Joseph Rouleau

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Joseph A. Rouleau , CC , GOQ , (born February 28, 1929 in Matane , Province of Québec , † July 12, 2019 in Montreal ) was a Canadian opera singer ( bass ).

Life

Training and debut

Joseph Rouleau initially studied economics and, before his voice was discovered, pursued a career in politics. At the age of 17 he took singing lessons for the first time. He received his vocal training at the Montreal Conservatory (Conservatoire de musique de Montréal), where he was the first vocal student, and privately with Pauline Donalda. Further studies took place with Martial Singher in New York , as well as with the Italian baritone Mario Basiola and the singing teacher Rachele Maragliano Mori in Milan . In 1955 he made his debut in Montreal as King Philip II in the Verdi opera Don Carlo .

In the period that followed, Rouleau made a great national and international career, which led to international guest tours and appearances, where he appeared on stage with famous opera singers such as Gwyneth Jones , Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti .

Career in america

After winning a singing competition, he made his first guest appearance at the New Orleans Opera House in 1956 . In the USA he sang a. a. in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and at the New York City Opera . In April 1984 he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlo . In 1985 he appeared at the New Orleans Opera House as Colline in La Bohème . In 1957 he sang the role of Bishop Tache in the world premiere of Harry Somers' opera Louis Riel at the Toronto Opera House . In 1989 he appeared in Vancouver as Trulove in The Rake's Progress . In 1990 he sang the Prince of Bouillon in Adriana Lecouvreur in Montreal. Rouleau also made guest appearances in South America at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires .

Careers in Europe

From 1957 Rouleau was engaged for more than 30 years with a permanent guest contract at the Covent Garden Opera in London . He made his debut there as Colline in La Bohème . In 1957 he sang there in the premiere of Les Troyens , and in 1965 in Simon Boccanegra . In 1983 he was there that of the bigwig in Le Rossignol .

He also made guest appearances at the Grand Opéra Paris (debut 1960 as Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor ), at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels , at the Grand Théâtre de Genève , at the Deutsche Oper Berlin , in Amsterdam, Rome, Munich, Budapest, on Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, at the Leningrad and Kiev Opera Houses, regularly at the Scottish Opera in Glasgow , at various French opera houses as well as at the Aldeburgh Festival and the Edinburgh Festival .

He appeared several times at the Monte Carlo Opera House , for example in 1968 as Méphistophélès in Faust , in 1969 as Méphistophélès in La damnation de Faust and in 1970 as Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor .

Private

Rouleau was married and had three children. For many years he lived with his family in the English county of Kent . He died in Montreal in July 2019 at the age of 90 "with his family".

Repertoire and roles

Joseph Rouleaus sang a large and broad repertoire, which mainly contained parts of the serious bass subject.

His roles included in particular the Mephisto figures (Gounod, Berlioz, Boito), Arkel in Pelléas et Mélisande , the title role in Boris Godunow , Dossifei in Khovanshchina , King Philip II and the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlo , Fiesco in Simone Boccanegra , Jacopo Loredano in I due Foscari , Sparafucile in Rigoletto , Conte Rodolfo in La sonnambula , Oroveso in Norma , Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia and the eponymous hero in Don Quichotte .

Rouleau also sang some parts of the German subject, such as Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail , Daland in Der Fliegende Holländer and Gurnemanz in Parsifal (1974, Grand Opéra Paris).

Voice and sound documents

Rouleau had a "heavy, dark bass voice" (Kutsch / Riemens). He was also considered an excellent performer. Rouleau took several complete recordings. He was u. a. Assur in a Decca recording of Semiramide (1966, with Joan Sutherland, conductor: Richard Bonynge ), Philip II in a complete French recording of the Verdi opera Don Carlos (1973, by Voce) and Raimondo in a live recording by Lucia di Lammermoor (1959, London Covent Garden, conductor: Tullio Serafin ). There are also radio and video recordings.

Awards and honors

Joseph Rouleau was Chairman of the Board of the non-profit organization Jeunesses Musicales Canada (JMC) from 1989 to 2014 . He then served as honorary president of the organization from 2014 until his death. Under his chairmanship, it was possible to acquire large sums of donations and grants, which made it possible to carry out large-scale projects such as the acquisition and renovation of the JMC House. Rouleau worked intensively on music projects in the province of Quebec. He was co-founder of the Montreal International Music Competition (CMIM) and founder of the "Mouvement pour l'art lyrique du Québec" (MALQ), from which the Opéra de Montréal, the Opéra de Québec and the Atelier lyrique de l'Opéra de Montréal emerged.

He also taught as a singing teacher at the Université du Québec à Montréal , where he regularly held a workshop for young opera singers in collaboration with the Canadian soprano Colette Boky .

Rouleau has received numerous honors and awards. He was Companion of the Order of Canada , Grand Officer of the Ordre national du Québec , Commander of the Order of Montreal and Officier of the Arts and Letters of France . He was awarded honorary doctorates from the Université du Québec à Rimouski and the Schulich School of Music at McGill University .

In October 2014 the chamber music room of the Jeunesses Musicales Canada was named “Salle Joseph-Rouleau” in honor of Rouleau.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Opera bass Joseph Rouleau passed away . Obituary from Jeunesses Musicales Canada on July 13, 2019. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  2. ↑ DON CARLO . Occupation. Metropolitan Opera Archives. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Rouleau, Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rouleau, Joseph A. (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian opera singer (bass)
DATE OF BIRTH February 28, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Matane , Province of Quebec
DATE OF DEATH 12th July 2019
Place of death Montreal