Just a year after its revival in 2013, the recently relaunched French label Erato (originally founded in 1953), has swept the prestigious Académie du Disque Lyrique Awards for vocal music, presented at a ceremony in Paris on Monday 30 June.

The Orphée du Prestigue Lyrique was awarded to French coloratura soprano Sabine Devieilhe, a newcomer whose debut album of Rameau arias, Le Grand Théâtre de l’Amour, was hailed ‘delightful from start to finish…A stunning debut disc’ (BBC Music Magazine) in which ‘Devieilhe gets everything right, with excellent support from Les Ambassadeurs’ (Gramophone).

Joyce DiDonato claimed the Orphée for Best Lyric Video with her tour-de-force performance as Mary Queen of Scots in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda, filmed live at the New York Metropolitan Opera and available on DVD.

But the most surprising award was the Best Singer prize jointly awarded to Philippe Jaroussky and Diana Damrau. Countertenor and coloratura soprano might seem made to be natural enemies but the two labelmates accepted their shared Orphée amicably; Jaroussky for his Farinelli: Porpora Ariasalbum with the Venice Baroque Orchestra; Damrau for a completely different project, Forever, ranging from Viennese operetta to Broadway. Erato congratulates all the nominees and winners.