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The French counter-tenor, Christophe Dumaux, initially studied voice and cello at his local conservatory in Châlons-en-Champagne and in 2000 entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris.He also took master-classes with Noëlle Barker and James Bowman during his teens.
Aged just 22, July 2002 marked Christophe Dumaux’s professional debut singing the role of Eustazio in George Frideric Handel’s Rinaldo at the Festival de Radio France, Montpellier. The production, conducted by René Jacobs, went on to the Innsbruck Festival and the Berlin Staatsoper. A recording with Harmonia Mundi was released in 2003. Since this date, he has been invited internationally for both opera and concert engagements at the major houses and festivals - the Metropolitan New York, Glyndebourne Festival , Paris Opera, Theater an der Wien, Chicago, the Santa Fe Festival, the Berlin Staatsoper and he soon makes his debut in both Munich and Zürich. He has sung as a soloist with several prominent baroque music ensembles, including William Christie's Le Jardin des Voix and Les Arts Florissants, Emmanuelle Haïm's Le Concert d'Astrée, and Combattimento Consort Amsterdam.
Christophe Dumaux made his USA debut in 2003 at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina singing the title role in G.F. Handel's Tamerlano. Several major other major house and company debuts soon followed, including: the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels as Giuliano in Cavalli's Eliogabalo (2004); Santa Fe Opera as Ottone in G.F. Handel's Agrippina (2004); the Opéra national de Paris as Ottone in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea (2005);[3] Glyndebourne Festival Opera as Tolomeo in G.F. Handel's Giulio Cesare (2005); and the New York Metropolitan Opera as Unulfo in G.F. Handel's Rodelinda (2006).
His repertoire includes Tamerlano (Spoleto Festival USA); La Calisto (Luxembourg); Eliogabalo (La Monnaie Brussels ); Sosarme (Saint Gallen); Orlando ( Theatre Champs-Elysées Paris), and Ottone in L’incoronazione di Poppea (Glyndebourne, Paris, Geneva); Ottone in Agrippina (Santa Fe); Unulfo in Rodelinda (Metropolitan Opera, Dallas); Tolomeo (Paris, Glyndebourne, Pittsburg, Barbican, Vienna, Chicago, Madrid...); Armindo in Agrippina (Copenhagen).
Recent engagements have included a new production of Jephta (Hamor) under Ivor Bolton and at the Theater an der Wien in a new production of Benjamin Britten’s Death in Venice. In 2010, he made his debut at the Amsterdam Opera in a new production of Don Chisciotte in Sierra Morena as well as at the Vlaamse Opera in the title role of Giasone. In 2011, Christophe Dumaux returned to the Opéra de Paris for two new productions, Akhmatova by Bruno Mantovani and Giulio Cesare (Tolomeo). This same year marked his debut in the title role of both Giulio Cesare at Château de Versailles and of Rinaldo for Glyndebourne. The critics were outstanding for both productions. 2012 marks his debut at the Salzburg Festival in a new production of Giulio Cesare and his debuts at the Opernhaus Zürich. In 2013, he returns to the Metropolitan Opera. Recent concerts have seen him at the Salle Pleyel on two occasions, for Semele and Giulio Cesare, both with Cecilia Bartoli. He gave a solo recital with the Moscow Soloists and with the famous Freiburger Barockorchester, as well as making his debut at the renowned Concertgebouw Hall in Amsterdam.
Recordings: G.F. Handel: Rinaldo (Vivica Genaux, Christophe Dumaux, Miah Persson, James Rutherford, Inga Kalna, Lawrence Zazzo, Dominique Visse; Conductor: René Jacobs; Orchestra/Ensemble: Freiburger Barockorchester) CD 2003. Label: Harmonia Mundi; G.F. Handel: Giulio Cesare (Sarah Connolly, Christopher Maltman, Patricia Bardon, Christophe Dumaux, Angelika Kirchschlager, Danielle de Niese, Rachid Ben Abdeslam; Conductor: William Christie; Orchestra/Ensemble: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Glyndebourne Festival Chorus), DVD 2006. Label: BBC/Opus Arte; G.F. Handel: Partenope Christophe Dumaux, Andreas Scholl, Inger Dam Jensen, Tuva Semmingsen, Lars Ulrik Mortensen. |
