Anne Azéma (born October 19, 1957) is a French-born soprano, scholar, and stage director. She is currently artistic director of the Boston Camerata. She has been an important or leading singer of early music since 1993. She has created and directed programs for the Boston Camerata and is also noted as a music scholar. She is perhaps best known for performing music from the Middle Ages, lute songs from the Renaissance period, Baroque sacred music, Shaker song, and contemporary music theater. She is also a music educator and a researcher. She has performed in Japan, Germany, the US, Australia and elsewhere.

Career

Anne Azéma was born in Niort, France, on October 19, 1957. She spent her childhood in Strasbourg and came to the United States to study at the New England Conservatory in 1979. She first sang with Boston Camerata in the 1981–1982 season. Her special field is secular/vernacular song of France and Provence in the Middle Ages. She shared a "Grand Prix du Disque" for her role as Iseult in the Boston Camerata's recording of Tristan and Iseult. Four solo recital albums, The Unicorn, The Game of Love, Provence Mystique and Etoile du Nord also document her original work in this area. Azéma is a founding member of the Camerata Mediterranea, touring with them internationally and appearing on all of their CDs (Edison Prize). She has also been prominent in many of the Boston Camerata's American music projects, taking the role of Mother Ann Lee of the Shakers in the dance-and-music theater work "Borrowed Light" (premiered in 2004) by Finnish choreographer Tero Saarinen and Azéma's husband, Camerata director emeritus Joel Cohen. Azéma's current discography numbers over thirty five recordings as a soloist, recitalist, and/or director on the Warner — Erato, Harmonia Mundi, Virgin, Nonesuch, Bridge, Calliope, Atma and K 617 labels. Anne Azéma is the founder and director of the European-based Ensemble Aziman. In 2007 Ms. Azéma directed the music for a staged work Le Tournoi de Chauvency, performed in major theaters of eastern France and Luxembourg. In 2011, Azéma was decorated as a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres of the French Republic and promoted Officier des Arts et des Lettres in 2021.

Discography

Soloist

CDs Recordings: Recital and Music Direction

As vocal soloist and Director

Sources