Jean-François ROUCHON
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baritone
Jean-François Rouchon holds doctorate in vocal performance and master’s degrees in chamber music and pedagogy from the CNSM (Conservatoire National Supérieur Musique et Danse de Lyon). Rouchon studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in the Lied class under the tutelage of Udo Reinemann, Mitsuko Shirai, Sarah Walker and Wolfgang Holzmair among others, while under the mentorship of German baritone Thomas Quasthoff. His strong interest in chamber music led him to win the French Melody Prize at the Mâcon International Singing Competition and, in 2009, the Second Prize at the International Lied and Melody Competition in Enschede (NL).
Rouchon performs regularly in venues and festivals throughout France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands, and China, together with pianists Jamal Moqadem, Billy Eidi, Michel Tranchant, and Noël Lee. He also performs as a soloist with symphony orchestras; during the Folle Journée de Nantes he sang Gustav Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder, and is regularly heard on the French radio “France-Musique” in broadcasts featuring Lieder and French art songs.
On stage, he focuses his repertoire on Mozart and French opera (Ramiro in Maurice Ravel’s L’Heure espagnole, le Mari in Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tirésias…) He frequently sings the title role in Claude Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande.
As a dedicated teacher and researcher, Jean-François Rouchon holds a Certificat d’Aptitude and is currently teaching at the CRR de Cergy-Pontoise (National Regional Conservatory). In 2016, he was awarded the Mozarteum de France Prize for his doctoral research on the mélodies of Charles Bordes (1863–1909).