For several years, the young Franco-Swiss tenor has been gaining a name as a heartthrob on all the great stages of the world. Perhaps thanks to his French origins, he has the perfect diction of a Georges Thill and the vocal power of a Roberto Alagna, with whom he is often compared. On the Helvetian side, Benjamin Bernheim has the class of an Ernst Haefliger or an Éric Tappy, not to mention their modesty and simplicity of style. As part of an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon, he has produced this very successful début album, which presents the roles that he is currently performing in Covent Garden, Zurich, Milan, Vienna, Chicago and Paris. Having won critical acclaim for the quality of his performances, in 2018 Benjamin Bernheim gave French audiences the original 1859 version of Faust by Gounod, at a concert at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, with Christophe Rousset conducting. He bided his time, making no abrupt moves and working on his roles as part of the troupe at the Zürich Opera, preparing his characters patiently, with the fine psychological sense of an actor. The beauty of his natural timbre is married to his perfect diction on this first recital, which alternates between French song (Massenet, Gounod, Godard, Berlioz), Italian opera (Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini) and the Russian repertoire (Lenski's famous aria in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin). This recording was made with the Prague PKF Orchestra, with Emmanuel Villaume conducting – in the generous acoustics of the Smetana Hall – over two sessions in 2017 and 2018. © François Hudry/Qobuz