Léopold Simoneau
Simoneau was the prototypical Mozart tenor, with an unusually sweet voice, strong breath control, easy pianos and pianissimos, and graceful phrasing. His unstrained head voice also made him ideal for French lyric roles, such as Wilhelm Meister in Mignon, Nicias in Thais, and Nadir in Les Pêcheurs de Perles, operas in which he enjoyed great success as well.
He studied in Montreal with Salvator Issaurel and made his operatic debut there in 1941, as Hadji in Delibes' Lakmé. In 1949, he made his debuts in Paris, at the Opera-Comique as Vincent in Gounod's Mireille and at the Opera as Tamino in The Magic Flute. His Glyndebourne debut was in 1951 as Idamante in Mozart's Idomeneo, and he made his La Scala, Vienna Staatsoper, Salzburg, and Met debuts in Mozart roles as well. While Mozart and French operas made up his core repertoire, he also appeared in the lighter Italian roles, including Alfredo in La traviata.
He married soprano Pierrette Alarie in 1946. After their retirements, they founded the Canada Opera Piccola a touring company that specializes in nurturing young singers, in 1986. (One of Opera Piccola's alumni is tenor Richard Margison.) Though the performance version is heavily cut, his Idamante in Pritchard's first recording of Idomeneo (EMI CHS7 63685-2) is ravishing, as is his Nadir on Philips under Fournet (Philips 434 782-2).
© TiVo
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Discography
14 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Bizet: The Pearl Fishers (Les Pêcheurs de perles)
Pierrette Alarie, Léopold Simoneau, Orchestre Lamoureux, Jean Fournet
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1954
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gluck: Orphée et Eurydice, Tragic Opera in three acts
Hans Rosbaud, Orchestre Lamoureux, Léopold Simoneau
Classical - Released by Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording on 5 Jan 2022
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bizet: Carmen
Pierre-Michel Le Conte, Consuelo Rubio, Léopold Simoneau
Opera - Released by Urania on 7 Feb 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Léopold Simoneau - French & Italian Arias And Duets
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg on 1 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Opera Works
Léopold Simoneau, Wiener Symphoniker, Pierrette Alarie, Bernhard Paumgartner, Amsterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Walter Goehr
Opera - Released by Archipel on 18 Sep 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz: Grande messe des morts "Requiem" (Live)
Léopold Simoneau, Wiener Staatsopernchor, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Dimitri Mitropoulos
Classical - Released by Orfeo on 1 Jan 1978
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Les Contes D'hoffmann
Mattwilda Dobbs, Uta Graf, Léopold Simoneau
Opera - Released by Urania on 4 Nov 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lebendige Vergangenheit - Leopold Simoneau
Classical - Released by Preiser Records on 12 Oct 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz: Requiem
Classical - Released by Past Classics on 24 Aug 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ausgewählte Lieder und Arien (Live)
Classical - Released by Orfeo on 8 Feb 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gluck · orphée et eurydice
Léopold Simoneau, Suzanne Danco, Pierrette Alarie, Hans Rosbaud, Orchestre Lamoureux
Classical - Released by G.O.P. on 28 Feb 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz: The Childhood of Christ
Léopold Simoneau, Mary Davenport, The Little Orchestra Society
Opera - Released by Past Classics on 2 Feb 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hector Berlioz : The Grande Messe des morts "Requiem" (1959)
Classical - Released by Classical Moments on 30 Dec 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gluck: Orphée et Eurydice
Léopold Simoneau, Suzanne Danco, Orchestre Lamoureux, Hans Rosbaud
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1956
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo