Léopold Simoneau

Léopold Simoneau, CC, CQ ( May 3, 1916 in Saint- Flavien, Quebec; † August 24, 2006 in Victoria, British Columbia) was a Canadian opera and concert singer ( lyric tenor ).

Biography

Simoneau first sang in the church choir before he began in 1939 to take singing lessons. In 1941, he moved to Montreal at the singing teacher Salvator Issaurel in whose class he met his future wife, the soprano Pierrette Alarie ( 1921-2011 ), whom he married in 1946.

In 1941 he made ​​his first stage appearance in Lakmé at the Variétés Lyriques, where he regularly appeared in the following years, mostly on the side of Alarie. In addition, first concerts were broadcast on the radio. Simoneau 1943 sang in a performance of Le Nozze di Figaro at the Montreal Festival under Sir Thomas Beecham his first Mozart - game. From 1945 he continued his studies in New York.

1949 was the tenor to Europe, where he conquered from the Opéra -Comique in Paris from the continent, especially as a celebrated Mozart singer: He has appeared at La Scala and the Vienna State Opera, sang regularly at festivals in Glyndebourne, Aix - en- Provence, Edinburgh, and from 1956 at the Salzburg Festival. There were also guest performances in North and South America, including at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

In addition to his operatic roles, he also devoted himself extensively and with great success singing the song with an emphasis on French literature. After a performance of the Messiah on 24 November 1970, he retired from the stage.

As early as 1963 he had begun to teach parallel to his singing career. From 1967 he worked also works as a cultural policy of the state government of Québec. In 1971 he was a founder and first artistic director of the Opéra du Québec, gave the post but after less than a year back on.

1972 the family moved to California, where Simoneau also intensively taught before they returned again in 1982 to Canada, where the couple Simoneau / Alarie the Canada Opera Piccola founded and led.

Although primarily as Simoneau - until today standard-setting - Mozart singer was with unerring sense of style and great vocal beauty, he had a large repertoire from Handel to Verdi and Stravinsky. His rank as a singer evidence to date numerous recordings, many of them with his wife.

Honors

  • Prix ​​Archambault, 1944
  • Musique Calixa Lavallée Prix de - (1959, together with Alarie )
  • Dr. Mus. h c. ( University of Ottawa ), 1969; ( Université Laval ) 1973
  • LLD hc. ( Brock University ) 1971
  • Officer of the Order of Canada, 1971
  • Officier de l' Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1990 )
  • Companion of the Order of Canada (1995 )
  • Chevalier de l' Ordre national du Québec ( 1997)
  • Opera singer
  • Tenor
  • Companion of the Order of Canada
  • Knight of the Ordre national du Québec
  • Carrier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (officer )
  • Canadian
  • Born 1916
  • Died in 2006
  • Man
Victoria (British Columbia) Glyndebourne Festival Opera Aix-en-Provence Integrated Authority File
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