Autumn 2012 marks the release of Mission, a sensational release from the world s best-selling classical artist Cecilia Bartoli and a project with international politics, religious conflict, diplomatic secrecy, spying and sensational music at its heart.Following the exceptional artistic and commercial success of 2009 s Sacrificium (which earned Cecilia her fifth Grammy award), Cecilia Bartoli now turns to the early baroque period for the first time in her recording career and uncovers a treasure of beautiful music in an album almost entirely composed of world premiere recordings.The album showcases the music of little-known Italian composer Agostino Steffani (1654 1728), and will include solo arias of various moods and styles, several duets, solo numbers with chorus - all sung in Italian - and instrumental interludes that create an organic transition from one piece to the next and an arc that reaches from the beginning to the end of the album.Steffanis story is mysterious at the very least; his name is largely absent from studies of Italian music despite holding senior court positions during his lifetime and contemporary accounts acknowledging him as one of the greatest opera composers of the period and the acknowledged master of the vocal duet (Colin Timms, author of the booklet note).Such was the appeal of the project that longtime Bartoli admirer and global best-selling author Donna Leon decided to write a mystery novel - Jewels of Paradise - to accompany Cecilia s album, which uses the mystery surrounding the composer s story as the centre of its plot. Jewels of Paradise will be released simultaneously with Cecilia Bartoli s album in English (UK and USA), German, French, Dutch, Spanish and Catalan.Among the distinguished names appearing on Mission is star French counter-tenor Philippe Jaroussky who features in a first-time collaboration with Cecilia on a selection of duets, alongside the Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera, the period orchestra I Barocchisti from Lugano, Switzerland, and conductor Diego Fasolis.A cinematographic vision of the album directed by Olivier Simonnet and filmed in the historic Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors) and in the gardens of the Chateau de Versailles will be available on DVD and for TV broadcast later in the year. Disc / Side Track Title Artist Time 1/1 Alarico il Baltha, cioè L'audace re de' Gothi 1/1 1 "Schiere invitte, non tardate" Cecilia Bartoli, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis 02:14 1/1 Servio Tullio 1/1 2 "Ogni core può sperar" Cecilia Bartoli, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis 04:23 1/1 Niobe, regina di Tebe 1/1 3 "Ove son? Chi m'aita? In mezzo all'ombre...Dal mio petto" Cecilia Bartoli, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis 05:17 1/1 Tassilone 1/1 4 "Più non v'ascondo" Cecilia Bartoli, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis 02:19 1/1 Niobe, regina di Tebe 1/1 5 "Amami, e vederai" Cecilia Bartoli, Rosario Conte 06:41 1/2 1 "T'abbraccio, mia Diva...Ti stringo, mio Nume" Cecilia Bartoli, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis 02:42 1/2 I Trionfi del fato" 1/2 2 "Mie fide schiere, all'armi!...Suoni, tuoni, il suolo scuota" Cecilia Bartoli, Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis 03:25 1/2 Tassilone 1/2 3 "Sposa, mancar mi sento...Deh non far colle tue lagrime" Cecilia Bartoli, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis 05:42 1/2 La superbia d'Alessandro 1/2 4 "Non prendo consiglio" Cecilia Bartoli, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis 01:17 1/2 Alarico il Baltha, cioè L'audace re de' Gothi 1/2 5 "Si, si, riposa, o caro...Palpitanti sfere belle" Cecilia Bartoli, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis 03:12 1/2 La libertà contenta 1/2 6 "Notte amica al cieco Dio" Cecilia Bartoli, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis 03:48 1/2 I Trionfi del fato" 1/2 7 "Combatton quest'alma" Cecilia Bartoli, Philippe Jaroussky, I Barocchisti 02:08 Mission Disc / Side Track Title Artist Time 2/1 Tassilone 2/1 1 "A facile vittoria" Cecilia Bartoli, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis 02:57 2/1 La superbia d'Alessandro 2/1 2 "Tra le guerre e le vittorie" Cecilia Bartoli, Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis 01:27 2/1 La libertà contenta 2/1 3 "Foschi crepuscoli" Cecilia Bartoli, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis 02:05 2/1 Niobe, regina di Tebe 2/1 4 "Dell'alma stanca a raddolcir le tempre...Sfere amiche, or date al labbro" Cecilia Bartoli, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis 06:16 2/1 La lotta d'Hercole con Acheloo 2/1 5 "La cerasta più terribile" Cecilia Bartoli, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis 02:38 2/1 Niobe, regina di Tebe 2/1 6 "Serena, o mio bel sole...Mia fiamma...Mio adore" Philippe Jaroussky, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis 02:21 2/2 Tassilone 2/2 1 "Dal tuo labbro amor m'invita" Cecilia Bartoli, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis 02:39 2/2 La libertà contenta 2/2 2 "Deh stancati, o sorte" Cecilia Bartoli, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis 03:03 2/2 3 "Svenati, struggiti, combatti, suda" Cecilia Bartoli, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis 03:11 2/2 Tassilone 2/2 4 "Padre, s'e colpa in lui" Cecilia Bartoli, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis 05:08 2/2 Le rivali concordi 2/2 5 "Timori, ruine" Cecilia Bartoli, Philippe Jaroussky, Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis 01:35 2/2 Henrico Leone 2/2 6 "Morirò fra strazi e scempi" Cecilia Bartoli, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis 02:39 2/2 Marco Aurelio 2/2 7 "Non si parli che di fede" Cecilia Bartoli, Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis 01:19