After studying voice with Mady Mesplé and then at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris, Jean-Sébastien Bou’s carreer  quickly took off in Europe.

In 2000, he made his debut as Pelléas (Pelléas et Mélisande) which he has been singing regularly since at many international venues (Opéra Comique of Paris, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Düsseldorf Opera, Stanislavski theater in Moscow, Liceu of Barcelona…).

He quickly established himself in the French repertoire with Iphigénie en Tauride (Oreste) and Werther (baritone version) in Tours, Faust (Valentin) in Lille, Le Roi malgré lui (Henri de Valois) in Lyon and at the Opéra-Comique, where he has also sung the title role of Maroûf by Rabaud and Lakmé (Frédéric), Le Comte Ory (Raimbaud) in Lyon, Carmen (Escamillo) in Dresden and Lyon, as well as the title role in Hamlet in Saint-Etienne.

His eclectic repertoire ranges from baroque music (Les Boréades/Borilée under the direction of William Christie at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, Adamas/Apollon in the same opera under the  direction of Marc Minkowski in Zürich, Orfeo/title role in Avignon…), to twentieth-century music (L’Amour des Trois Oranges/Farfarello at the Opéra de Paris, Saint François d’Assise/Frère Bernard at Salle Pleyel, Midsummer Night’s Dream /Demetrius, The Rape of Lucretia /Tarquinus.…) and to contemporary creations (Roméo et Juliette by Pascal Dusapin, Les Boulingrins by Georges Aperghis at the Opéra Comique, Charlotte Salomon by Marc-André Dalbavie at the Salzbourg festival and the title role in Claude by Thierry Escaich in Lyons…). Besides, he regularly sings the Italian repertoire: Don Giovanni (title role), Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Figaro), Don Pasquale (Malatesta), La Bohème (Marcello), Madama Butterfly (Sharpless), I Pagliacci (Silvio)…

A fervent champion of French melodies, he also often appears in recitals, interpreting in particular the complete set of Charles Bordes melodies, which he has recorded with the French pianist François-René Duchâble.

Among his notable recordings: La Vie Parisienne (Virgin Classics DVD) and Claude (Bel Air Classiques) in Lyon, Carmen at the ROH Covent Garden, L’Amour des Trois Oranges at the Opéra de Paris, Fiesque by Lalo (Deutsche Grammophon CD), La Mort d’Abel by Kreutzer and Le Cœur du Moulin by Gabriel Pierné at Timpani‘s (Diapason d’Or 2009).

His carreer has led him to work with such conductors as Myung-Whun Chung, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Sylvain Cambreling, Louis Langrée, John Nelson, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Charles Dutoit, Antonio Pappano, Marc Minkowski, Jérémie Rhorer, Alain Altinoglu, François-Xavier Roth, Hervé Niquet, Christophe Rousset, Ludovic Morlot and stage directors like Robert Carsen, Francesca Zambello, Denis Podalydes, Laurent Pelly, Olivier Py, Bob Wilson, Krzysztof Warlikowski, Eric Ruf, Stéphane Braunschweig, Luc Bondy…

Recently, he was heard in Rodelinda (Garibaldo) at the Opera Lyon and in Carmen (Escamillo)in concert version at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, at the Grand Théâtre de Genève and at the Opernhaus Zürich, Così fan tutte (Don Alfonso) at the Drottningholm Festival, in Bucarest, Würzburg, Grenoble and at the Opéra Royal de Versailles, Fantasio (Prince de Mantoue) at the Radio-France Festival in Montpellier and at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Pelléas et Mélisande and Ariadne auf Naxos (Musiklehrer)  at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Le Comte Ory at the Opernhaus Zürich, at the Opéra Comique and in Versailles, Mârouf (title role )by Rabaudin Bordeaux and at the Opéra Comique, Le Roi Carotte by Offenbach in Lyon, Madama Butterfly (Sharpless) and Eugene Onegin (title role) in Tours, Manon (Lescaut) à l’Opéra Comique, Sigurd (Gunther) by Reyer in Nancy … He has also interpreted the title role of Don Giovanni at the Köln Oper, at the Festival of Drottningholm, in Versailles, at La Monnaie in Brussels staged by Krzysztof Warlikowski, at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris and in Bremen under the baton of Jérémie Rhorer. This part has become one of his signature roles.

In concert, he ha also sung Faust (Valentin) at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Werther (Albert) at the Opéra de Vichy, Les Horaces by Salieri at Theater an der Wien and at the Opéra Royal de Versailles, Les Indes Galantes in Budapest, La Jacquerie by Lalo at the Montpellier Festival, Duruflé’s and Fauré’s Requiem with the London Philharmonia and at the Berlin Philharmonie, Beethoven’s Le Christ au Mont des Oliviers and Berlioz’s Messe solennelle at the Musikfest Bremen and at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées with Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, Tarare with Les Talens Lyriques at the Opéra Royal de Versailles, the Theater an der Wien, the Cité de la Musique in Paris and at the Théâtre de Caen, L’Enfance du Christ with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris at the Paris’ Philharmonie…

Among his main projects, let us point out Shirine, a creation by Thierry Escaich and Werther at the Opéra Lyon, Eugene Oneguin (title role) at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Fortunio (Clavaroche) et Fantasio (Prince de Mantoue) at the Opéra Comique, Le Soulier de satin by Marc-André Dalbavie at the Opéra de Paris, Hamlet in Hong-Kong, Samson et Dalila in Strasbourg, a creation by Thierry Escaich at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and in Dijon, Carmen (Escamillo) in Brussels, Les Mamelles de Tirésias at the Glyndebourne… In concert, he will sing Les Pêcheurs de perles at the Paris Philharmonie, the Fauré’s Requiem at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, La Carmélite by Reynaldo Hahn with the Orchestre du Capitole in Toulouse, L’Enfance du Christ with the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire…

November 2019

^{This biography should not be edited without permission from Intermezzo.}