Judith van Wanroij, Stéphanie d'Oustrac, Cyrille Dubois, Tassis Christoyannis, Jean-Sébastien Bou, Les Chantres du Centre de Musique Baroque de Versai
Biography Judith van Wanroij, Stéphanie d'Oustrac, Cyrille Dubois, Tassis Christoyannis, Jean-Sébastien Bou, Les Chantres du Centre de Musique Baroque de Versai
Judith van Wanroij
is “renowned for her intensely dramatical interpretations of rediscovered and less-known operas.” She is praised for conveying poetry and its colours in an astonishing way. Since her debut at Opéra de Lyon as Virtù en Drusilla in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronzione di Poppea, she has performed numerous roles at leading opera houses such as Teatro Real Madrid, Dutch National Opera, La Monnaie Lincoln Center New York, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Opéra national du Rhin, Opéra Royal de Versailles, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Theater Basel and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.
Judith van Wanroij studied with Margreet Honig at the Conservatory of Amsterdam and De Nederlandse Opera Academie. She was a first prize winner at the 2003 Erna Spoorenberg Vocalisten Presentation and took part in the Jardin des Voix 2005, the vocal academy of Les Arts Florissants and William Christie.
The core of her repertoire consists of, but is not limited to, French and Italian baroque music, French romantic repertoire and Mozart’s vocal works. A selection of her main roles includes Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Ilia in Idomeneo and the title roles in Rossi’s Orfeo and Lemoyne’s Phèdre.
Highlights of the 2023/24 season include the role of Rozenn in Lalo’s Le Roi d’Ys at Müpa Budapest and at the Concertgebouw, with the Orchestra of the National Opera of Hungary led by György Vashegyi, the role of Cybèle in Lully’s Atys at the Royal Opera of Versailles with Les Talens Lyriques led by Christophe Rousset, Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in a new production by Cédric Klapisch led by François-Xavier Roth, and a recital of arias from the time of Napoleon at the Hôtel National des Invalides in Paris.
Stéphanie d'Oustrac
From a very young age, Stéphanie d’Oustrac – Francis Poulenc’s great grandniece – started dedicating herself to music and the stage. With her intense presence on stage, her generous personality and her impeccable figure, Stéphanie d’Oustrac has become one of the most outstanding mezzos of her generation.
Her early career was notably devoted to the baroque repertoire. William Christie was the first to discover her talents as a singer and as an actress, and offered her her first tragic roles: Médée in Thésée by Lully and Psyché in Les Métamorphoses de Psyché (Lully-Quinault / Molière – Corneille). She has sung Médée by Charpentier conducted by Hervé Niquet (DVD, Armide Classics), Monteverdi’s trilogy with Jean-Claude Malgoire, Dido and Aeneas with William Christie, Sosarme at Saint Gallen, Les Paladins at the Théâtre du Châtelet (DVD Opus Arte), at the Barbican Center, in Shanghai and in Tokyo, Armide (title role) by Lully at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées (DVD Fra Musica), Alcina (Ruggiero) at the Opéra de Lyon, Giulio Cesare at Glyndebourne Festival, in Marseille and Nancy, Orphée et Eurydice at the Théâtre royal de la Monnaie…
Her perfect diction soon drew public attention and she has now become one of the most sought-after singers in the French repertoire. Her much acclaimed performances in Médée and Armide inevitably led her to Carmen, first at the Opéra de Lille where critics praised her for her debut and then in David McVicar’s production at the Glyndebourne Festival. She has also sung Les Contes d’Hoffmann (la Muse, Nicklausse) at the Opéra de Lausanne, L’Étoile (Lazuli) by Chabrier at the Opéra Comique and at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, L’Enfant et les Sortilèges and L’Heure espagnole at the Glyndebourne Festival (DVD Fra Musica) and at the Teatro all’Opera in Rome, Dialogues des Carmélites (Mère Marie) at the Opéra d’Avignon, Pelléas et Mélisande at the Angers-Nantes Opera and Béatrice et Bénédict at La Monnaie in Brussels.
Mozart’s operas also have a very special place in Stéphanie d’Oustrac’s repertoire, as she has sung them on many major Opera stages around the world: Le Nozze di Figaro (Cherubino) in Tokyo, La Clemenza di Tito at the Opéra national de Paris, at the Opéra du Rhin, at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, in Baden Baden and in Luxembourg, Così fan tutte (Dorabella) at the Opéra national de Paris, Idomeneo (Idamante) at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam.
Her artistic personality appeals to prestigious stage directors such as Calixto Bieito, Robert Carsen, Romeo Castellucci, Mariame Clément, Willy Decker, Jérôme Deschamps, Andreas Homoki, Yannis Kokkos, Jan Lauwers, David McVicar, Laurent Pelly, Bruno Ravella, Jean-François Sivadier, Dmitri Tcherniakov, Jean-Marie Villegier… as well as to the most respected conductors such as Alain Altinoglu, Myung-Whun Chung, James Conlon, Alan Curtis, Ottavio Dantone, Sir Colin Davis, Stéphane Denève, Charles Dutoit, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Philippe Jordan, Jesus Lopez Cobos, Marc Minkowski, Ludovic Morlot, John Nelson, Tomas Netopil, Kazushi Ono, Jérémie Rhorer, Michael Schønwandt…
Stéphanie d’Oustrac regularly appears in concert: Mozart’s Requiem with the Orchestre National de France and the Orchestre de Paris, Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor conducted by John Nelson, Giovanna d’Arco by Rossini with the Orchestre d’Avignon, Les Nuits d’été with the Orchestre national de Lyon, the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestraand La Mort de Cléopâtre with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Orchestre de Paris, L’Enfance du Christ with the Orchestre National de France and at La Monnaie in Brussels, Les Chants d’Auvergne by Canteloube with the Orchestre national de Lille at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, La Voix Humaine with the Orchestre National du Capitole of Toulouse, Shéhérazade with the Radio-Sinfonieorchester of Stuttgart and the Orchestre National de France, El amor brujo at the BBC Proms with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, La Mort de Cléopâtre with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Oedipus Rex in Madrid…
She has also been performing in recital, mainly since 1994 with her close pianist friend Pascal Jourdan, with whom she recorded a CD (Ambronay) dedicated to French melodies, « Invitation au Voyage ».
Amongst her recordings, let us mention among others Atys (DVD Fra Musica), Carmen (DVD Opera de Lille), Ariadne auf Naxos, Lieder & Canzonetta by Haydn with Aline Zylberajch (Ambronay), L’Heure espagnole and Shéhérazade by Ravel (SWR Music)…
Stéphanie d’Oustrac has won several awards: Prix Bernac (1999), Radios Francophones (2000), Victoires de La Musique (2002), Gramophone Editor’s Choice for the Haydn CD (2010).
More recently, Stéphanie d’Oustrac made her debut in Werther (Charlotte), acclaimed by the critics, at the Opéra national de Lorraine and in concert in Lyon, in Les Troyens (Cassandre) at the Opéra national de Paris in a new production by Dmitri Tcherniakov. She sang Theodora (Irene) at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées (DVD Erato), at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, L’Heure espagnole (Concepcion) and L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (la Chatte, l’Ecureuil) at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Béatrice et Bénédict (Béatrice) at the Glyndebourne Festival and in concert version at the Opéra de Paris, La Clemenza di Tito (Sesto) with MusicAeterna directed by Teodor Currentzis in Bremen, Geneva, Dortmund, at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and in Wroclaw, but also at the Opéra de Paris and at the Liceu in Barcelona, L’Incoronazione di Poppea (Ottavia) in Zurich and at the Salzburg Festival, Médée by Charpentier (title role) at the Opernhaus Zürich, Carmen at the Aix-en-Provence’s Festival in a new production by Dmitri Tcherniakov and at the Teatro Real in Madrid staged by Calixto Bieito as well as at the Dallas Opera and at the Oper Köln, Les Contes d’Hoffmann (la Muse, Nicklausse) at the Opéra de Paris, Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina), L’Aiglon (title role) at the Opéra de Marseille, Hippolyte et Aricie (Phèdre) in Zurich and in concert version at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées…
Her future projects include Carmen at the théâtre royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, in Strasbourg, Werther (Charlotte)in Monte-Carlo, Mignon (title role) at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie,the Tudortrilogyat the Grand Théâtre de Genève, La Voix humaine in Glyndebourne, La Périchole at the Opéra Comique, Armide by Lully with Le Poême harmonique, Dialogues des Carmélites in Munich.
In concert, she will sing Le Poème de l’Amour et de la Mer with the National Philharmonic of Russia, Shéhérazade with the NHK Symphony Orchestra and Iphigénie en Aulide avec Le Concert de la Loge… She will give recitals in Zurich, Lille, Paris, Brussels…
Cyrille Dubois
studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris and in 2010 joined the Paris Opera’s opera workshop, the Atelier Lyrique. He performed the role of Nathanael (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) for his debut at Milan’s La Scala and the Paris Opera, and Azor (in Benoît Mernier’s La Dispute) at La Monnaie in Brussels. He then went on to tackle the roles of Brighella (Ariadne auf Naxos) at the Athénée Théâtre Louis-Jouvet and at the Toulon Opera, Almaviva (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Saint Phar (in Grétry’s La Caravane du Caire) at the Opera Royal in Versailles (CD Ricercar), Oronte (Alcina), Brighella (Ariadne auf Naxos), the Labourer (Le Roi Arthus), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Lucien de Rubempré (the world premiere production of Trompe-la-mort), Tavannes (Les Huguenots), and Iopas (Les Troyens) at the Paris Opera. After appearing in Félicien David’s Le Saphir with the Cercle de l’Harmonie at the Palazetto Bru Zane and the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, he sang the roles of Tybalt (Roméo et Juliette) in Massy, Pâris (La Belle Hélène) in Toulon, Coelio (Sauguet’s Les Caprices de Marianne) with the Centre Français de Promotion Lyrique, and Gonzalve (L’Heure espagnole) for his debut appearance at the Glyndebourne Festival. He has also played the four attendants (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Belmonte (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) and Ramiro (La Cenerentola) at the Lyon Opera; Marzio (Mitridate) and Nadir (Les Pêcheurs de perles) at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées; Ferrando at the Rouen Opera, Horace (Le Domino noir) at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie and the Opéra Comique, Cyrille (in Léo Delibes’ Kassya) at the Montpellier Festival, the title role in Salieri’s Tarare in Versailles, Vienna and Paris; Belmonte at the Monte Carlo Opera, Hippolyte (Hippolyte et Aricie) at the Zurich Opera and the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, and Ruodi (Guillaume Tell) at the Chorégies d’Orange. During the 2019-2020 season he sang the title role in Fortunio at the Opéra Comique and appeared as Nadir at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie. Cyrille Dubois also sings in recital with Tristan Raes, his partner in the Duo Contraste. Together, they have earned prizes at the Nadia and Lili Boulanger International Voice-Piano Competition and they were three-time winners at the 2013 Lyon International Chamber Music Competition. In 2015, Cyrille Dubois was nominated in the category of Best New Opera Artist at the 22nd Victoires de la Musique.
Tassis Christoyannis
is highly sought after for roles in Italian and French opera repertoire, but he has also built up an outstanding reputation as a French Melody performer.
Born in Athens, he studied piano, singing, conducting and composition at the Athens Conservatoire.
As a member of the Greek National Opera company, he sang Belcore (l’Elisir d’amore), Don Carlos (Ernani), Papageno, Conte Di Luna (Il Trovatore), Figaro (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Guglielmo (Cosi fan Tutte), Eugene Onegin etc…
He worked with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Düsseldorf) singing Posa (Don Carlos), Germont (La Traviata), Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor), Il Conte (Le nozze di Figaro), Don Giovanni, Figaro (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Dandini (La Cenerentola), Taddeo (l’Italiana in Algeri), Silvio (I Pagliacci), Guglielmo (Cosi fan Tutte), Ulisse (Il ritorno di Ulisse in Patria), Oreste (Iphigenie en Tauride), Eugene Onegin.
Performances in recent years include Hamlet in Düsseldorf, Germont (La Traviata) at La Monnaie in Brussels, Düsseldorf, Nantes, Geneva and at the Glyndebourne Festival, Figaro at the Staatsoper Berlin, Rouen, Geneva, Vienna and Paris, Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor) in Düsseldorf, Tours and Amsterdam, Don Giovanni in Tours and Budapest (cond. Ivan Fischer), Alfonso (La Favorita) in Montpellier, Guglielmo in Las Palmas and Budapest (cond. Ivan Fischer), Ulisse in Hamburg, Posa in Frankfurt, Pelléas in Düsseldorf, Ford (Falstaff) in Glyndebourne (V.Jurowski / R.Jones) and Nantes, Oreste (Grétry’s Andromaque) at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and in Brussels, Monfort (Les Vêpres Siciliennes) in Geneva, Valentin (Faust) at the Paris Opera, Macbeth in Bordeaux and Athens, Silvio (I Pagliacci) in Paris, Renato (Un Ballo in Maschera) in Tours, Egée (Gossec’s Thésée) in Liège and Versailles, Danaüs (Salieri’s Les Danaïdes) in Versailles, Ali Baba by Lecocq in Paris (Opéra-Comique), Marcello (La Bohème) in Paris, Cinq-Mars by Gounod in Munich, Vienna and Versailles, Michele and Gianni Schicchi (Il Trittico) in Tours, Duparquet (Ciboulette) in Paris Opéra-Comique,Yeletsky (The Queen of Spades) in Strasbourg, Chorèbe (Les Troyens) in Geneva, Posa (Don Carlo) and Simon Boccanegra, title role, in Bordeaux, Germont (La Traviata) at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Ali-Baba in Rouen, Posa (Don Carlo) in Strasbourg, Macbeth in Athens, Le Timbre d’argent (Saint-Saens) at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, Luna (Il Trovatore) in Frankfurt, Gounod’s Le tribut de Zamora in concert in Munich and Versailles, Ford (Falstaff) on tour with the BFO and Ivan Fisher, a concert tour with Saint-Saens’ mélodies in Switzerland and in Italy, Germont in La Traviata, Enrico (Lucia) and Simone Boccanegra in Athens, Falstaff (Ford) in Vincenza, Tarare with Les Talents Lyriques at the Theater an der Wien, Versailles, Philharmonie de Paris, Caen, Jephte with the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles in Budapest, Armide with Le Concert Spirituel in Paris, Metz and Bruxelles, Maître Peronilla at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Germont (La Traviata) in Athens, Lemoyne’s Phèdre and Rameau’s Dardanus at the Müpa Budapest, Massenet’s Le Portrait de Manon and Puccini’s Le Villi in concert in Limoges, Posa (Don Carlo) in Athens, Le Retour d’Idoménée in Lille, Don Giovanni in Athènes, Créon in the world premiere of Hémon in Strasbourg… Particularly noteworthy in his interpretation of Wozzeck in Athens in early 2020, Sharpless (Madame Butterfly) at the Opéra national du Rhin…
Tassis Christoyannis has performed in a number of French Melody concerts throughout Europe.
In collaboration with the Palazetto Bru Zane, he has recorded melodies by Camille Saint-Saens, Benjamin Godard, Charles Gounod, Félicien David, Edouard Lalo, and Reynaldo Hahn (complete melodies).
His projects for the 2021/22 season and the following ones : Idoménée by Campra in Lille and at the Staatsoper Berlin, Abramane (Zoroastre) with Les Ambassadeurs in Namur, Anvers and Tourcoing, Don Andrès de Rebeira (La Périchole) at the Opéra Comique-Paris, Hilpérick (Saint-Saëns’ Frédégonde) in Tours, Cinna (La Vestale) at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Falstaff (title role) in Lille and Luxembourg…
