An album with a mission to defy classification, BariTenor is a tour de force for Michael Spyres. It ranges wide, encompassing repertoire normally assigned to both tenors and baritones. Programming 18 arias by 15 composers, it covers three centuries of opera in Italian, French and German, setting mainstream works beside relative rarities, and rediscovering tienne Mhul's Ariodant, first heard in 1799. Michael Spyres has achieved renown as a multi-faceted tenor, but `baritenor' is the term he uses to describe his voice, which balances brilliant high notes with a robust lower register.