Jean-Paul Fouchécourt
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2015 Jean-Paul Fouchécourt is a French
tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...
, mostly as an
opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...
singer. He was born on 30 August 1958 at Blanzy in the
Burgundy Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. ...
region. He is best known for singing French
Baroque music Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Classical music, Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance music, Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Class ...
, especially the parts called in French ''
haute-contre The ''haute-contre'' (plural ''hautes-contre'') was the primary French operatic tenor voice, predominant in French Baroque and Classical opera, from the middle of the seventeenth century until the latter part of the eighteenth century. History ...
'', written for a very high tenor voice with no
falsetto Falsetto ( , ; Italian language, Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ...
singing.


Life and career

Specialist in French Baroque repertory, Jean-Paul Fouchécourt gained his reputation with his portrayal of the title role ''
Platée ''Platée'' is an opera in a prologue and three acts by Jean-Philippe Rameau with a libretto by Adrien-Joseph Le Valois d'Orville. Rameau bought the rights to the libretto ''Platée ou Junon jalouse'' (''Plataea, or Juno Jealous'') by Jacques Autr ...
'' by Rameau, Arnalta in '' l’Incoronazione di Poppea'' by Monteverdi, the four servants in the ''Tales of Hoffmann'' by Offenbach and le Mari in the ''Mamelles de Tirésias'' by Poulenc. After studying the classical saxophone and conducting, Jean-Paul Fouchécourt decided to become a singer after a workshop with
Cathy Berberian Catherine Anahid Berberian (July 4, 1925 – March 6, 1983) was an American mezzo-soprano and composer based in Italy. She worked closely with many contemporary avant-garde music composers, including Luciano Berio, Bruno Maderna, John Cage, Hen ...
in 1982. He began his career with Les Arts Florissants directed by William Christie in 1986, having concerts in Europe, US, Soviet Union, South America, Australia and Japan. Jean-Paul Fouchécourt then went on to work with the conductor Marc Minkowski and his Musiciens du Louvre: highlights of his career in the Baroque repertory include the title roles of ''Hippolyte et Aricie'' by Rameau, ''Titon et l’Aurore'' by Mondonville, ''Acis et Galatée'' by Lully and ''Resurrezione'' by Handel. He has also collaborated with other Baroque ensembles. Fouchécourt has performed with many of the world’s leading opera companies, including
Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...
- London,
Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...
,
New York City Opera The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through its 2013 bankruptcy, and again since 2016 when it was revived. The opera company, dubbed "the peopl ...
, Cincinnati Opera,
Opéra Bastille The Opéra Bastille (, "Bastille Opera House") is a modern opera house in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, France. Inaugurated in 1989 as part of President François Mitterrand's '' Grands Travaux'', it became the main facility of the Paris N ...
,
Théâtre des Champs-Élysées The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées () is an entertainment venue standing at 15 avenue Montaigne in Paris. It is situated near Avenue des Champs-Élysées, from which it takes its name. Its eponymous main hall may seat up to 1,905 people, while th ...
,
Théâtre du Châtelet The Théâtre du Châtelet () is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. One of two theatres (the other being the Théâtre de la Ville) built on the site of a ''châtelet'', a ...
in Paris,
Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor Places * Grand, Oklahoma, USA * Grand, Vosges, village and commune in France with Gallo-Roman amphitheatre * Grand County (disambiguation) ...
, Opéra National de Lyon, Opéra national du Rhin, and Opéra national de Montpellier, La Monnaie, Vlaams Opera,
Grand Théâtre de Genève Grand Théâtre de Genève is an opera house in Geneva, Switzerland. As with many other opera houses, the Grand Théâtre de Genève is both a venue and an institution. The venue is a majestic building, towering over Place Neuve, officia ...
, Lausanne Opera and Zürich Opera,
Dutch National Opera The Dutch National Opera (DNO; formerly De Nederlandse Opera, now De Nationale Opera in Dutch) is a Dutch opera company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its present home base is the Dutch National Opera & Ballet housed in the Stopera building, a m ...
,
Theater an der Wien The is a historic theatre in Vienna located on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district. Completed in 1801, the theatre has hosted the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music. Since 2006, it has served prim ...
, Israeli Opera and
Opera Australia Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, New South Wales, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with t ...
. His operatic productions have included ''L'enfant et les sortilèges'' and ''L'heure Espagnole'' (Torquemada) by Ravel, ''Le Nozze di Figaro'' (Basilio) by Mozart, ''Orphée aux Enfers'' (Pluton) by Offenbach, ''Falstaff'' (Bardolfo) by Verdi, ''Manon'' (Guillot de Morfontaine) by Massenet, ''Madame Butterfly'' (Goro) by Puccini, ''Eugene Onegin'' (Monsieur Triquet) by Tchaikovsky, ''L'étoile'' (Ouf 1er) by Chabrier, '' Calisto'' (Pane) by Cavalli, and '' The Golden Cockerel'' (The astrologer) by Rimsky-Korsakov. Jean-Paul Fouchécourt has also performed at music festivals including
Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, city and Communes of France, commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the Subprefectures in France, s ...
,
Chorégies d'Orange The ''Chorégies d'Orange'' is a summer opera festival held each August in Orange located about 21 kilometres north of Avignon in southern France. Performances are presented in the ancient Roman theatre, the Théâtre Antique d'Orange, the orig ...
(France), Berkley (USA), Saito Kinen (Japan), BBC Proms, Edinburgh (UK), and Salzburg (Austria). His discography of more than 100 recordings includes works from Monteverdi, Mondonville, Rameau, Fauré, Bizet, Boulanger, Delage, Poulenc, Offenbach, Ravel, and Rosenthal to Szymanowski. In 2000, Jean-Paul Fouchécourt was honoured with the 'Chevalier de l’ordre National du Mérite' by the French Government. He became the artistic director of the Studio de l’Opéra de Lyon (SOL) in 2011.


Selected recordings

Jean-Paul Fouchécourt, Jennifer Larmore, Philippe Bach. Solo recitals * Rameau: Operatic Arias. Opera Lafayette Orchestra, Ryan Brown * Airs de Cour des XVI, XVII, XVIII Siecles. Éric Bellocq Among the many Baroque operas and vocal pieces that Fouchécourt has recorded are: *'' Atys'' by Jean-Baptist Lully, conducted by William Christie (1987) Harmonia Mundi *'' David et Jonathas'' by
Marc-Antoine Charpentier Marc-Antoine Charpentier (; 1643 – 24 February 1704) was a French Baroque composer during the reign of Louis XIV. One of his most famous works is the main theme from the prelude of his ''Te Deum'' ''H.146, Marche en rondeau''. This theme is st ...
, conducted by William Christie (1988) Harmonia Mundi *''
The Fairy-Queen ''The Fairy-Queen'' (1692; Purcell catalogue number Z.629) is a semi-opera by Henry Purcell; a "Restoration spectacular". The libretto is an anonymous adaptation of William Shakespeare's comedy ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. First performed in ...
'' by
Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: ; September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer of Baroque music, most remembered for his more than 100 songs; a tragic opera, ''Dido and Aeneas''; and his incidental music to a version of Shakespeare's ...
, conducted by William Christie (1989) Harmonia Mundi *''Alcyone'' by
Marin Marais Marin Marais (; 31 May 1656, in Paris – 15 August 1728, in Paris) was a French composer and viol player. He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully, often conducting his operas, and with master of the bass viol Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe ...
, conducted by
Marc Minkowski Marc Minkowski (born 4 October 1962) is a French conductor of classical music, especially known for his interpretations of French Baroque works. Minkowski was musical director of Mozartwoche in Salzburg, Austria, from 2013 to 2017 and was gene ...
(1990) Erato *''
Te Deum The ( or , ; from its incipit, ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to a date before AD 500, but perhaps with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin ...
'' by De Lalande, conducted by William Christie (1991) Harmonia Mundi *''Titon et l'Aurore'' by Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville, conducted by Marc Minkowski (1992) Erato *''Les amours de Ragonde'' by
Jean-Joseph Mouret Jean-Joseph Mouret (11 April 1682 in Avignon – 10 December 1738 in Charenton-le-Pont) was a French composer whose dramatic works made him one of the leading exponents of Baroque music in his country. Even though most of his works are rarely per ...
, conducted by Marc Minkowski (1992) Erato *''
Les Indes Galantes is a ''ballet héroïque'', a type of Baroque music#Late baroque music (1680–1750), French Baroque opera-ballet, by Jean-Philippe Rameau with a libretto by Louis Fuzelier. In its final form it comprised an allegory, allegorical prologue and fou ...
'' by
Jean-Philippe Rameau Jean-Philippe Rameau (; ; – ) was a French composer and music theory, music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of ...
, conducted by William Christie (1992) Harmonia Mundi *'' Idoménée'' by
André Campra André Campra (; baptized 4 December 1660 – 29 June 1744) was a French composer and conductor of the Baroque era. The leading French opera composer in the period between Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau, Campra wrote several '' trag ...
, conducted by William Christie (1992) Harmonia Mundi *''
Te Deum The ( or , ; from its incipit, ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to a date before AD 500, but perhaps with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin ...
'' by
Marc-Antoine Charpentier Marc-Antoine Charpentier (; 1643 – 24 February 1704) was a French Baroque composer during the reign of Louis XIV. One of his most famous works is the main theme from the prelude of his ''Te Deum'' ''H.146, Marche en rondeau''. This theme is st ...
, conducted by William Christie (1992) Harmonia Mundi *''Pigmalion'' by Rameau, conducted by Hervé Niquet (1993) Fnac / re-release from Virgin Classics/EMI (1999) *'' Phaëton'' by Lully, conducted by Marc Minkowski (1993) Erato *'' Hippolyte et Aricie'' by Rameau, conducted by Marc Minkowski (1994) Archiv *''
Dido and Aeneas ''Dido and Aeneas'' (Z. 626) is an opera in a prologue and three acts, written by the English Baroque music, Baroque composer Henry Purcell with a libretto by Nahum Tate. The dates of the composition and first performance of the opera are uncer ...
'' by Purcell, conducted by William Christie (1995) Erato *''Les Fêtes de Paphos'' by Mondonville, conducted by
Christophe Rousset Christophe Rousset (; born 12 April 1961) is a French harpsichordist and conducting, conductor, who specializes in the performance of Baroque music on Authentic performance, period instruments. He is also a musicologist, particularly of opera and ...
(1997) L'Oiseau-Lyre *''Les Fêtes d'Hébé'' by Rameau, conducted by William Christie (1998) Erato *''Acis & Galatée'' by Lully, conducted by Marc Minkowski (1998) Archiv *'' Orphée et Euridice'' (1774 Paris version) by
Gluck Christoph Willibald ( Ritter von) Gluck (; ; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire at ...
, conducted by Ryan Brown (2005) Naxos Other recordings include: *''
La cambiale di matrimonio ''La cambiale di matrimonio'' (; English language, English: ''The Bill of Marriage'' or ''The Marriage Contract'') is a one-act operatic farsa, farsa comica by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Gaetano Rossi. The libretto was based on the play b ...
'' by
Gioachino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote man ...
, conducted by Hervé Niquet (1991) ADDA *'' La dame blanche'' by Boïeldieu, conducted by
Marc Minkowski Marc Minkowski (born 4 October 1962) is a French conductor of classical music, especially known for his interpretations of French Baroque works. Minkowski was musical director of Mozartwoche in Salzburg, Austria, from 2013 to 2017 and was gene ...
(1996) EMI Classics/Angel *'' Les mamelles de Tirésias'' by
Francis Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (; 7 January 189930 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include mélodie, songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among th ...
, conducted by
Seiji Ozawa was a Japanese conductor known internationally for his work as music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and especially the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), where he served from 1973 for 29 years. After cond ...
(1999) Philips *''
Orphée aux enfers ''Orpheus in the Underworld'' and ''Orpheus in Hell'' are English names for (), a comic opera with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy. It was first performed as a two-act " opéra bouffon" at the Th ...
'' by Offenbach conducted by Marc Minkowski (1998) EMI *'' Roméo & Juliette'' by
Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 â€“ 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...
, conducted by
John Eliot Gardiner Sir John Eliot Gardiner (born 20 April 1943) is an English conductor, particularly known for his performances of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, especially the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage of 2000, performing Church cantata (Bach), Bach's church ...
(1998) Polygram * Maurice Delage: Mélodies, with Billy Eidi (1998) Timpani *''
Werther ''Werther'' is an opera (''drame lyrique'') in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann (who used the pseudonym Henri Grémont). It is loosely based on Goethe's epistolary novel ''The S ...
'' by Massenet, conducted by
Antonio Pappano Sir Antonio Pappano (born 30 December 1959) is an English-Italian conductor and pianist. He is currently music director of the Royal Opera House and chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. Early life Pappano was born in Epping, Esse ...
(1999) EMI Classics *'' Herodiade'' by Massenet conducted by Michel Plasson (2001) EMI Classics *'' Rodrigue et Chimène'' by Debussy conducted by Kent Nagano (1993–94) Erato *Songs by Fauré - Aubade, Chanson d'amour, Les présents, Lydia, Mai, Nell, with Graham Johnson (2005) Hyperion *''La Vie Parisienne'' by Offenbach, conducted by Sébastien Rouland (2008, DVD) Virgin Classics *'' L'enfant et les sortilèges'' by Ravel, conducted by Simon Rattle (2009) EMI Classics *''
Enoch Arden ''Enoch Arden'' is a narrative poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, published in 1864 during his tenure as British poet laureate. The story on which it was based was allegedly provided to Tennyson by Thomas Woolner. The poem lends its name to a ...
'', melodrama by
Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...
, with
Christian Ivaldi Christian Ivaldi (born 2 September 1938) is a French pianist. Ivaldi was born in Paris. He studied at the Paris Conservatory with Jacques Février and took a Premier Prix in piano performance, as well as in chamber music, counterpoint, and a ...
, piano Carmen by Bizet, conducted by Antonio Pappano (2004) DVD Carmen by Bizet, conducted by Simon Rattle EMI (2012) Eugène Onguin byTchaikowsky conducted by Valery Gergiev (2007) DECA DVD Saxophone *Works by Creston, Pierné, Schmitt recorded in 1981, 1984.


References


External links


www.fouchecourt.com Official SiteAskonas Holt
* * (French television 2009). {{DEFAULTSORT:Fouchecourt, Jean-Paul 1958 births Living people People from Saône-et-Loire French operatic tenors French male singers French male conductors (music) 21st-century French conductors (music) 21st-century French male musicians