Biography
François
Soons (1973, the
Netherlands
)
Being born of musical parents, his talent and affinity with music became
apparent at an early age. He commenced his professional career studying both
Musicology at the
University
of
Utrecht
and singing at the Royal Conservatory in
The
Hague
.
After
receiving his doctorate from the latter, he continued his musical training at
the
New
Opera
Academy
in
Amsterdam
,
where he obtained his Master Degree in Opera Performance in 2001. During and
after his college period, he attended master classes of Cristina Deutekom,
William Matteuzzi, Diane Forlano, Graham Clark, Dale Duesing, Barbara Pearson,
Tina Ruta, William Schimmel, and Alexander Oliver, just to name a few.
Nowadays
he is well-known for his flexible and extremely high tessitura voice, which
easily goes up to a high F and makes him amongst the highest tenors in the world.
François Soons distinguishes himself with his unique tenor sound, which suits
the special “Fach “of tenore di grazia / tenore leggiero and makes him
outstandingly qualified for the belcanto and baroque repertoire.
François
Soons has worked with prominent conductors such as Alberto Zedda, William
Christie, Paul McCreesh, Alessandro de Marchi, Andreas Spering and Kenneth
Montgomery, and directors such as Javier Lopez Pinõn, Emilio Sagi, François de
Carpentries, Giuseppe de Tomasi, and Vera Nemirova.
François
has also successfully participated in a few international vocal competitions. To
name a few, in 2001, he reached the finals of the Coloratura Contest Sylvia
Geszty (
Murcia
,
Spain
)
and the finals of the Toti dal Monte Competizione (
Treviso
,
Italy
).
In May 2003, he won the Mady Mesplé Price at the Montserrat Caballe Competition
in
Andorra
.
François
Soons started his professional carreer already during his studies at the
Conservatory. He sang leading roles in several opera’s, including Cosi Fan
Tutte (Ferando), Don Giovanni (Don Ottavio), Die Zauberflöte (Tamino),
Dido and Aeneas (Sailor), and Albert Herring (Albert), just to
name a few. In 2000, he was asked to sing the part of Dorvil in
Rossini’s “La Scala di Seta” at the Summerborn Festival in Voorst (the
Netherlands). In the same year, he sang in two productions the role of Paris (La
belle Hélène, by
Offenbach
),
and the part of Pedro (El Retablo de Maeso Pedro, by De Falla).
After
graduating, the part of Uldino in Attila (by Verdi) took him to
Rotterdam
(the
Netherlands
),
and he sang Paolino in Il Matrimonio Segreto (by Cimarosa) at the
Belcanto festival in
Dordrecht
(the
Netherlands
).
During this production he was asked to sing the title role in Mozart’s
less-known opera Il Sogno di Scipione on a CD-registration for Joan Records
Company. This complete opera CD was released in 2002.
The
next production brought him to
Szeged
(
Hungary
)
where he sang the part of Tanzmeister / Brighella in Ariadne auf
Naxos
(by R. Strauss) with performances in theatres in
Hungary
and in the
Netherlands
.
In
August 2002, François became the first Dutch singer to participate as a
full-time participant of the Accademia Rossiniana in
Pesaro
, where he was selected by Alberto Zedda to sing the part of Il Conte
Libenskof in the opera Il Viaggio a
Reims
by Rossini. In December 2002, François
sang the part of Tamino in Mozarts Die Zauberflöte again in
The
Hague
,
the
Netherlands
.
In
2003, he made his debut as Nadir in Les Pêcheurs de Perles (by Bizet)
and Andres in Wozzeck (by Berg) at the Stadt Theater of Aachen (
Germany
).
In the beginning of 2004, he sang the part of Fabius in Die edelmütige
Octavia (by the German composer Keiser) , conducted by Andreas Spering, at the
internationally acclaimed Händel-Festspielen in
Karlsruhe
,
Germany
.
In 2004 he returned as Beppe
in Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci (a performance with the Dutch Residentie Orkest
conducted by Jaap van Zweden, performing at the major concert houses in the
Netherlands
,
including the Concertgebouw in
Amsterdam
.
He successfully started the year with a highly acclaimed stage performance of Arturo
in Bellini’s opera I Puritani, an opera rarely performed due to the
difficulties of the tenor part.
Next
to opera he often performs oratoria including, the Requiem mass by Mozart,
Petite Messe Solennelle by Rossini, Jephta by Händel, Messa di Gloria by
Puccini, Carmina Burana by Orff, the
evangelist in Telemann’s Matthäus Passion and the Johannes Passion and Matthäus
Passion by Bach (aria’s).
Since
September 2004, François Soons is
engaged at the Landestheater Eisenach.
( www.theater-eisenach.de
)
