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The French baritone, Jean - Louis Serre, began his career at an early age in the boys' choir at his school. He later studied at the Tûbingen and Heidelberg Universities, Germany, but was soon drawn back by his love for music and studied singing at the Paris Conservatoire, (Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris), where he studied with Jane Berbié, Rémy Corazza and Marie Claire Cottin ; after which he very quickly joined the musical profession.
Of all the singing repertoire, it is on the operatic stage that Jean-Louis Serre demonstrates his wonderful singing and acting talents and his captivating stage presence.
He makes regular appearances at the Paris concert halls, (Le Châtelet, Les Champs Elysées, l’Opéra Comique) and also in Nancy, Toulouse, Tours, Avignon, Rennes, Angers, St Etienne and the “Grand Théâtre” Geneva, where his unique vocal timbre and strong stage presence are always highly praised. His approach to Oratorio is highly enthusiastic and intensely personal ; his early experience in the boys’ choir giving him great insight into this repertoire.
He sings with both well known professional and amateur orchestras alike, including: Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre National de Lille, Choeur de Radio France, Concerts Colonne, Concerts Lamoureux, Orchestre de Picardie. Among works he has performed are : Brahms’s German Requiem, Duruflé's and Fauré's Requiems; the Cantatas, Passions and Masses by Johann Sebastian Bach, Rossini and Mendelssohn....
Jean-Louis SERRE has worked with Marc Minkowski, Christophe Rousset, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Hervé Niquet, Philippe Herreweghe...
This year, he has starred as Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen , and as the Count in Mozart's «The Marriage of Figaro . He has formerly appeared in Verdi's Don Carlo at the Orange Music Festival, Puccini's Mme Butterfly at Avignon; also at the Avignon Festival in the musical comedy Titanic by Yeston, and in Nantes in Viva la Mamma by Donizetti. He made his stage début in Geneva's Grand Théâtre as Aeneas in «Dido and Aeneas by Purcell, conducted by Hervé Niquet. The production later toured to Caen. He has also taken part in a Moscow production based on the La Fontaine Tales by Lecoq, Offenbach and d'Ormesson. As well as these engagements he has frequently performed sacred music.
During the 2002-03 season he sang Medée by Michèle Reverdy at the Lyon Opera House, and The Seven Deadly Sins and Lost in the Stars by Kurt Weill together with Jean-Claude Casadesus and Eric Fischer.
In 2003-04 season he sang in Othello in the Festival d’Orange, in Carmen at the Massy Opera House, Paris, also in Purcell's Fairy Queen with the William Byrd European Ensemble at the Festival van Vlaanderen-Brugge , as well as in two separate programmes of music by Monteverdi and Scarlatti.
He also performed in Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera, Hadyn's Nelson Mass with Michel Piquemal. Other concerts in France include Mozart's Requiem, Puccini's Missa di Gloria, Rossini's Stabat Mater and Bach's Magnificat.
He has been invited to lead a master class at the "Boîte Vocale de Tours". He will be recording the famous duets by Véronique de Messager with the Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux conducted by Yutaka Sado and directed by Agnès Jaoui.
Among his recordings are: Les Amours de Ragonde with the Musiciens du Louvre which won the Diapason d'Or award, Cantiones by Kurt Huber with the Young Soloists; Fauré's Requiem with the Petits Chanteurs de Versailles, the Motets by Franck which received the Choc de la Musique award, Duruflé's Requiem and The Missa con Jubilo with the Jean Sourisse Vocal Ensemble which also received the Choc de la Musique award and Berlioz's L'Enfance du Christ conducted by Jean-Claude Casadesus.
What the press says:
"…the public was entirely won over by Jean-Louis Serre's performance and the warm and robust quality of his baritone voice…" (Ouest-France about A German Requiem by Brahms)
"…Jean-Louis Serre as Bertrand demonstrated his vocal ease and his beautiful resonant low notes…" (Le Concertographe on Iolanta by Tchaïkowski performed with the Orchestre Philarmonique de France)
"…As for Jean-Louis Serre, he is a bass with direct, simple and precise phrasing and solid deep notes ..." (Le Figaro, 16 August 1999 by P. Petit on Haydn's St Cecilia's Mass performed at the Vigan Festival with Michel Piquemal)
"…Jean-Louis Serre is proving to be a valuable asset to our musical heritage; he sings with great ease and clarity and has excellent timbre and articulation. Moreover, his commanding stage presence and natural acting abilities all suggest a promising career ahead ..." (Les Affiches 19/01/1996 by G. Vadi on Le Téléphone by Menotti directed by Marc Minkowski)
"…and Aeneas , excellent last minute substitution (on Dido and Aeneas by Purcell)" (Le Monde 27/10/2001)
More information on : http://pagesperso-orange.fr/serre.baryton
September 2011