|
Event
Recital: François Le Roux & Olivier Godin
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
François Le Roux is renowned throughout the world for performances that range from baroque through contemporary music, from French art song to the major roles of the operatic stage. Since his debut with Lyon Opera, he has been a guest with all the major European opera houses and symphony orchestras as well as festivals throughout the world.
In the realm of opera, he was renowned as "the greatest Pelléas of his generation in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande." He performed Pelléas more than a hundred times on the foremost opera stages of the world and recorded it for Deutsche Grammophon under Claudio Abbado. As his voice deepened, he changed to the role of Golaud in this same opera, which he has been performing to great acclaim in such places as Paris, Bordeaux, and at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. He sang Golaud for the centenary of the opera's premiere at the Opéra-Comique in Paris in 2002, and more recently in Paris, Vichy, Rouen, Milan (La Scala) and Toulon. In 2007 he sang Golaud in the first-ever staged production of Pelléas et Mélisande in Moscow, conducted by Marc Minkowski, directed by Olivier Py. This became the subject of a film by Philippe Béziat: "Pelléas et Mélisande, Le chant des aveugles," released on DVD in 2011.
He has sung regularly at Paris Opera where he made his debut as Valentin in Gounod's Faust in 1988. His portrayal of the title role of Don Giovanni enjoyed a real triumph and brought him the French critics' "Prix de la Révélation de l'année." Another signature role, he has sung Don Giovanni in Zurich under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, in England and in Spain. He is renowned for his portrayals of all of Mozart's leading baritone roles, as well as certain roles in Italian opera (Dandini, Malatesta, Marcello), and baroque opera (the title roles of Monteverdi's Orfeo and Ulisse, Campra's Tancrède, and Pollux in Rameau's Castor et Pollux, performed at the Aix en Provence Festival. He is equally at home in contemporary opera; the title role of Henze's Der Prinz von Homburg which he sang in Munich conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch; the world premieres of Birtwistle's Gawain at Covent Garden, Von Bose's Die Leiden des jungen Werthers at the Schwetzingen Festival, David Lang's Modern Painters at Santa Fe Opera and Thilloy's Jour des Meurtres in Metz.
Recent seasons have brought Orpheus in the Underworld with Lausanne Opera, Don Gomez in Debussy's Rodrigue et Chimène in St Petersburg's Philharmony Hall and Golaud in Helsinki's Opera's new production of Pelléas et Mélisande. As well as leading roles at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and Grenoble, Opera du Rhin in Strasbourg, Opera de Toulon, De Nederlandse Opera (The Love of Three Oranges), Paris Opera, and La Scala in Milan and engagements with the Houston Symphony, American Symphony Orchestra, and Vienna's Musikverein; recital engagements at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Vancouver, Tokyo, Paris, Mexico City, Santiago de Compostella (Spain), Wilhelmshafen (Germany), and Wroclaw (Poland). Mr. Le Roux sang the Clock and the Tomcat in Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortileges with the Berlin Philharmonic under Simon Rattle and at Teatro San Carlo in Naples, conducted by Jeffrey Tate. He sang Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde in Paris, at the 'Musée d'Orsay', Dvorak's Biblical Songs in Besançon, conducted by Peter Csaba. In 2014 he appears with New Orleans Opera in Massenet's Cendrillon.
Mr. Le Roux has numerous operatic CDs and DVDs on EMI, Erato, and BMG-RCA. He has several recordings of French Song on EMI, REM (the complete songs of Duparc and Fauré), HYPERION (Saint-Saëns songs, Séverac Songs, & Louis Durey Songs with Graham Johnson), and DECCA-Universal, all enthusiastically received, earning him the reputation as the successor to Gérard Souzay'. He received the Charles Cros Academy Award 1999 for his BMG-RCA world-premiere recording of Albert Roussel's orchestrated Songs, with Jacques Mercier and the Orchestre National d'Ile de France. A DVD of Offenbach's La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein on Virgin Classics, conducted by Marc Minkowski, won the "Grand Prix de l'Académie Charles Cros 2005" and "Diapason d'or 2005." His most recent recordings include the Complete Songs of Edouard Lalo on Passavant, music of Henri Dutilleux with the Orchestre National De Bordeaux under Hans Graf on Sony Classics and Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortileges with the Berlin Philharmonic on EMI.
François Le Roux began his vocal studies with François Loup at the age of 19, and continued under Vera Rosza and Elisabeth Grümmer at the Opéra Studio, Paris. He was a winner of the Barcelona (Maria Canals) and Rio de Janeiro competitions. His first book on the interpretation of French Song - "Le Chant Intime," co-authored with Romain Raynaldy, published by Fayard - received the 2004 René Dumesnil Award by the French National Académie des Beaux Arts. Since 2006, he has been teaching at the Académie Maurice Ravel in Saint Jean-de-Luz, and at the Orford Arts Center in Québec, two positions first held by Pierre Bernac.
Olivier Godin
A native of Montreal, Olivier Godin is pursuing a brilliant career as a pianist and chamber player both in Canada and abroad. He has been invited to perform in numerous international festivals such as the Francis Poulenc Academy in Tours, the International Albert-Roussel Festival in France, the Palazzetto Bru Zane Festival in Venice, as well as on France-Musique and Radio-Canada radio stations. In Canada, he has performed at the Orford, Lanaudière, Lachine, Classica and Parry Sound festivals. He has also played with a great number of singers and musicians in New York City, Paris, Venice and at the prestigious Wigmore Hall in London, during the Wigmore Hall / Kohn International Song Competition.
Olivier Godin has recorded a dozen CDs, among which the complete melodies of Francis Poulenc (Atma classique), the complete works for two pianos of Rachmaninov (Société métropolitaine du disque), the complete melodies of Duparc (disques XXI-21) and many other albums dedicated to the works of forgotten French romantic composers such as Théodore Dubois and Émile Pessard (disques XXI-21). Many of his recordings have been nominated or awarded an Opus Prize from the Conseil québécois de la musique. His recording of Musique sur l'eau et autres mélodies by Théodore Dubois with baritone Marc Boucher has been awarded five Diapasons by the French magazine Diapason.
He can be heard on record or in recital with renowned lyrical artists such as sopranos Karina Gauvin, Aline Kutan, Pascale Beaudin, Hélène Guilmette, Julie Fuchs, mezzo-sopranos Julie Boulianne and Nora Sourouzian, contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux, tenor Antonio Figueroa and baritones François Le Roux, Marc Boucher and Gordon Bintner. As a repetiteur he has collaborated with numerous conductors, among which Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jean-Marie Zeitouni, Raffi Armenian, Agnès Grossmann, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Franz-Paul Decker and Charles Dutoit. He is frequently invited as an adjudicator for various competitions.
In concert, Olivier Godin he has performed the Canadian premiere of previously unreleased works by Claude Debussy and Francis Poulenc. He regularly plays the works of Quebec composers Rachel Laurin, Jacques Hétu, Raymond Daveluy and Raoul Sosa. A great amateur of music for four-hand and two pianos, he regularly performs with pianists Myriam Farid, Suzanne Blondin and François Zeitouni.
As an organist, he can often be heard at the Mary-Queen-of-the-World basilica cathedral in Montreal, where he assists the principal organist, Hélène Dugal. He has performed in many recitals as an organist in Québec and France.
He was appointed as a professor at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal at the age of 25, and presently holds a position as director of the Opera Studies. He also works with promising young singers from McGill University and occasionally at the Atelier lyrique of the Opéra de Montréal. He is in charge of the vocal accompaniment program for pianists at the Domaine Forget International Music and Dance Academy. Prior to this, he taught at the Orford Arts Center Summer Academy during fourteen years.
Olivier Godin was awarded the Prix avec grande distinction by the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal in solo performance and chamber music, where he studied and worked with renowned pianist Raoul Sosa. He has studied organ with Jean Le Buis.
|
|
 |
LocationAntonello Hall at the MacPhail Center for Music (View)
501 S 2nd Street
Minneapolis, MN 55401
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
|
Contact
|
