Jakub Jozef Orlinski, the countertenor who democratized baroque music

Even if her name doesn’t mean anything to you, you’ve missed out on her modeling career (for a very trendy sneaker brand or even a jewelry line) and you’re not one of the 225,000 subscribers to her Instagram account… you have already seen Jakub Jozef Orlinski. For example, the evening of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games, in July 2024. It was him, in bloomers and leotard, on a barge floating on the Seine, which combined a breakdance demonstration and a virtuoso interpretation of a Rameau tune. And it was him again at the yellow coins gala last January, who punctuated the title with angelic vocalizations I Smoked Away My Brain by rapper ASAP Rocky in front of the crazy audience at Paris La Défense Arena.

These days, the thirty-year-old, native of Warsaw (Poland), frequents concert halls that are much more classical – the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, the Opéra national de Bordeaux and the Philharmonie de Paris – he fills the halls with his recital inspired by a new record, If music… (Warner Classics), which brings together tunes from Purcell and Handel. The program includes some baroque hits (like the famous There was never a shadow by Handel) and seems very wise on paper… except that the accompaniment by Michal Biel on the piano gives the whole thing a very modern sensitivity.

Le Point: Why perform baroque music with classical piano? Would you take pleasure in annoying the purists?

Jakub Jozef Orlinski: Let’s just say that doesn’t scare me. I’ve already sung baroque music in front of a hip-hop fan audience, I’ve also rapped in a classical album… I’m used to offending some people. What scares me is the lukewarmness, not the clear-cut reactions. In any case, I want to make this music heard with a new ear, and, for that, nothing better than to vary the parameters. The piano offers possibilities that the harpsichord does not have: a dynamism of sound, playing with the pedals, the fact of opening or not your Steinway… so many elements which make it possible to bring very different nuances to these tunes by Handel or Purcell. In concert, I see that people are amazed by what my pianist accomplice, Michal Biel, does, and that makes me happy.

How can I best convey the emotions that music arouses in me? I always start from this question.

What limits do you set for experimentation?

The limit is the music itself which imposes it. For me, one of the great beauties of the Baroque is the concept of ornamentation: composers like Handel anticipated, integrated in advance, the idea that the performer would add things, embroider in some way. I take advantage of this freedom… When I was a student, I was obsessed with adding color, embellishments, I added too much, it shimmered on all sides, it looked like the Rio carnival! In reality, it’s not about adding quirks just for the sake of it. Our tools, Michal and I, are the piano and my voice, a countertenor voice. From there, how can we restore, as best as possible, the emotions that music arouses in us? We always start from this question. When I return to the interpretation of baroque works with the Il Pomo d’Oro orchestra for example [un ensemble d'instruments d'époque, NDLR], the fact of having deviated from the traditional path for a while brings something, like a new flavor.

Do you feel, as when you started, the need to explain the high register of your voice?

The truth is that everyone is used to men’s voices rising in high pitches. Take Justin Bieber or Justin Timberlake! This kind of voice has always pleased me.

Lately, directors have asked you to sing while doing a bicycle balancing act (at the Glyndebourne Festival, in England) or a breakdancing demonstration (at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, in Paris)… How do you cope with these challenges?

It’s not easy to manage your breathing when you have to sing and do acrobatic figures… For the opening show of the Paris Olympics, the battle [confrontation entre deux artistes, NDLR] that we did on the stage of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, in The Olympics by Vivaldi, served as preparation for me! And the adrenaline gave me a little boost. The directors know that I have this sporting streak – I was a skateboarder even before breakdancing… –, so they take advantage of it. I can’t blame them.

Faced with AI, we must rediscover what we can do with our hands, our body, our voice.

How can we explain the ever-renewed success of baroque music?

Since I started my international career in 2014, I say to myself: “Is it possible that it continues like this? that people continue to love this music from so long ago, to let themselves be moved by the genius of Purcell or Handel? HAS” And yes, it’s possible, because, deep down, the public is like me. I feel such an appetite for this art, for the discovery of forgotten scores, for working on more well-known works… And people have this same curiosity. Almost even more now than when I started. Perhaps because of the geopolitical context…

Would music be an escape?

Not only that! This is partly true, because we all need a place where we can close the door and forget what’s going on outside, surrendering to the beauty of the music. But there is also, when you attend a concert, the possibility of letting the music evoke painful memories in you, things that you can only really think about in solitude, disconnected from your phone and computer. A warm solitude, surrounded by all these people who are also experiencing something powerful. And in this era of artificial intelligence, we really need to rediscover what craftsmanship is, what we know how to do with our hands, our bodies, our voices. True beauty comes from there.

Album If music…Warner Classics, 18 euros.

Recital If music…, Jakub Jozef Orlinski and Michal Biel (on piano), at the Bordeaux National Opera on April 25, at the Greniers Saint-Jean d’Angers on May 15, at the Philharmonie de Paris on May 19.