www.jerome-varnier.fr

Biography

Jérôme Varnier studied at the École d´Art lyrique at the Opéra de Paris. He made his debut as Sarastro in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at the Opéra de Lyon, where he was member of the ensemble from 1995 to 2000, appearing also in productions of L´Orfeo, Carmen, Doktor Faust (Busoni), La Bohème, A Midsummer Night´s Dream (Britten), Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Ariane et Barbe-Bleue, Falstaff and The Cunning Little Vixen.

He sang in Arkel (Pelléas et Mélisande) under Marc Minkowski at the Oper Leipzig and in Paris and appeared as Commendatore (Don Giovanni) and Seneca (L´Incoronazione di Poppea) at the Opéra de Bordeaux. At the Opéra de Lyon he returned as Pistola (Falstaff)and Truffaldino (Ariadne auf Naxos). Furthermore he sang in Berlioz´ La Damnation de Faust in Malaysia, Massenets Werther in Lisbon, Banquo (Macbeth ) and Ramfis (Aida) in Dijon, Les Pêcheurs de Perles in Moscow and Thomas´ Hamlet at the Theater an der Wien and La Monnaie in Brussels, where he could also be heard in Meyerbeer´s Les Huguenots, and appeared in Chabrier´s L´Étoile at the Dutch National Opera.

His repertoire extends to the 20th Century, with roles in Milhaud´s Le Pauvre Matelot (Berlin) and Christophe Colomb (Compiègne), Strauss´ Salome (Seoul) as well as contemporary works in Lyon like Dédale by Hugues Dufour, Jakob Lenz by Wolfgang Rihm, Le Premier Cercle by Gilbert Amy and L´Upupa by Henze. Jérôme Varnier also appeared in Le Balcon by Peter Eötvös at the Festival Aix-en-Provence, the Holland Festival in Amsterdam and the Théatre du Capitole in Toulouse.

Among his numerous recordings are: Phaëton (Erato), Hippolyte et Aricie (Archiv-Deutsche Gramophon), Doktor Faust (Erato), Dédale (Musique Française d'Aujourd'hui Radio France), Donizetti’s Les Exilés en Sibérie, Le Premier Cercle and Pelléas et Mélisande (all for Radio France) and F. Martin’s Golgotha (Profil, Edit. Günter Hänssler).

More recently, he sang the role of Arkel (Pelléas et Mélisande) in concert with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Royal Festival Hall in London and in a new production at Opéra de Lyon as well as Berlioz´ Roméo et Juliette with Les Siècles under Francois-Xavier Roth in Brussels and Paris. At the Opéra de Paris, he sang in Pelléas et Mélisande and der Haushofmeister (Capriccio),  Marcel (Les Huguenots) at the Nice Opera, Le Fauteuil  et l'Arbre  (L´Enfant et les Sortilèges) at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, L´Enfance du Christ with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Aïda at the Massy Opera, the part of Cardinal Brogni (La Juive) at the Opéra du Rhin, Nettuno (Il ritorno d'Ulisse in Patri) in Brussel, Amsterdam, Cologne and Vienna, Méphistophélès (Faust) in Avignon andin Massy, Arkel (Pelléas et Mélisande) in Sydney and in Bordeaux, Verdi's Requiem in Sydney, Arkel (Pelléas et Melisande)  in Japan.

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Future engagements include, Lully's Bourgeois Gentilhomme with Jérôme Deschamps and Marc Minkowski in Montpellier, Versailles and at the Opera Comique, Luther and Crespel (Les Contes d'Hoffmann) at the Bordeaux National opera,  Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher au Théâtre de la Monnaie.