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Donald E. Osborne, Director California Artists Management 564 Market Street, Suite 420, San Francisco, CA 94104-5412 415 362-2787 / fax: 415 362-2838 / Skype: calartistsdon / Email |
Susan Endrizzi Morris, Director California Artists Management P.O. Box 2479, Mendocino, CA 95460-2479 707-937-4787 / cell: 415-302-1083 / Skype: sueendrizzi / Email |
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 Download Bio Website |
François Le Roux
baritone |
François Le Roux is renowned throughout the world for his performances in
repertoire that ranges 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 is
renowned as “the
greatest Pelléas of his generation”
and he continues to be
closely associated with 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 the 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
again this season and last in Paris, Vichy,
Rouen, Milan (La Scala) and Toulon. In June 2007 he sang this in the first ever
staged production of
Pelléas et Mélisande
in Moscow, conducted by Marc Minkowski and directed by Olivier Py. Mr. Le Roux
sing the Clock and the Tomcat in Ravel’s
‘L’Enfant et les sortilèges at Teatro San Carlo in Naples, conducted by Jeffrey
Tate. Among other events, he will sing Mahler’s
Das Lied von der Erde in Paris, at the
‘Musée d’Orsay, Dvorak’s Biblical Songs
in Besançon, conducted by Peter Csaba, as well as many recitals and
masterclasses in Europe and America, including a series of Schubert’s ‘Die
Winterreise’.
He
has sung regularly at the Paris Opera where he made his debut as Valentin in
Gounod's Faust in 1988. His portrayal there 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
of his signature roles, he has sung Don
Giovanni in Zurich under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, in England and in Spain.
Mr. Le Roux is known for his
portrayals of all of Mozart’s 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, and John Ruskin
in David Lang's Modern Painters at Santa Fe Opera.
François Le Roux likewise
performs with major symphony orchestras throughout the world and is in
particular demand for recitals and masterclasses on the interpretation of French
Song. From 1997-2202 he was artistic director of the "French Song Concert Season
of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris.
He is Artistic Director of
the Académie Francis Poulenc in Tours, which is dedicated to the interpretation
of French Song. He received the most distinguished honor of “Chevalier” in the
French National Order of “Les Arts et Lettres” in 1996, and was chosen as
“Musical Personality of 1997” by the French Critics Union.
Recent seasons have brought
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 as
well as engagements with the Houston
Symphony, American Symphony
Orchestra, and the Vienna Musikverein; recital engagements at the Kennedy Center
in Washington DC, Belfast, Tokyo, Paris, Mexico City, Santiago de Compostella
(Spain), Wilhelmshafen (Germany), and Wroclaw (Poland); as well as several new
recording projects.
Mr. Le Roux has numerous operatic
recordings 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. His recent DVD,
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.”
François Le Roux began his vocal
studies with François Loup at the age of 19, and continued
later 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.
January 2008 – please
discard any earlier versions of this biography
Press Comments:
Golaud in Debussy's Pelléas et
Mélisande, 1st performance ever in Moscow:
“The singers are as elegant as dancers,
sounds and movements constantly obeying the same fluid and exact common will. As
Golaud, François Le Roux plays his part as always with assurance and
competence. His charcter is more nuanced than ever, particularly in the
second scene of Act IV (4), where the balance between furor and depression is
perfectly mastered.”
Paris "Opéra Magazine -
September 2007
Recording of 'Melodies' of Theodore Dubois:
“Sung by a baritone with an
elegant voice, accompanied by Noël Lee. Both have engraved this forgotten music
with elegance. 4 stars.”
HiFi Video Magazine - July/August 2007
“The interpretation is to be
praised. Francois Le Roux enjoys an enviable reputation as a specialist in this
kind of repertoire. He has enlivened innumerable mastercalsses on the subject,
he has also penned a book of undisputed authority in this domain. His voice is
beautiful, always avoiding mannerisms bringing to the fore his arsenal of
complete comprehension of the style and the quality of diction. 4 stars.”
Classical Repertoire - July/August 2007
City of London Festival with the Nash Ensemble:
"No work of the period expresses the anguish of imperialist guilt more
forcefully than Ravel's Chansons Madécasses. The central song's howls of pain
were delivered with frightening intensity by François Le Roux. He brought a
voluptuous Gallic sensibility to the outer songs, with their intimations of
moonlit ecstasy. Le Roux returned in the second half to dispatch the nonsense
song Honoloulou of Poulenc's Rapsodie Nègre with po-faced solemnity, the
ensemble offering suitably laconic support."
Evening Standard - July 5, 2007
Recital of Ravel and Poulenc with the Nash Ensemble, City of London Festival:
“No
work of the period expresses the anguish of imperialist guilt more forcefully
than Ravel's Chansons Madécasses. The central song's howls of pain were
delivered with frightening intensity by François Le Roux. He brought a
voluptuous Gallic sensibility to the outer songs, with their intimations of
moonlit ecstasy. Le Roux returned in the second half to dispatch the nonsense
song Honoloulou of Poulenc's Rapsodie Nègre with po-faced solemnity, the
ensemble offering suitably laconic support.”
Evening Standard - July 5, 2007
Golaud in Debussy’s Pelleas et Melisande,
Marc Minkowski, conductor, Moscow:
“Not
unexpectedly, it was baritone Francois Le Roux who produced the most commanding
performance of all. Thanks to his more than two decades of experience in the
opera, both as a notable Pelleas and more recently as Golaud, he brought
extraordinary nuance and subtlety to the latter part, coping nicely with its
sometimes heavy vocal demands.”
Moscow Times - June 22, 2007
“As Golaud, the baritone François Le
Roux, a veteran of many a "Pelléas" production, first as the title hero, earned
the audience's empathy in shrouding Golaud's emotional upheavals behind a
composed exterior.”
International Herald Tribune - July 2, 2007
Roussel: Melodies,
Orchestre Nattional d’Ill de France, RCA Records:
“Roussel's
own orchestrations of some of his melodies enrich the catalogue, with Véronique
Gens offering her own brand of charm alongside the experienced François Le Roux.
What magnificent music, especially ‘La Menace’ specifically written for
orchestra.”
Culturekiosque.com – December 2006
Golaud in Pelleas et Melisande, Musée
d’Orsay, Paris:
“François Le Roux, as always, the
most phenomenal Golaud of our time.”
LesEchos.fr – November 10, 2006
Recital in Mexico City:
Headline: “French
baritone François Roux delights public with a brilliant recital in Sala
Nezahualcóyotl.”
Mexico City – November 2005
Bartok
Bluebeard’s Castle, Houston Symphony
Orchestra, Hans Graf, conductor:
“Le Roux joined the orchestra Saturday for a searing exploration of the
emotional cauldron
Judith goes through in entering the mysterious, closed world of
Bluebeard. Le Roux’s Bluebeard
was more cagey
emotionally as he pleaded with Judith to love him for what he is. He would
cajole, then give in only enough to satisfy her for the moment. His triumphed at
the end was muted but predestined.”
Houston Chronicle – January 17, 2005
Recital, “Theatre of Song” Festival, Washington, DC:
“Baritone Francois
Le Roux, a veteran of world-class opera houses, gave an elegant account of the
French chanson in his recital at the French Embassy on Wednesday. The event
launched "Theatre of Song," an admirable new series sponsored by La Maison
Francaise. Covering a half-century of creativity, the performance highlighted
some of the most characteristic examples of an ever-so-French genre -- the
melodie -- by the composers Gounod, Saint-Saens, Duparc, Faure, Debussy, Poulenc
and Ravel. The French melodie welds music and poem into a single entity with a
faithfulness to the stressed and unstressed syllables of spoken French to an
extent that no other song type can match. Unfortunately, for audience members
without texts, it was not possible to grasp this singularly French way of
setting music to words; they were simply left adrift as to what Le Roux's
musical artistry was expressing. One could only bask in his infinitely tapered
pianissimos and impassioned resonance, along with Hallak's sophisticated piano
partnership, and in the intense beauty they conveyed.”
Washington Post - November 5, 2004
Golaud in Pelleas et Melisande, Musée
d’Orsay, Paris:
“The other major
factor in this project’smusical success is obviously François Le Roux. Not only
because his portrayal of Golaud is well known today, but as a
contemporary reference to a penetration of the text as an intimate friend, no longer
separating speech and song. And also
because this great
teacher is able to transmit a bit of his encyclopedic knowledge and his fabulous
technique to his young colleagues.”
Le Figaro – June 3 2004
Peter Bel in Landowski's Le Fou,
Théâtre du Châtelet,
Paris:
“The
excellent cast is headed by François Le Roux's fabulous Bel.”
Financial Times - February 5,
2004
Calchas in Offenbach’s
La Belle Helene, Santa Fe Opera:
“Francois Le Roux's funny, put-upon Calchas, high priest of Jupiter, showed this artist's high level of skill: It was a complete about-face from his magnificent, brooding John Ruskin in SFO's 1995 production of David Lang's Modern Painters.”
The New Mexican – September 25, 2003
Fauré
Requiem, Marin Symphony, Alasdair
Neale, conductor:
“Coburn and lyric baritone François Le Roux were the featured soloists for the evening. Mr. Le Roux is well known in France and is the declared successor to the great recitalist Gerard Souzay. He has been distinguished as “Chevalier”, an honor given by the French National Order of Arts and Letters, has a large discography of French melodies and is a specialist in modern music. His musicianship and taste are impeccable. His voice, though not large, is carefully and exquistely directed.” SF Classical Voice – April 6, 2003
Calchas in Offenbach’s
La Belle Helene, Virgin Classics CD:
“Le Roux’s deliciously overripe Calchas is matched by Senechal’s seedy Mehelas; both sing perfectly in character.” Opera - February 2002
Monsieur de in Damase’s
Madame de, Grand Theatre de Geneve:
“Coke in the title role might have taken some lessons in diction from François Le Roux. Le Roux and Rivenq were elegant in a contemporary manner.”
Opera – October 2001
Recital at Bard College, New York:
“Ravel's songs are a gorgeous artifact: it was novel to have them sung by a
baritone -- François Le Roux, intelligent and careful -- whose voice could come
from within the instrumental ensemble, rather than floating above as the more
usual soprano's does. Debussy's settings, which Mr. Le Roux sang right after,
sounded like a reprimand: act natural. Debussy, loose and playful, lets the
irony be the poet's and the singer's, where Ravel beautifully encrusts the texts
in ironies of his own.”
New York Times – August 21, 2001
Kosma: Songs and Interludes, Matrix Ensemble, Decca Records:
“The
songs, sung by the French baritone François Le Roux, mostly address foiled love,
but Kosma and his capable lyricists make each trauma distinct. And by
consistently altering the color of his voice, Mr. Le Roux further enriches these
tunes. Among the most compelling
items on this rich CD is the extended ballad ‘Rue de Seine,’ a miniature
masterpiece.”
New York Times – March 18, 2001
Pelleas in Debussy’s
Pellease et Melisande, Arhaus Music
DVD:
“Alliot-Lugaz and Francois Le Roux as the eponymous lovers, form a cast hard to equal.”
Opera – April 2001
Calchas in Offenbach’s
La Belle Helene, Théâtre du
Châtelet, Paris:
“The
casy was all French: Francois Le Roux a c;assy Calchas.”
Opera – January 2001
Peter Bel in Landowski's Le Fou, Opera
Montpellier:
“An all-French cast was a major attraction. Peter Bel is a savant who know how to save the city under siege. Le Roux has a made-to-measure role, and was onstage almost continually without ever losing authority.” Opera – August 2000
Poulenc's "Les Mamelles de Tiresias," Ojai Festival,
Simon Rattle, conductor:
Los Angeles Times – June 7, 2000
Ravel L’Enfant et les Sortileges, Ojai
Festival, Simon Rattle, conductor:
“Francois Le Roux was a hilariously suave black cat.”
Los Angeles Times – May 27, 2000
Berlioz’s
L’Enfance du Christ, Montreal Symphony, Charles Dutoit, conductor, Decca
Records:
“A gentle introduction leads
to a lovely duet sung by Mary (soprano Susan Graham) and Joseph (baritone
François Le Roux)--a real treasure and one of this performance's highlights..”
ClassicsToday.com
New York City
Recital debut, Lincoln Center:
“The baritone
Francois Le Roux is an established international figure, especially as Debussy's
Pelleas, a role he has sung in many productions -- including the Los Angeles
Opera's last season -- and recorded. He made an enjoyable New York debut on
Monday evening. Mr. Le Roux's
pleasant medium-weight baritone began hitting stride, with more freedom on top,
in the Duparc group and in the first two Hahn songs. Poulenc's tongue-twisting
‘Fetes Galantes’ was a hit. Mr. Le Roux was noticeably more relaxed and personal
in the encores: a rollicking adaptation of the La Fontaine fable ‘The
Grasshopper and the Ant’ by Charles Trenet.”
New York Times