Following his Rossini recital (ALPHA791), Florian Sempey shares another of his passions: his enthusiasm for the world of knights and medieval narrative. For him, ‘a mysterious force emanates from castles and other antique buildings; their ancient stones have always fascinated me.’ Ferrum splendidum (the Latin for ‘Resplendent Metal’) recalls the singer’s ancestors, who were blacksmiths in the Périgord region. Though not following in that family tradition, Sempey concentrated instead on forging and moulding the metal of his brilliant baritone voice. Now a much sought-after opera soloist at the height of his art, he has devised a programme ranging widely through different heroic characters and operas, including Grétry’s Richard the Lionheart, Hamlet by Ambroise Thomas, Meyerbeer’s Le Pardon de Ploërmel, as well as Tchaikovsky’s opera The Enchantress, Wagner’s Tannhäuser, extracts from Carl Orff’s famous neo-medieval cantata Carmina Burana, and even the premiere recording of a piece by Romain Dumas, Le Chevalier d’Éon, composed in 2019. Once again Florian teams up with the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine and its young maestro Victor Jacob, who was named a ‘Revelation’ in the conductor category at the 2023 Victoires de la musique awards.