Hailed by the Times (London) as the “world’s leading festival of early music”, the Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF), directed by Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, has received two Grammy® nominations for its recordings of Baroque operas on the CPO label: Conradi’s Ariadne (777073-2) and Lully’s Thésée (777240-2).The ensemble’s much-awaited third recording, Jean- Baptiste Lully’s Psyché (777367-2), was recorded at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall following BEMF’s North American premiere performances at its 14th biennial festival. This world premiere recording features soprano Carolyn Sampson in the title role and Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin as Venus. Other cast members include Aaron Sheehan, Colin Balzer, Amanda Forsythe, Mireille Lebel, Yulia Van Doren, Olivier Laquerre, Jason McStoots, Matthew Shaw, Aaron Engebreth, Ricard Bordas, Teresa Wakim, and José Lemos.

It was 330 years ago that Lully’s tragédie lyrique Psyché was performed at the court of Louis XIV. The plot concerns the fate of the most beautiful girl in the world and the jealousy of the goddess Venus; hell, death, and the devil; frightful journeys to the underworld; and the happy marriage of the god of love Amor and Psyche - that is, once her divine mother-in-law no longer has anything against this union, since Jupiter has endowed her soul with immortality. This magnificent and richly varied, entertaining as well as horrifying, musically and scenically uncommonly lavish opera from the France of the Sun King was presented last year at the Boston Early Music Festival.