Hughes Saint-Gelais

Born in Jonquière, tenor Hugues Saint-Gelais obtained a Master’s Degree in Voice at the Université Laval (Québec). He went on to study Baroque music with Julianne Baird and Paul Elliott in the United States and lieder with pianist Karl Kammerlander and baritone Rolland Hermann in Germany. Recognized as one of the finest tenors in Québec, Mr. Saint-Gelais leads a very active career. Endowed with a voice of remarkable flexibility, distinguished by a lovely timbre, and an unerring musical sensitivity, he is equally at ease in baroque and classical repertoire, French mélodie and German lieder. His oratorio interpretations have been particularly noted, and he can often be heard on the Radio-Canada network. He has performed with the Orchestre Métropolitain, the Quebec Symphony Orchestra and the Violons du Roy. Frequently performed solo works include Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Piques Dame by Tchaikovsky, Lelio by Berlioz, and Carmina Burana by Carl Orff. He has recently performed Stravinsky’s Renard with the Montréal Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Charles Dutoit. Hugues Saint-Gelais has also participated in more than thirty stage productions since 1989, in which his marvelous acting abilities have received acclamation both from the critics and the public. Appearances have included his inimitable rendition of Paris in La Belle Hélène by Offenbach in 1995, and on the international scene, his performance in that composer’s Barbe Bleue at Lincoln Center in New York in 1998. In 1999, Mr. Saint-Gelais made his Opera in Concert debut singing Paquillo in Offenbach’s La Périchole. Other opera engagements last season included appearances in La Traviata for Opera Lyra Ottawa and l’Opéra de Québec and the role of Monostatos in Mozart’s Magic Flute for l’Opéra de Québec. Mr. Saint-Gelais also performed in Mozart’s Requiem for l’Orchestre symphonique du Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony for the McGill Chamber Orchestra and Les Concerts symphoniques de Sherbrooke and was busy in the summer singing at Domaine Forget and in the fledgling Bach Festival in Québec. This season will mark his Opera Hamilton debut in The Merry Widow. In 2003 he returns to l’Opéra de Montréal to sing Don Basilio in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro.