The French tenor, Vincent Lièvre-Picard, is a graduate of the Conservatoire de Tours (Prize of Early Music in the class of Noémi Rime in 2001) and the Conservatoire de Paris (Singing Prize unanimously in 2003, Higher Diplome of Early Music with honours in 2004).
Vincent Lièvre-Picard is frequently asked to appear as oratorio soloist in France and abroad. On the advice of his teacher Howard Crook, he specializes in the interpretation of French Baroque music and J.S. Bach: he is particularly noted for his interpretations of the Evangelist. He also sings many parts of haute-contre soloist in oratorio and classical, such as W.A. Mozart's Requiem or Narrator in L'Enfance du Christ by Berlioz.
Vincent Lièvre-Picard has also appeared in recitals in France and Japan, both with piano (Britten-Schubert recital at the Sorbonne in June 2006, Benjamin Britten's Canticles in June 2007 at the Sorbonne) or fortepiano (W.A. Mozart-Schubert recital at the Théâtre Mogador in May 2005) with harpsichord with Kenneth Weiss, or organ with Olivier Vernet. The critical notes as "a tone of poetry at once fragile and candid heroic", the "perfect diction" and "the simple beauty of his singing." He sings a lot of polyphonic madrigals and in ensembles of soloists, including A Sei Voci, Sagittarius, Vivette Felici, Métamorphoses, Les Jeunes Solistes or Le Poème Harmonique.
Vincent Lièvre-Picard has appeared in theater for many years, also taking part in several professional shows as an actor. He participated in several opera productions, including Il Mondo della Luna by Haydn (Cecco, Angers, 1998), Les Fêtes de l'Amour et de Bacchus (on tour in 2003 with Hugo Reyne, disque Accord), Les Fêtes de Ramire by Rameau (Ramire, Ferney-Voltaire, 2004), Acteon (Acteon) and Les Arts Florissants (La Peinture) at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux in 2007, Dido and Aeneas by Purcell with Les Arts Florissants released on DVD in 2004 and Pastorale de Noël by Charpentier also released on DVD. With passionate theatrical practices, particularly contemporary dance, he sang Doux Mensonges in 2004 at the Opéra Garnier, with the Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris. He is currently participating in La Mélancolie des Profondeurs, a show by choreographer Claude Brumachon. He also participated in Androgyne, a new work by Claude Brumachon based on works of B. Britten at the Opera de Nantes in March 2008. He was involved in a December 2006 production of Malade Imaginaire by Molière at the Comédie Française.
Vincent Lièvre-Picard has made over 20 records, with the organist Olivier Vernet, and the ensembles A Sei Voci, Les Arts Florissants, Sagittarius, XVIII-21 Musiques des Lumières or Accentus. He is currently recording the masses of Josquin Desprez with the ensemble Métamorphoses, whose first volume appeared in 2007. His performance in the recording of Fêtes de l'Amour et de Bacchus by Lully with La Simphonie du Marais was hailed as "unleashed" by Opera International.
Vincent Lièvre-Picard has followed with great success the master-class given by Gérard Lesne at the Abbaye de Royaumont. Although early music remains his favourite field, but he looks to other music: he studied the works of W.A. Mozart or light tenor roles of Italian and French repertoire of the 19th century, the English music of the 20th century and contemporary repertoire, creating more than a dozen works, as soloist: songs of Karol Beffa, Natalie Bleicher, Noël Lee, or in September 2006, the oratorio Laïssa by Guyot, where he sings the first male role (CD forthcoming). His recording of Ulysse de Rebel with Hugo Reyne (where he sang the roles of Orphée, Mercure, Euriloque, Télémaque and Génie) was released in November 2007. He will also record a program of Levens with Michel Laplénie (haute-contre soloist), and during the summer of 2008, the Requiem of Gilles and Campra. |