Seeking resonance

She had just been to Montpelier, in the south of France, and given a recital of music and readings about an obscure saint in a country church, and then traveled to Paris to give a concert of early American music with six singers of the Boston Camerata. (This ended with the audience joining in a contra dance — Azéma’s idea. “You want to do what?’’ officials asked.) Then she traveled to Strasbourg, her birth city, to teach a master class on medieval song. After that, she was in Reims, discussing a series of programs she’s preparing for the cathedral’s 800th anniversary in July.

This is proving to be a full year for Azéma, the soprano and specialist in early vocal music who in 2008 took over as artistic director of the Boston Camerata from her husband, Joel Cohen, now director emeritus. Azéma is a rare combination: a European-born early-music artist who makes her home in the United States and performs here and extensively abroad. She is leading the Camerata, a fluid group of freelancers from Boston and elsewhere, in programs that increasingly have her personal stamp. Sometimes, she goes it alone.

Azéma spoke with the Globe as she was preparing to sing the US premiere of “The Spark of the Soul,’’ on Saturday, a two-woman program that she developed several years ago for European arts festivals. (She will be accompanied by the German medieval fiddle player Susan Ansorg.) The title and theme come from Meister Eckhart, the 13th-century German mystic whose musings about the soul and its search for God will be read aloud amid 12th- and 13th-century songs in French and German.

“Eckhart is asking, how do you relate to all things spiritual, the striving for the best side of us that is really a quest for something other?’’ Azéma says. “It’s about returning to yourself, through your own center, to a direct connection to God.’’ Not surprisingly, for a mystic, Eckhart criticized the controlling grip of the Roman Catholic Church. Azéma has found songs that reflect both themes, the personal and the political, she says. “Some of this might have been in yesterday’s newspaper. Plus ça change!’’

Finding contemporary resonance in old music is the essence of her dialogue with the past, Azéma says. “What to me is important is, how does this music and text speak to me in 2011, and why should it speak to you, and how can we share this? I want to look at the general deeper echo.’’

For almost 40 years, Cohen’s Camerata programs were colorful, startling, and sometimes loud. He might put a Hispanic chorus alongside a madrigal group, for example, or alternate pieces for medieval lute and Moorish oud. Azéma shares her husband’s interest in exploring cross-cultural themes — medieval Europe was a melting pot. Nor is she shying away from big forces. (Her program on Calvinist psalmody last year involved a large chorus and 17 soloists). Still, her most distinctive programs have been inner journeys, quiet explorations of states of mind and heart. These often include songs from a woman’s perspective, sung by Azéma herself.

Emma Kirkby, the British soprano who was among the first singers to establish herself as a star in the world of early music, says of Azéma: “Anne has a true tone, she is extremely expressive, and she is a wonderful actress. She’s always searching for the best possible vehicle for the words and sentiments.’’

Azéma, 53, was born in Strasbourg, the daughter of a liberal Calvinist minister and school teacher mother, both musical amateurs and theater lovers. She attended the university, and began singing Bach cantatas and French Renaissance music. One summer, she attended a workshop in Southern France, led by an American, Cohen, who had already led the Camerata for a decade and made many appearances on French national radio. He noticed Anne right away, and, at the end of the workshop, encouraged her to come to Boston. (“I had a personal reason for that,’’ he says, laughing.) Azéma was drawn to Cohen’s “solar personality’’ and adventuresome approach to old music. “He made us think everything was possible.’’ She enrolled at the New England Conservatory, and began singing in a Camerata madrigal group. She and Cohen were married in 1983.

In the late 1980s, several longtime members of the Camerata resigned, complaining that Cohen was, among other things, favoring his wife with solos. At the same time, Azéma was struggling to define her own style and place as a solo singer. She went to London, where she stayed with Kirkby and studied with Kirkby’s teacher, Jessica Cash.

Azéma returned to Boston to sing the role of Iseult in Cohen’s 1987 production of “Tristan and Iseult,’’ a medieval confabulation that traveled widely and marked her arrival as a presence on the international scene. The Erato recording won France’s prestigious Grand Prix du Disque that year. Since then, Azéma has pursued a busy solo career, taught master classes in Europe and the US, and made five solo CDs.

She has also helped Cohen with research into early American music, including the Shaker music of the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Community in New Gloucester, Maine, which became the “Golden Harvest’’ CD, recently re-released.

“This is my country and my music, too,’’ Azéma says.

In 2008 came another transition. Cohen was turning 65 and approaching his 40th year as Camerata director. Eager to launch a new research institute in Montpelier in France, the Camerata Mediterranea, he resigned and was named director emeritus. Then the recession hit, and private donations fell by 30 percent. The board eliminated the one full-time position of executive director and did away with Cohen’s emeritus salary.

This season, things are looking up. Azéma has found herself in demand in Europe — the French government conferred on her a knighthood — and she’s seized opportunities for Camerata members. A program of Shaker music with a Finnish dance ensemble will tour Scandinavia again this spring. The Reims festivities will involve Camerata musicians in five programs. Altogether, Azéma and the Camerata have 20 concerts booked between now and July.

For all the attractions of Europe (ample state funding, for one), Azéma says she and the Camerata are rooted in New England. She became an American citizen after 9/11. She is determined to have at least four performances a year in the Boston area, and is focusing on building support from local donors. In addition, she is planning a fall tour in the Midwest.

Next season, she says, could be as American as the current one is European.

David Perkins can be reached at davidsperkins@gmail.com.

Correction: Because of an editing error, the name of British soprano Emma Kirkby was misspelled in an earlier version of this story.