Michel Sénéchal

Michel Sénéchal (born February 11, 1927 in Paris , † April 1, 2018 in Eaubonne ) was a French tenor and music teacher .

The vocal talent of Michel Sénéchal in the boys' choir Chapelle de Taverny was discovered early on. Here he sang as an alto soloist. He completed an apprenticeship at the Conservatoire National in Paris with Gabriel Paulet . From 1950 to 1951 he sang at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. In 1952 he won first prize at the Geneva Singing Competition . He became known as a lyric tenor at the Opéra-Comique Paris . He made great guest appearances in Lyon , Strasbourg , Marseilles and Toulouse . He had an outstanding success in 1956 at the Aix-en-Provence Festivalwith the difficult title role in Rameau's opera “Platée”. He received the Grand Prix du Disque for the record of this opera . Since then he has been involved in the Aix Festival for many years.

Since 1961, Sénéchal has been considered the leading buffo and character tenor at the Grand Opéra Paris . Numerous international appearances followed: 1967 at the Holland Festival , 1966 at the Hamburg State Opera , 1980 at the Cologne Opera House . From 1972 to 1976, 1979 to 1980 and 1987 to 1988 he sang Basilio in Figaro's wedding , 1985 to 1986 Dancario in “ Carmen ”, 1978 Cruzio in “Il Sant 'Alessio” by Stefano Laudi at the Salzburg Festival . In 1953 and 1955 he performed at concerts at the Salzburg Festival. In 1955 he appeared at the operas of Rome and Bologna, and in 1960 at La Scala in Milan . At the Glyndebourne Festival in 1966 he appeared in Maurice Ravel's “L'Heure espagnole” . In 1985 he sang at the Paris Opera in the world premiere of Konrad Boehmer's “Dr. Faustus ”. He also took over the Monastatos in the Magic Flute . Sénéchal was generally considered to be an exceptional Mozart singer. In 1985 he worked as Fabien in Marcel Landowski's opera “Montségur”. In 1982 it made its debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Here Sénéchal took over the four character roles in " Hoffmann's Tales " by Jacques Offenbach . This debut was followed by numerous appearances at the Met, including with the Basilio in Figaro's Wedding, the Guiot in "Andrea Chénier" (1987), the Hortensio in Donizetti's "La Fille du Régiment" (1994), the Incredibile in Umberto Giordano's " Andrea Chénier ”. He gave highly acclaimed guest appearances at the San Francisco Opera as Mr. Taupe in “Capriccio” by Richard Strauss (1990) and as Hortensio in “La Fille du Régiment” (1993).

Sénéchal had great success with concerts in France, Switzerland, England and North America. In 1980 he was appointed director of the Opera School of the Grand Opera Paris. Sénéchal has recorded numerous records for various labels (Platée, Decca, HMV, Véga, Lumen, Rodolphe Records, Erato, DGG, Philipps, Hungaroton, MGB-Helikon, Solstice).

literature

• Karl-Josef Kutsch , Leo Riemens : Large singer lexicon . Electronic edition of the third, expanded edition. Bern and Munich 1999/2000. Directmedia, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-89853-433-2 , Sénéchal, Michel.

Web links

• Michel Sénéchal at Discogs (English)