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About
Originally from Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean in Quebec (Canada), Jean-François Lapointe was seven years old when he approached music by studying the piano and the violin. It was through his father, a tenor, that he acquired a taste for vocal art, following his rehearsals and performances throughout his childhood. As a teenager, he dabbled a little in choral conducting before undertaking, at the age of sixteen, singing studies which would lead to obtaining a master's degree in interpretation at Laval University in Quebec under the direction of the Professor Louise Andre. He then perfected his skills in the United States with Martial Singher.
Holder of numerous prizes, including three at the prestigious Concours International de Chant de Paris, Jean-François Lapointe has established himself on the international lyrical stages in the French repertoire. Since his stage debut in 1983, Jean-François Lapointe has sung on the main European stages (Paris, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Vienna, Zurich, Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Glasgow, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Berlin, Liège, Toulouse... ) as well as in America and Japan. The critics are unanimous in praising the richness of his voice, the finesse of his interpretation as well as his scenic qualities. More recently, he was decorated with the insignia of Chevalier de l'Ordre national du Québec (2016).
Among his favorite roles: the title role of Pelléas et Mélisande; which he sang, among others, in the famous production by Peter Brook, but also at the Toronto Opera, in Bonn under the direction of Marc Soustrot, in Cincinnati, at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, in Marseilles, at the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, in Toulon and more recently at La Scala in Milan under the baton of Georges Prêtre. He also performed the same role at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, or at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam under the direction of Bernard Haitink. We have also been able to see and hear him many times as Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, notably at the Opéra Comique in Paris. Among his other roles: Hamlet from the opera of the same name, which he performed in Copenhagen, Trieste and Geneva, among others; Mercutio from Romeo and Juliet; Arlekin of Ariadne auf Naxos; Danilo from The Merry Widow; as well as the title role of Leonard Bernstein's Candide, which he sang on tour in France and abroad.
Jean-François Lapointe achieved great personal success in the title role of Hamlet at the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen. He appeared in Germany in L'Enfant et les Sortilèges under the direction of Sylvain Cambreling. He also sang the title role of Mârouf, savetier du Caire by Henri Rabaud in a new production at the Opéra de Marseille. In recent years, he has notably been welcomed by the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse in La Vie Parisienne (production by Jérôme Savary), Werther (Albert) and Les Mousquetaires au Couvent (Brissac), the Imperial Theater in Compiègne in La Jolie Fille by Bizet's Perth, the Opéra de Monte-Carlo in Carmen (and on tour in Japan) and La Dame de Pique (role of Prince Yeletski), the Opéra de Marseille in Ariadne auf Naxos (Arlekin), the Opéra Comique in The Barber of Seville (Figaro) and Fortunio (Landry).
He has also performed in the role of Albert (Werther) in Bilbao, the Vice-Roi (La Périchole) in Marseille, Nancy, Caen and Montpellier (production by Laurent Pelly), Valentin (Faust) at the Teatro Real in Madrid , in Monte-Carlo, at the Teatro Regio in Turin, in Liège and at the Chorégies d'Orange, Mercutio (Romeo and Juliet) at the Cincinnati Opera, at the Chorégies d'Orange and in Tokyo, Hamlet (title role) at Trieste and in Geneva, Eugène Onéguine (title role), Ford (Falstaff) and Lescaut (Manon) at the Opéra de Québec, Danilo (La Veuve Joyeuse) and Escamillo (Carmen) in Barcelona, Lausanne and on tour in Japan, The Count (Le Nozze di Figaro) at the Nancy Opera, Don Giovanni (title role) in Trieste and Marseille, Albert (Werther) and Nevers (Les Huguenots) at the Monnaie de Bruxelles, Chorèbe (Les Troyens) in Geneva and Amsterdam, Zurga (The Pearl Fishers) at the Toulon Opera, Ford (Falstaff) at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Aenea (Didon and Aeneas) at the Lausanne Opera.
Alongside his stage career, Jean-François Lapointe performs regularly in concert, both in the field of melody and in that of oratorio. Renowned interpreter of Duparc, Fauré and Poulenc, he also tackles symphonic works and has participated in several discographic and video recordings. These include Benvenuto Cellini (Fieramosca) by Berlioz with the Orchester National de France conducted by John Nelson, Ciboulette (role of Duparquet) by Reynaldo Hahn, staged by Michel Fau, as well as two discs devoted to French melodies: the first includes melodies written on poems by Verlaine while the second includes as a major work the "Poem of Love and the Sea" by Chausson. Since the summer of 2017, he has also been a guest professor at the Faculty of Music at Laval University.