the Centre Baroque de Versailles. Lamy also sings with the ancient music ensembles Gilles Binchois and A Sei Voci. While he primarily sings arias, Lieder, and in oratorios, Lamy frequently appears in operas and has sung in Haydn's Armida, Darius Milhaud's Pauvre Matelot, Tippett's The Knot Garden, and Monteverdi's Orfeo, and in Jacques Castérède's Sainte-Foy de Conques. He has participated in numerous recordings, including songs by Mozart, the Dichterliebe (Loves of a Poet) by Robert Schumann, and on 1997's Christus Rex: A Tenor's Tribute to Gregorian Chant, which was awarded the prestigious Diapason d'Or.

Arthur Schoonderwoerd is an important member of the group of Dutch historical keyboardists who came of age in the 1990s, with a large catalog of recordings. He is also a longtime faculty member at the Conservatory of Barcelona.

Schoonderwoerd was born in Utrecht in the Netherlands in 1966. He attended the Utrecht Music Academy, studying with Herman Uhlhorn and Alexander Warenberg, and taking classes in a wide variety of fields that included concerto performance, chamber music, music education, and musicology. His career has entailed the rediscovery of obscure works as well as the performance of well-established ones. After graduating in 1993, Schoonderwoerd moved on to the Conservatoire de Paris for studies with Jos van Immerseel, mastering a variety of historical keyboard instruments. He has been known for performances on fortepiano, harpsichord, and clavichord. A series of prizes, including a Juventus Laureate designation from the Council of Europe and a best individual performance nod at the Van Wassenaer International Competition for early music ensembles, both in 1996, launched his performing career. He has performed frequently in Belgium, Germany, and Italy, in addition to the Netherlands. Schoonderwoerd formed the Cristofori Ensemble, named after the inventor of the piano, for the investigation of early piano-based chamber music, and he has appeared with such singers as Johannette Zomer, Hans Jörg Mammel, and Sandrine Piau. His chamber music performances have included duo work with Jaap ter Linden, Barthold Kuijken, and Wilbert Hazelzet, among others. Schoonderwoerd has taught keyboard and chamber music at the Conservatory of Barcelona since 2004.

Schoonderwoerd is notable for the depth of his recording catalog, which dates back to a 1999 release featuring keyboard music by Johann Gottfried Eckard. He has recorded mostly for the Alpha and Accent labels, issuing a series of Mozart piano concerto performances and also a recording of the Mozart Requiem in D minor, K. 626, with the Cristofori Ensemble on Accent. In 2021, Schoonderwoerd moved to the CAvi-Music label, leading the Cristofori Ensemble as conductor in a small-group performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55 ("Eroica"). ~ James Manheim