With her new album, Simone Kermes presents her dedication to bel canto. Despite the title, the Baroque soprano hasn’t suddenly switched from one voice type to another but is simply following her own interpretation of this term, arguing that bel canto is “inconceivable without reference to the Baroque tradition”.

The album centres around famous arias of the belcanto soprano repertoire: 'Casta Diva' from Bellini’s Norma, 'O luce di quest’ anima' from Donizetti’s Linda di Chamounix and 'Dolce pensiero' from Rossini’s Semiramide.

The programme also features a number of rarely performed works: Arias of Mercadantes Virginia, Rossini’s Maometto Secondo, Donizetti’s Betly and Bellini’s Adelson e Salvini. As a connecting link between baroque and bel canto, Kermes added the two arias of the Queen of Night from Mozart’s Magic Flute.

Simone Kermes is accompanied by Concerto Köln, performing on period instruments.

Simone Kermes has received a number of international awards for her solo albums, such as the annual prize of the Deutsche Schallplattenkritik, the Diapason d`Or, Midem Award, Choc Le Monde de la Musique, Gramophone magazine’s Disc of the Month and the Echo Prize. For her CD entitled Colori d`amore she was the winner of the Echo Prize in the highest category, Female Singer of the Year, in 2011. In 2012 the Munich Abendzeitung awarded Simone Kermes its Star of the Year Award, and in April 2013 she received one of Russia’s highest cultural awards, the Golden Mask, for her performances as Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte at the Tchaikovsky State Academic Theatre in Perm.