Jean-Sébastien Bou

After studying voice with Mady Mesplé and then at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, Jean-Sébastien Bou’s carreer quickly took off in Europe.

In 2000, he made his debut as Pelléas (Pelléas et Mélisande), which he has since been singing regularly at many international venues (Opéra Comique of Paris, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Düsseldorf Opera, Stanislavski Theater in Moscow, Liceu of Barcelona…).

He quickly established himself in the French repertoire with Iphigénie en Tauride (Oreste) and Werther (baritone version) in Tours, Faust (Valentin) in Lille, Le Roi malgré lui (Henri de Valois) in Lyon and at the Opéra Comique, where he has also sung the title role of Mârouf and Lakmé (Frédéric), Le Comte Ory (Raimbaud) in Lyon, Carmen (Escamillo) in Dresden and Lyon, as well as the title role in Hamlet in Saint-Etienne.

His eclectic repertoire ranges from baroque music: Les Boréades/Borilée under the direction of William Christie at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, Adamas/Apollon in the same opera under the direction of Marc Minkowski in Zurich, L’Orfeo (title role) in Avignon… to the 20^th century repertoire: L’Amour des trois oranges (Farfarello) at the Paris Opera, Saint François d’Assise (Frère Bernard) at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, A Midsummer night’s dream (Demetrius), The Rape of Lucretia (Tarquinus)… and to contemporary creations: Roméo et Juliette by Pascal Dusapin, Les Boulingrins by Georges Aperghis at the Opéra Comique, Charlotte Salomon by Marc-André Dalbavie at the Salzburg Festival and the title role in Claude by Thierry Escaich in Lyon… Besides, he also regularly sings the Italian repertoire: Don Giovanni (title role), Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Figaro), Don Pasquale (Malatesta), La Bohème (Marcello), Madama Butterfly (Sharpless), I Pagliacci (Silvio)…

He has also interpreted the title role of Don Giovanni at the Köln Oper, at the Festival of Drottningholm, in Versailles, at La Monnaie in Brussels staged by Krzysztof Warlikowski, at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris and in Bremen under the baton of Jérémie Rhorer. This part has become one of his signature roles.

A fervent champion of French melodies, he also often appears in recitals, interpreting in particular the complete work of Charles Bordes melodies, which he has recorded with French pianist François-René Duchâble.

Among his notable recordings, let us mention La Vie parisienne (Virgin Classics DVD) and Claude (Bel Air Classiques) at the Opéra de Lyon, Carmen at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, L’Amour des trois oranges at the Paris Opera, Fiesque by Lalo (Deutsche Grammophon CD), La Mort d’Abel by Kreutzer and Le Cœur du moulin by Gabriel Pierné for Timpani‘s (Diapason d’Or 2009).

His career has led him to work with such conductors as Alain Altinoglu, Sylvain Cambreling, Jean-Claude Casadesus, William Christie, Myung-Whun Chung, Charles Dutoit, Louis Langrée, Marc Minkowski, Ludovic Morlot, John Nelson, Hervé Niquet, Antonio Pappano, Jérémie Rhorer, François-Xavier Roth, Christophe Rousset, Esa-Pekka Salonen… and stage directors like Luc Bondy, Stéphane Braunschweig, Robert Carsen, Jérôme Deschamps, Laurent Pelly, Denis Podalydès, Olivier Py, Eric Ruf, Krzysztof Warlikowski, Bob Wilson, Francesca Zambello…

Recently, he was heard in Carmen (Escamillo) in concert version at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, at the Opernhaus Zürich and in Luxembourg, Così fan tutte (Don Alfonso) at the Drottningholm Festival, in Bucarest, Würzburg, Grenoble and at the Opéra Royal de Versailles, Fantasio (Prince de Mantoue) at the Radio-France Festival in Montpellier, at the Théâtre du Châtelet and at the Opéra Comique, Pelléas et Mélisande, Ariadne auf Naxos (Musiklehrer), Les Mamelles de Tirésias/Le Rossignol, Der Rosenkavalier at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Le Comte Ory at the Opernhaus Zürich, at the Opéra Comique and in Versailles, Mârouf (title role) by Rabaud by Thierry Escaich in Bordeaux and at the Opéra Comique, Le Roi Carotte by Offenbach, Rodelinda and Shirine in Lyon, Madama Butterfly (Sharpless) and Eugene Onegin (title role) in Tours, Manon (Lescaut), Fortunio (Clavaroche) and L'Heure espagnole (Ramiro) at the Opéra Comique, Sigurd (Gunther) by Reyer in Nancy, Point d’Orgue by Thierry Escaich at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and at the Opéra de Bordeaux, Le Soulier de Satin de Marc-André Dalbavie à l’Opéra de Paris, Samson et Dalila at the Opéra du Rhin, Iphigénie en Tauride in Montpellier, Le Nozze di Figaro (Il Conte) in Marseille, Werther (Albert) at la Scala in Milan and at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Guillaume Tell (title part) at the Opéra de Lausanne, Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Four Devils) at the Opéra du Rhin and the Opéra Comique, On purge bébé by Philippe Boesmans and Benvenuto Cellini at La Monnaie, La Traviata at the Opéra de Nice, Il Viaggio by Pascal Dusapin and Die Frau ohne Schatten in Aix-en-Provence...

In concert, he has also sung Faust (Valentin) at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Werther (Albert) at the Opéra de Vichy and the Opéra de Lyon, Les Horaces by Salieri at Theater an der Wien and at the Opéra Royal de Versailles, Les Indes Galantes in Budapest, La Jacquerie by Lalo and Fervaal by Vincent d’Indy at the Montpellier Festival, Duruflé’s and Fauré’s Requiem with the London Philharmonia and at the Berlin Philharmonie, Fauré’s Requiem at the Festival d’Auvers-sur-Oise, at the Philharmonie de Paris with the Orchestre de Paris, Beethoven’s Le Christ au Mont des Oliviers and Berlioz’s Messe solennelle at the Musikfest Bremen and at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées with Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, Tarare with Les Talens Lyriques at the Opéra Royal de Versailles, the Theater an der Wien, the Cité de la Musique in Paris and at the Théâtre de Caen, L’Enfance du Christ with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris at the Philharmonie de Paris, Les Pêcheurs de perles à la Philharmonie de Paris et Manon à Lyon et au Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Faust et Hélène by Lili Boulanger with the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest of Rotterdam, at the Edinburgh International Festival with Les Siècles, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Iphigénie en Aulide with Le Concert de la Loge, Falstaff (Ford) with the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ariane by Massenet with the Bayerische Rundfunk Orchestra, Proserpine by Lully with Les Talens lyriques at the Opéra royal de Versailles, at the Theater an der Wien, L’Enfant et les sortilèges with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra.

Among his projects this season: Ethel Smyth’s The Wreckers in Malmö ; and in concert, L’Enfance du Christ with the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, La Femme nue by Février at the Victoria Hall in Geneva, Faust et Hélène by Lili Boulanger with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Der Rosenkavalier with the Orchestre Métropolitain…

September 2026

^{This biography should not be edited without permission from Intermezzo.}