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The Swiss bass-baritone, Raphaël Hardmeyer, began his musical career with the violin, then the viola. After earning a Masters of Law degree, he took his first singing lessons at the age of 26 at the Conservatory of Lausanne and after three years, he was accepted at the Geneva University of Music (HEMGE Haute École de Musique de Genève). There he passed his Master of Arts degree in the class of Gilles Cachemaille. Subsequently he has attended various master-classes with Klaus Mertens, Jadwiga Rappé, Claudio Desderi, Luisa Castellani, Joseph Loibl and regularly takes lessons with Lioba Braun. In 2020, he was resident scholarship holder from the OperaLab.ch program set up by the Grand Théâtre de Genève and the Hautes Écoles de Genève.
Raphaël Hardmeyer has had the opportunity to sing as a soloist in many works by J.S. Bach. Amongst them, Weihnachts-Oratorium BWV 248, Magnificat in D major, BWV 243, the Lutheran Masses and various Cantatas. His Repertoire ranges from Baroque, to operas by W.A. Mozart, Lied, Puccini plus the Melodies of Francis Poulenc and the Lieds of Wolfgang Rihm, where he had the opportunity to work with the composer in person.
In 2017, Raphaël Hardmeyer was noted in the role of Jupiter in Rameau’s Platée and made his debut at the Grand Théâtre de Genève where he sang the role of “Charles-Quint” in the world premiere of Ascanio by Camille Saint-Saëns under the baton of Guillaume Tourniaire, alongside Jean-François Lapointe, Karina Gauvin, Bernard Richter and Jean Teitgen. This production has been recorded and is available on B Records and was awarded the prestigious German prize of “Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik”. In 2018, he appeared as soloist in George Frideric Handel's Messiah, Haydn’s requiem and the leanding role in the W.A. Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro in September under the direction of Leonardo García-Alarcón. He has also performed as a soloist with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande under the direction of Jean-Jacques Kantorow for J.S. Bach's Weihnachts-Oratorium BWV 248.
During the 2019-2020 season, Raphaël Hardmeyer could be seen in Philip Glass’ Einstein on the Beach at the Grand Théâtre de Genève and Hunding in Die Walkyrie in a concert version under the baton of Daniel Kawka in Evian. At the Opéra de Lausanne he performed Ariadne auf Naxos (2019), Semiramide (2022), L’elisir d’amore (2022), Leonard Bernstein's Candide (Inquisitor III/Tsar Ivan) (2022). Other recent performances include: a staged version of Messiah at the Théâtre du Jorat; W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, under the direction of Christophe Rousset; Carmina Burana, J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor BWV 232, W.A. Mozart's Coronation mass and many other sacred works. |
