Last night, baritone Stéphane Degout was awarded the Victoires du Classique for Best Vocal Artist for the second time in his career. The French baritone is enjoying a wonderful season, having been recently nominated for an International Opera Award for his recording of Enfers (Harmonia Mundi) and, earlier in the season, receiving the prestigious Charles Cros Grand Prix du Disque.
As a recitalist, Stéphane Degout is renowned for his highly sensitive interpretations of French melody and German Lieder. He has worked a lot on this under the guidance of Ruben Lifschitz and has toured internationally in Amsterdam, Paris, London, Berlin, Brussels and New York. In concert he has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Riccardo Muti and the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Esa-Pekka Salonen. At the Monnaie he sang Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder and Fauré’s Requiem under Alain Altinoglu, works which he has also sung with the Orchestre National de France under Emmanuel Krivine. His collaborations also include René Jacobs, Marc Minkowski, John Nelson, Raphaël Pichon and Charles Dutoit.
His dedication to the art has seen him create numerous operatic roles in works such as Benoît Mernier’s La Dispute and Philippe Boesmans’ Au Mondeand Pinocchio. Most recently he has appeared as The King in George Benjamin’s new production Lessons in Love and Violence – a role which was written specifically for his voice. A reprise of this production was also performed this season at the Dutch National Opera.
