Qualified teacher of the visual arts, Vincent le Texier began studying singing with Udo Reinemann, then at the Ecole d’Art Lyrique in Paris. Encouraged by Hans Hotter, Christa Ludwig, Elisabeth Schwartzkopf and Walter Berry, he decided to commit himself to singing and an operatic career.
In 1988 he sang Golaud in the Moscow première of Pelléas et Mélisande under the direction of Manuel Rosenthal. He went on to interpret the role in many other theatres, took part in Peter Brook’s experimental Impressions of Pelléas, and furthered his connection with Debussy’s masterpiece in Leipzig, Göteborg, Ankara, Istanbul and Damas, and more recently at the Opéra National de Paris for the 2011/2012 season.
Vincent le Texier’s introduction to the Baroque repertoire was under the direction of Marc Minkowski. Equally at home in Mozart (Leporello, Don Giovanni, the Count, Don Alfonso), 19th century repertoire (Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Der Freischütz, La Damnation de Faust, Carmen, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, La Bohème…) or the 20th century (Gurlitt’s Wozzeck – “grand prix de la critique” – Strauss’s Capriccio, Dallapiccola’s Il Prigioniero…), he is invited to sing throughout France and abroad. Two “mythical” productions have marked his career: Prokofiev’s The Love of Three Oranges in Lyon, and Rameau’s Platée in Paris.
Increasingly engaged by important international theatres, he continued to interpret his favorite characters (Golaud, the four devils in Hoffmann…) while tackling the major dramatic roles such as Scarpia, the Dutchman, King Philip, Rasputin (Rautavaara). In addition, during the 2009/2010 season he sang Wozzeck and Jochanaan at the Bastille Opera.
In addition to his qualities as a singer, stage directors discover in him a fine and intense actor. His repertoire is enriched by more rarely performed operas such as Eine Florentinische Tragödie (Simone) by Zemlinsky, Der Mond (Petrus) by Orff, The Makropoulos Case (Jaroslav Prus) by Janáček, Cendrillon (Pandolfe) by Massenet. In 2008, he sang his first Saint François d'Assise by Messiaen at the Salle Pleyel under the direction of Myung-Whun Chung.
The 2010 season finds him at the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels, in the title role of Massenet’s Don Quichotte; in Montpellier singing Hindley Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights by Bernard Hermann for the Festival de Radio France and Montpellier; in Basle interpreting Lautrémont in Maldoror by Philipp Maintz, and in Berne’s Stadttheater for Scarpia.
In 2011, he sang Dikoi in Janáček’s Kat’ia Kabanova for the Paris Opéra National, Jochanaan in Liège, Saint François in Madrid, and Créon in Cherubini’s Médée at the Théâtre de la Monnaie (also at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in 2012).
Future seasons will be marked by Vincent le Texier’s presence at the Paris Opéra National as Celio in The Love of Three Oranges, and Don Estoban in Der Zwerg by Zemlinski.
Very much in tune with today’s artistic creators, Vincent le Texier has premièred numerous works by such composers as Denis Levaillant, Georges Aperghis, Marius Constant, Kaija Saariaho, Suzanne Giraud, Philippe Manoury, Philippe Fénelon or Flavio Testi. However, he has never lost touch with his passion for the French Mélodie and Lieder, and regularly gives recitals.
2011/2012 season includes Golaud's role in Pelléas et Mélisande at the Opéra de Paris (available live on medici.tv) and the creation of three works written for him by Giorgio Battistelli, Yuri Kasparov and José Manuel Lopez Lopez under the direction of Daniel Kawka and the Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain.
Vincent le Texier’s discography is rich and extensive, often in rare works by such composers as Marais, Grétry, Ropartz, Bloch or Boulanger.
