Biography

Born in Belgium, Yves Saelens studied music at the Brussels Royal Conservatory and at the Juilliard Opera Center in New York.

He made his operatic debut as Paolino (Il Matrimonio Segreto). He has since sung many roles from the Mozartian repertoire: Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Belmonte (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Ferrando (Così fan Tutte), the title roles of La Clemenza di Tito and Idomeneo, and Gomatz (Zaide). His repertoire also includes the roles of Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi), Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Alfredo (La Traviata), Fenton (Falstaff), Narraboth (Salomé), Admeto (Alceste), Alwa (Lulu), Drum Major (Wozzeck), Steva (Jenufa), Toni (Henze’s Elegy for Young Lovers), Belfiore (Il Viaggio a Reims), the title roles of Béatrice et Bénédict  and La Damnation de Faust; Gérald (Lakmé), Camille (Die Lustige Witwe), Gernando (L’Isola Disabitata), Filippo (L’Infedeltà Delusa), Lelio (Martin y Soler’s La Cappricciosa Corretta), Guido Bardi (Zemlinsky’s Eine Florentinische Tragödie), Edgar Linton (Herrmann’s Wuthering Heights), Ferdinand (Ades’ The Tempest), The Male Chorus (The Rape of Lucretia) and David (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg).

He also premiered the roles of Il Matto (Van Hove’s La Strada) at the Vlaamse Opera; l’Avventore (L’Uomo dal Fiore in Bocca) at La Monnaie; Le Chef de la Garde (Villenave’s Affaire Étrangère) at the Montpellier Opera; Festus (Wagemans’ Legende) at the Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam; and Schatz/Big Uncle (Navok’s An Unserem Fluss) at Oper Frankfurt.

His engagements for the 2015-2016 season include the roles of Faust (La Damnation de Faust) and Jason (Médée) at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, Alfredo (Traviata) with Opera Avanti, and Arbate (Mitridate) at La Monnaie, as well as concerts such as In Terra Pax (Martin) with the Nederlandse Radio Filharmonie, Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 with Anima Eterna at the Sydney Opera House, Bach’s Mattheuspassion with the Philharmonie Zuidnederland, Lloyd Webber’s Requiem at the Singel Antwerpen, and P. Benoit’s Messe Solenelle with the Filharmonie Antwerpen.

More recently, he has sung the role of Tokhon (Katia Kabanova) at the Avignon Opera House, Dialogue des Carmélites at La Monnaie, le père (Pavillon d'Or) at the Opera National du Rhin, Alwa (Lulu) à Leipzig, Bajazet (Tamerlano) in Frankfurt, Das Lied von der Erde at the Saintes Festival.

Among his future projects,  Cosi fan Tutte, Nozze di Figaro & Don Giovanni,  Valzacchi (der Rosenkavalier) in la Monnaie...