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The French counter-tenor, Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian, studied voice at the Chantres du Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles and then at the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied with Yves Sotin. He also studied with Philippe Jaroussky, Andreas Scholl, Raphaël Pichon, A. Le Bozec. He won the Prix Grand Avignon at the first Concours Jeunes Espoirs at the Opéra d’Avignon in 2015, and was one of the HSBC Révélation Award winners at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in 2017.
While he was a student, Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian performed with Christophe Rousset, Hervé Niquet and Florence Malgoire in venues such as the Theater an der Wien, the Opéra Royal and Chapelle Royale in Versailles, the Arsenal in Metz, the Opéra National de Montpellier, the Opéra de Massy and the Fondation Louis Vuitton. He also appeared as a soloist with Raphaël Pichon, Emmanuelle Haïm, Benoît Haller, Christophe Coin and Philippe Pierlot. His early career highlights included his operatic debut as Athamas in George Frideric Handel's Semele, Charpentier’s Le Malade imaginaire and a collaboration with ballerina Ana Yepes at the Centre national de la danse.
Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian is one of the most exciting young vocal talents of our time. He is much in demand at various opera houses and concert halls around Europe. Previous highlights include Farnace in W.A. Mozart's Mitridate with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre (featuring a commercial recording) at the Palau Les Artes Reina Sofia in Valencia, Ottone in G.F. Handel's Agrippina in Halle, and Marte in Giovanni Legrenzi's La Divisione del mondo at the Opéra Royal de Versailles, both with Les Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset, Unulfo in G.F. Handel's Rodelinda at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées with Le Concert d'Astrée/Emmanuelle Haïm, the title-role in G.F. Handel's Rinaldo at the Opéra de Rennes conducted by Bertrand Cuiller, La Voce di Deo in Alessandro Scarlatti's Il Primo Omicido with Philippe Jaroussky in Salzburg, Tolomeo in G.F. Handel's Guilio Cesare with English Touring Opera, as well as concerts and a recording of Purcell Odes (also with Le Banquet Céleste), and his debut appearance with the prestigious Comédie-Française in Paris in La nuit des rois.
More recently, Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian made his Moscow debut with the Bolshoi Theatre as Polinesso in G.F. Handel's Ariodante, conducted by Gianluca Capuano, and sang Didymus G.F. Handel's Theodora with Il Pomo d'Oro, alongside Joyce DiDonato, Lisette Oropesa and Michael Spyres, at the Theater an der Wien, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and La Scala, Milan, with a live recording to follow. Other highlights of this season include Nireno in Giulio Cesare, also at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées and Ottone in L’incoronazione di Poppea for the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. He also recorded the title role in Stradella’s San Giovanni Battista with regular collaborators Le Banquet Céleste and Damien Guillon (Linn Records, 2020). He also appeared in Twelfth Night by Shakespeare at the Comédie-Française with staging by T. Ostermeier and premiered works by P. Raynaud and I. Fraisse.
In the 2022-2023 season, Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian will sing the role of Oberon in Benjamin Britten's Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Rouen Opera, Athamas in Semele at the Lille Opera with Emmanuelle Haïm, Farnace in Mitridate at the Deutsche Staatsoper, the title role of Giulio Cesare at the Festival International de Beaune and will again perform with Il Pomo d'Oro as Alessandro in Tolomeo, touring to venues such as Teatro Real, Madrid, and the Palau, Barcelona. Future appearances include also concerts with Le Poème Harmonique, Le Banquet Céleste and Le Concert d'Astrée, as well as making his Wigmore Hall debut with Ensemble Correspondances. |
