Christophe Dumaux

Born in 1979, the young counter-tenor Christophe Dumaux began taking voice lessons while studying the cello at his local conservatory. In 1998 he took part in a master class given in Paris by Noëlle Barker and the following year he was invited to participate in the same master class series with James Bowman. In 1999, he was admitted to the ancient music class of Kenneth Weiss at the Conservatoire National de Région de Paris. In 2000 he entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique, where in February 2001, he appeared in a production of Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea, conducted by Emmanuelle Haïm. Aged 21, July 2002 marked Christophe Dumaux’s professional debut singing the role of Eustazio in Handel’s Rinaldo at the Festival de Radio France, Montpellier. The production, conducted by René Jacobs, went on to the Innsbruck Festival and the Berlin Staatsoper. A disc from Harmonia Mundi appeared in April 2003. Christophe Dumaux was chosen by William Christie for his project Le Jardin des Voix and then joined Les Arts Florissants as soloist for their European and Asian tours of Haendel’s Messiah in December 2002 and February 2003. In March 2003 he was invited by Emmanuelle Haïm to join a concert tour of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with Le Concert d’Astrée. He then went on to taking the creation of Dusapin’s Medeamaterial at Lausanne Opera. Other commitments that season included a tour of Bach’s Magnificat and Handel’s Dixit Dominus with Le Concert d’Astrée, concerts with the Freiburger Barockorchester and his American debut at the Spoleto Festival where he sang the title role in Handel’s Tamerlano. In the 2003/2004 season Mr. Dumaux was invited by René Jacobs to take part in the reprise of Cavalli’s Callisto and also in a new production of Cavalli’s Elio Gabalo at the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels. Later that season he was at the Handel Festival in Goettingen and made his debut to great critical acclaim at Santa Fe Opera in Agrippina conducted by Harry Bicket. He took part in concert tours with Les Arts Florissants, Il Combattimento Consort di Amsterdam and Le Concert d’Astrée. In 2005 Christophe made his debut with the Opéra national de Paris singing Ottone in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea and with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera singing the role of Tolomeo in their new production of Giulio Cesare. The young singer was also at the Theater Saint Gallen, Switzerland to sing the title role of Handel’s Sosarme in a new production conducted by Alan Curtis.He was engaged at the Opera national du Rhin in a staging of Bach Cantatas.In the 2005/2006 season, Mr. Dumaux made his Metropolitan Opera debut singing Unulfo in Handel’s Rodelinda, a role that he also sang in Dallas. He opened the season with solo recitals with Canada’s Les Violons du Roy. 2006 saw his debut at the Grand Théâtre de Genève in Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria followed by L’Incoronazione di Poppea. The 2006/2007 season included his debut at the Theater an der Wien as Tolomeo in a new production of Giulio Cesare, the same role at both Lille Opera and Barbican, his debut in the title role of Rinaldo with Jean-Claude Malgoire, a concert tour with Les Arts Florissants in duo with Paul Agnew and his first recital at the Festival de Saint Denis, Paris in a program of Bach Cantatas. In 2007/2008, he took part in several productions of Giulio Cesare (Tolomeo at Lyric Opera of Chicago, in Lausanne and in Marseille), sang the title role of Orlando with Jean-Claude Malgoire and was Ottone in a new production of L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the Glyndebourne Festival. In 2009, he sang in new productions of Partenope (Armindo) in Copenhagen (recorded for DVD release, DECCA) and Jephta (Hamor) at the Opéra National du Rhin. He returned to the Glyndebourne Festival in a revival of the outstanding production of Giulio Cesare, released on DVD, and to the Theater an der Wien in a new production of Britten’s Death in Venice. He now makes his debut in new productions at the Amsterdam Opera (Don Chisciotte) and at the Vlaamse Opera (Giasone) and returns to the Opéra de Paris for two new productions. He is preparing the title role of Giulio Cesare for 2011.