LEBENSLAUF

LEVENSLOOP

BIOGRAPHIE

VOCAL EDUCATION

The Belgian bass Charles Dekeyser (Ghent, 1986), studied at the Brussels Royal Conservatoire and continued his vocal education at the Flanders Opera Studio where, in 2010, he obtained  the certificate of Laureate of  the Flanders Opera Studio, voice option. Afterwards he perfected himself for four years at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel with José Van Dam. In 2014 Charles participates in the Queen Elisabeth Competition where he becomes a semi-finalist. Meanwhile he was called "associated artist" of the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, an honour he's currently still carrying.

He completed his vocal training by following master classes with renowned artists such as Graham Johnson, Helmut Deutsch, Christoph Pregardien and Malcolm Martineau. He joines the International Opera Academy in Ghent where he's cast in several productions. Subsequently he sings for one season (2015/2016) at the Opera studio of the famous Opera House Zürich.

A SOUGHT-AFTER TIMBRE

In no time the young bass arouse interest. First at home, with first steps at La Monnaie, the Flemish Opera and the Opera house of Liège, followed by his house debut in Rouen Luxemburg and Zürich with new roles such as Sarastro in Mozart's Magic Flute, Ombra di Nino in Rossini's Semiramide, Pietro in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, Le Médecin in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, Don Fernando in Beethoven's Fidelio en Brander in Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust, the latter two at the Verbier Festival.

Simultaneous Charles deepens himself intensively with the oratorio- and concertrepertoire and develops a soft spot for the Lied repertoire. He's frequently engaged for main bass parts and profiles himself as Jezus in Bach's Matthew-Passion next to leading parts in Mendelssohns Paulus, a number of cantatas en masses by J.S. Bach, masses and requiems by Mozart (the latter at the Mozartwoche 2017 in Salzburg), Brahms, Rossini, Schubert amongst others. With the same enthusiasm he eagerly explores the repertoire of the 20th century and appears in Stravinsky's Pulcinella ...

Amongst his future engagements a role in "De Oorlog" (The War) programmed by the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra (ASO). In this Opus magnum by the renowned Belgian composer Peter Benoit - Charles Dekeyser will appear as Geest der Duisternis (Spirit of darkness) - Autumn 2022, with performances at Vredenburg Utrecht and the Elisabeth Hall Antwerp. 2023 he will sing Sarastro again ! (staged production).

IN GOOD COMPANY

A number of exceptional cooperations have proven to be a source of enthusiasm and inspiration for Charles. Among which the one with Les Musiciens du Louvre under the baton of M° Marc Minkowski, with whom he embarked on several concert tours including appearances at the Festivals of Beaune, Île de Ré, Lyon, Köthen (Bachfesttage), to name just a few. Also the production of Semiramide (at Flanders Opera), sung under M° Alberto Zedda marked a momentous event in his young career. Equally noteworthy are his cooperation with personalities such as Charles Dutoit, Sir Christopher Warren Green, Giovanni Antonini, Christian Arming, Hervé Niquet, Ludovic Morlot, Laurence Cummings and Alain Altinoglu in productions with Sinfonia Varsovia, Belgian national Orchestra, Orquesta Y Coro Nacionales de España, Brussels Philharmonic, Symphonic Orchestra of ROH La Monnaie, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Liège, Philharmonic Orchestra of Luxembourg and Collegium Vocale Gent.

IT'S ALL IN THE VOICE ...

taking an open-mind approach to the art of singing, Charles has rarely hesitated to leave the beaten path to discover new insights. After all, a professional trained voice talent lends itself to a variety of repertoires. So he feels equally at home whether he sings the special Lied-recital "Lieder von Mahler" as a tribute to Gérard Morrtier at the Flanders Opera, takes part in the "Nacht und Träume" at the renowned Festival OdeGand by Night, appears at the side of Collegium Vocale Gent in the production "Einstein on the Beach" (Philip Glass) or lends his voice to a multimedia music theatre project,named "Napoleon Ongehoord’" (The unheard Napoleon) after the successful book by Johan Op De Beeck ... Charles is also co-founder of the vocal sextet Air4Six, that got off to a flying start in the 2020. Last but not not least this disarming bass gives free rein to his guilty pleasures and there he goes performing evergreens by Jacques Brel, Charles Aznavour, Michel Sardou ... next to songs by Nat King Cole, Elvis Presley ...

cv-update 2022 : please contact the agency to get the most recent biographical details of the artist.