As a youth he sang in his local cathedral choir, then trained with Bernard
Baillour in Tarbes. Starting in 1952, he began attracting attention at many
singing competitions. In 1953 he was the youngest contestant ever to win the
Concours de Cannes. After his military service, in 1955 he won first prize at a
singing competition in Toulouse, in 1957 he won the "Voix d'Or" prize
and with it an engagement at the Grand Opéra Paris. He debuted there in
1959 as the first Armored Man in Zauberflöte and immediately had a
glorious success. From that time on he remained as the celebrated first tenor
and member of this company and became well known in such parts as the title hero
in Gounod's Faust, as Florestan in Fidelio, as Cavaradossi in
Tosca, as Aeneas in Berlioz' Les Troyens, as Jason in
Cherubini's Medée, as Werther, as Turiddu in Cavalleria
rusticana, as Fernand in Donizetti's La favorite, and in many other
roles. In1961, he participated in the Holland Festival and as a guest at the
Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, where he appeared again in 1964. In 1969 he
sang in London at the Coliseum Theatre in the English premiere (concert version)
of A. Roussel's opera Padmâvati. In1971 at the Verona Festival, he
alternated with Carlo Bergonzi as Radames in the centenary celebration of
Verdi's Aida. He made guest appearances as Lohengrin in Berlin and
Osaka, as Parsifal in Brussels, as Samson in Saint-Saëns'
Samson et Dalila first at the Genf Opera, then at La Scala, Milan and at
the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He was engaged at this house in the 1976-77
season (Debut role: José in Carmen 1977) and 1978-81 and sang
there, among other roles, Radames and Jean in Meyerbeer's Le Prophète.
He was a guest at the San Francisco Opera as Samson, at the Rio de Janeiro
Opera as Don José, at the Vienna Staatsoper as Aeneas in Les Troyens
(1976) and again as Verdi's Otello in 1981. He was also very successful in
Monte Carlo, at the Teatro San Carlos in Lisbon, in Dublin and with a tour of
Israel. In 1980, he sang at the Grand Opéra of Laça in Janácek's
Jenufa, then, in 1983, Otello. In 1985 he retired from the stage and
became a professor at the École Nationale du Musique in Tarbes as well as
at the Conservatoire National de Paris.
Recordings: Véga (Excerpts
from Hérodiade and
Werther by Massenet, Cavalleria rusticana, scenes and arias from
Berlioz' Les Troyens). On BJR the complete opera Sigurd by
Reyer, also on HMV (abridged version of Les Troyens with Régine
Crespin).
We are pleased to present him here in Sigurd