José van Dam, Belgian legend of lyrical artwork, dies at 85 | Culture | EUROtoday

His mom stated that he sang from his first cries, as Michèle Friche remembers in her monograph (Buchet Chastel, 1988). José van Dam’s voice was at all times pure and musical, whatever the repertoire he addressed. Not in useless, this versatile Belgian bass-baritone compiled an unlimited operatic catalogue, from Representation of Soul and Bodyfrom Emilio de’ Cavalieri—in his 1968 debut on the Salzburg Festival—to Olivier Messiaen, whose Saint Francis of Assisi It premiered in 1983. Over greater than six many years he collaborated with the good administrators of his time, together with Herbert von Karajan, of whom he was one among his reference performers.

José van Dam died on Tuesday, February 17 on the age of 85, “peacefully and surrounded by his loved ones,” as introduced by the Queen Elisabeth Musical Chapel, the place he had been resident trainer emeritus since 2004. Born as Joseph Libert Alfred Van Damme on August 25, 1940 within the Brussels municipality of Ixelles, he was the son of a cabinetmaker with no connection to the world of music.

At the age of ten, his father made a cupboard for the radio and document participant, and the boy started to sing what he heard. Through singing he overcame his worry of the darkish and, as a toddler alto, he gained a number of native competitions. He joined a parish choir, already as a soloist, and on the age of 17 he started his coaching on the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, which he accomplished in only one yr with awards and diplomas.

His skilled debut got here in 1960 as Don Basilio in The barber of Sevilleby Rossini, on the Royal Opera of Wallonia-Liège. The following yr he joined the Paris Opera firm, the place he realized alongside singers of the stature of Maria Callas, Régine Crespin, Jon Vickers and Nicolai Ghiaurov. Although he sang his first Escamillo in Carmenby Bizet, was relegated to minor roles because of the system of safety for French singers.

He resigned to affix the Geneva Opera, the place he participated on the planet premiere of The responsible momby Milhaud. From there he moved to the Deutsche Oper in Berlin in 1967, invited by Lorin Maazel. There he consolidated his Mozartian roles akin to Leporello and Figaro, grew to become the Escamillo of the second and took part within the premiere of Ulisesde Dallapiccola.

The freedom he loved on the Berlin opera allowed him to tackle engagements at different theaters, akin to La Monnaie in Brussels, Covent Garden in London, La Scala in Milan and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. It additionally opened the doorways to festivals akin to Aix-en-Provence and Salzburg, along with beginning out as a soloist within the symphonic-choral repertoire with the ninth symphonyby Beethoven, or the Requiemstated Verdi.

In the Seventies he grew to become the reference bass-baritone for Herbert von Karajan, whom he by no means turned down an engagement. Until the loss of life of the Austrian conductor, he participated underneath his baton in 157 concert events and opera performances, in addition to 28 recordings. His 1978 document as Golaud stands out in Pelléas and Mélisande, by Debussy (EMI/Warner), and from 1977 as Jochanaan in Salome, by Strauss (Decca), in addition to the 1980 one as Amfortas in Parsifal, de Wagner (Deutsche Grammophon)

With Karajan he additionally recorded the main function in The Flying Dutchman or Escamillo in Carmenalong with the Mozartian roles of Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro and Sarastro in The magic flutetogether with interventions in Fidelio, Aida y Don Carlo. Without forgetting his participation in 1977 in one of the best ninth symphony of Beethoven recorded by Karajan, in addition to in recordings of the Requiem by Mozart, A German requiemby Brahms, or the God bless youby Bruckner.

He additionally participated in recordings with Georg Solti, akin to Carmen, The girl with out a shadow y The Mastersingers of Nurembergor with Claudio Abbado, with whom he recorded once more Pelléas and Mélisande and collaborated in its reference Simon Boccanegra verdian. With Pierre Boulez he recorded Ravel’s songs and gained his first Grammy in 1985.

On November 28, 1983, on the Palais Garnier in Paris, Van Dam premiered the lead function in Saint Francis of Assisiby Olivier Messiaen, directed by Seiji Ozawa. It was one of many predominant occasions of his profession: the French composer’s solely opera, a monumental work lasting nearly 5 hours, with extraordinary vocal and scenic calls for. Messiaen rehearsed with Van Dam the gestures and attitudes impressed by Giotto’s frescoes in Assisi and critics highlighted the stage presence and spirituality of his interpretation, which he continued to sing in a number of productions in Salzburg and Paris till 1998.

Van Dam maintained a detailed relationship with Spain and carried out in recitals and operatic productions from 1991 to 2011. At the Teatro Real in Madrid he debuted as Don Pasqualeby Donizetti, in 2004, and sang From the home of the uselessby Janáček, within the manufacturing of Klaus Michael Grüber. And on the Liceu in Barcelona he supplied his final efficiency as an opera singer in July 2011: the temporary function of Barbazul in Ariadne and Bluebeardby Paul Dukas, with stage course by Claus Guth, which was recorded on DVD by Opus Arte.

Apart from his many operatic recordings, he made curious late initiatives, akin to his album of tangos by Carlos Gardel or by songs French. In the cinema he performed Leporello within the well-known movie Don Giovanniby Joseph Losey (1979), and starred The Music Masterby Gérard Corbiau (1988), which was nominated for the Oscar for finest international language movie. Among his most vital recognitions, other than quite a few musical awards, in 1998 he obtained the title of baron awarded by King Albert II of Belgium.

In its assertion, the Queen Elisabeth Musical Chapel summed up its significance with a phrase that may hardly be improved: “Belgium loses its greatest ambassador of lyrical art; the world loses a legend who, with his genius, marked the history of opera in the 20th and 21st centuries.” Van Dam was not solely a rare singer, but in addition an artist who mixed the mental depth of lied and the melodies with the dramatic depth of the opera, and which transitioned naturally from Mozart to Duparc, and from Wozzeck from Berg to Don Quixote of Massenet. His humility has been encrypted in his private motto: “We are here to serve music.” Few have served her with such the Aristocracy.