WorldW
Reinoud Van Mechelen graduated from his vocal-studies at the Conservatoire Royal in Brussels in the class of Dina Grossberger in 2012. In 2017 he was awarded the prestigious Caecilia Prize as Young Musician of the Year from the union of the Belgian music-press. An acknowledgement from “home” for the artist who managed to establish himself meanwhile at numerous international stages.
Being barely 20 years old Reinoud Van Mechelen caught attention already in 2007 at the European Baroque Academy in Ambronay (France) led by Hervé Niquet. Having joined William Christie’s and Paul Agnew’s “Jardin des Voix” in 2011, he became subsequently a regular soloist of Les Arts Florissants. Guest appeareances with this ensemble have made him perform in the most prestigious concert halls.
Many renowned Baroque-ensembles ensured his cooperation then, among others the Collegium Vocale Gent, Le Concert Spirituel, Le Concert d’Astrée, Les Talens Lyriques, Pygmalion, Le Poème Harmonique, B’Rock, Ricercar Consort, Scherzi Musicali and Hespèrion XXI.
In 2014 he sang the part of the Evangelist in J.S. Bach’s Johannes-Passion for the first time in his career with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. A part he sang again a few years later on tour with Les Arts Florissants and at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under the baton of William Christie as well as on tour with the Collegium Vocale Gent under Philippe Herreweghe.
On opera-stage he appeared outstandingly successful with Rameau’s title-roles such as Dardanus, Zoroastre, Pygmalion, Hippolyte (Hippolyte et Aricie). He also sang Jason (Médée by Charpentier), Belmonte (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Gérald (Lakmé) and Nadir (Les Pêcheurs de perles) in venues such as the opera-houses of Bordeaux, Dijon, Lille and Toulon, the Opéra Comique (Paris), the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Opéra royal de Versailles, with the Aix-en-Provence Festival, the Beaune Festival, the Brussels La Monnaie / De Munt, the Théâtre de Luxembourg, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden (Berlin), the Zurich Opera and the Theater an der Wien.
In season 2021/22 Reinoud Van Mechelen joined the revival of Hippolyte et Aricie (Hippolyte) at the Berlin Staatsoper, performed Così fan tutte (Ferrando) at the Vlaamse Opera, Titon et l’Aurore by Mondonville (Titon) at the Opéra royal de Versailles and made his debut at the Paris Opera (Mercure in Platée). Among numerous concert appearances he sang the Evangelist in J.S. Bach’s Matthäus-Passion with the Collegium Vocale and Philippe Herreweghe on tour through Europe.
His schedule for 2022/23 includes Céphale et Procris by Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre together with the ensemble a nocte temporis which he himself founded in 2016 and the Choeur de Chambre de Namur. He will be performing in this project both as a singer and as conductor at the Brussels Bozar, at the Grand Manège in Namur and at the castle of Versailles. Further highlights of the season include David et Jonathas by Marc-Antoine Charpentier (part of David) with the Ensemble Marguerite Louise at the Opéra Royal de Versailles, Orphée in Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice (Paris-version) at the Philharmonie de Paris with Les Arts Florissants, the Evangelist in J.S. Bach’s Johannes-Passion on tour with the Collegium Vocale Gent, Haydn Die Schöpfung in Winterthur conducted by Roberto Gonzalez-Monjas.
Among his upcoming projects : Les Boréades (Abaris) for a European tour, Médée (Jason) at the Staatsoper Berlin, at the Opéra de Paris and at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Iphigénie en Tauride by Desmarest (Pylade) with Le Concert Spirituel at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Atys (title part) with Les Talens lyriques in Versailles and in Vienna…
Reinoud Van Mechelen has sung under the baton of conductors such as William Christie, Emmanuelle Haïm, Philippe Herreweghe, René Jacobs, Marc Minkowski, Hervé Niquet, Raphaël Pichon, Sir Simon Rattle and others.
His discography includes five solo-albums for the label Alpha Classics together with the ensemble a nocte temporis which he himself has founded: Erbame Dich (arias by J. S. Bach, 2016), Clérambault, cantates françaises (2018), The Dublhinn Gardens (Irish folk- songs, 2019), Dumesny, haute-contre de Lully (2019) and Jéliote, haute-contre de Rameau (2021). Furthermore Charpentier’s La descente d’Orphée aux Enfers with a nocte temporis and Vox Luminis (2020) and melodies by the Belgian composer Edouard Lassen accompanied by the pianist Anthony Romaniuk (Collection “inédits”, Musique en Wallonie, 2021). Most recent releases are concerning Les Fêtes d’Hébé with Orfeo Orchestra and the Purcell Choir (Glossa, 2022) as well as the new solo-album with a nocte temporis Oh, ma belle brunette (Alpha Classics, 2022) and Zoroastre with Les Ambassadeurs/La Grande Écurie (Alpha Classics, 2022). Two DVD-productions also need to be mentioned: Hippolyte et Aricie by Rameau and Titon et l’Aurore by Mondonville, two productions by the Opéra Comique (2021, Naxos).
April 2023
This biography should not be edited without permission from Intermezzo.
Crédits : © Senne Van der Ven
