After obtaining a pedagogical diploma, Belgian tenor Yves Saelens studied at the Brussels Royal Conservatoire of Music with Dina Grossberger, where he obtained the Higher Diplomas for Singing and Lyric Art, and at the Juilliard Opera Center in New York with Ed Zambara. He won the “Concours Nany Phillipart ‘96”, “Jeugd en Muziek Vlaanderen ‘97”, “New York Oratorio Society Competition ‘97” and the “Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition ‘97”; In Salzburg, he became second laureate of the “International Mozart Competition ‘99”. He was elected “Young Musician of the Year 2004” by the Union of Belgian Music Press.

He has participated in masterclasses with Ernst Haefliger, Ruben Lifschitz and Martin Isepp; at the Steans Institute Chicago with Christoph Eschenbach, Peter Schreier, Ian Partridge, Roger Vignoles and David Owen Norris; at the Music Academy of the West with Marilyn Horne, Warren Jones and Frank Lopardo; at the Juilliard School with Christa Ludwig and James Levine and at La Monnaie with Helmut Deutsch.

As a soloist Yves Saelens has appeared equally in various operas as in numerous cantatas and oratorios throughout Europe, North America and Asia. His repertoire includes works by Haydn (Die Schöpfung, Die Jahreszeiten), Haendel (Messiah), Bach (Passions and Weihnachtsoratorium), Beethoven (9th Symphony, Missa Solemnis), Mendelssohn (Paulus), Schumann (Das Paradies und die Peri, Der Rose Pilgerfahrt), Rossini (Petite Messe Solennelle, Stabat Mater), Berlioz (Requiem, Te Deum), Puccini (Messa di Gloria), Verdi (Requiem), Orff (Carmina Burana), Britten (War Requiem, Serenade, Nicolascantata), A.L. Webber (Requiem), Martin (In Terra Pax), Mozart (Requiem, Great Mass in C minor) and works by Bruckner, Salieri, Dvorak, Benoit...

His debut operarole was Paolino in Il Matrimonio Segreto by Cimarosa. Since then he has performed a number of major Mozart-roles: Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Belmonte (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Ferrando (Cosi Fan Tutte), the title role of Idomeneo, Titus (La Clemenza di Tito) and Gomatz (Zaïde). Other major parts include Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi), Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Alfredo (La Traviata), Fenton (Falstaff), Narraboth (Salomé), Admeto (Alceste), Bajazet (Tamerlano), Alwa (Lulu), Tambourmajor (Wozzeck), Steva (Jenufa), Tichon (Katia Kabanova), Toni (Elegy for Young Lovers), Belfiore (Il Viaggio a Reims), Pluton (Orphée aux Enfers), Bénédict (Béatrice et Bénédict), Gérald (Lakmé), Faust (La Damnation de Faust), Ulysse (Pénélope), Jason (Médée), Camille (Die Lustige Witwe), Gonzalve (L’Heure espagnole), Gernando (L’Isola Disabitata), Filippo (L’Infedeltà Delusa), Lelio (La Capricciosa corretta), Guido Bardi (Eine Florentinische Tragödie), Male Chorus (The Rape of Lucretia), Edgar Linton (Wuthering Heights), Ferdinand (The Tempest – Adès) and David (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg). He also created the parts of Il Matto (La Strada – Van Hove), L’Avventore (L’Uomo dal fiore in Bocca – Brewaeys), Le Chef de la Garde (Affaire Étrangère – Villenave), Festus (Legende – Wagemans), Shoko (Andreas Weent – Wagemans) and Schatz/Big Uncle (An unserem Fluss – Navok).

He performed in the opera houses of Tours, Marseille, Nancy, Rennes, Caen, Lille, St.Etienne, Strassbourg, Bordeaux, Lyon, Montpellier, Avignon, Reims, Limoges, Rouen, Bruxelles, Anvers, Liège, Luxemburg, Lausanne, Barcelona, Madrid-La Zarzuela, Toronto, Indianapolis, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Mannheim, Weimar, Halle, Monte-Carlo, Sydney and both at Châtelet and Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, Theater an der Wien, DNO Amsterdam, Nationale Reisopera Enschede, Opera Zuid Maastricht, .. He was invited by festivals of Orange (Chorégies), Aix-en-Provence, Montpellier, Saintes and the Glyndebourne Touring Opera.

He can look back on appearances at Carnegie  Hall New York, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Konzerthaus Wien, the Gulbenkian Foundation Lisbon, Suntory Hall Tokyo, this alongside the National Orchestra of Lille, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Tiroler Symphonieorchester Innsbruck, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Philharmonisch Orkest van Vlaanderen, Philharmonie Zuidnederland, La Petite Bande, Les Talens Lyriques and Anima Eterna. This, under the baton of renwowned conductors such as Serge Baudo, Sigiswald Kuijken, Helmut Rilling, Michel Corboz, Peter Schreier, Marc Minkowski, Christophe Rousset, René Jacobs, Jos van Immerseel, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Dennis Russel Davies, Marcello Viotti, Evelino Pidò, Friedemann Layer, Alain Altinoglu, Reinbert de Leeuw...to name just a few.

More recently he performed the leading role of Ivo Mariën in the modern premiere of De Kinderen der Zee (Mortelmans), with La Monnaie at Bozar, Brussels. New concerts with Das Lied von der Erde (Mahler/De Leeuw), with Het Collectief in Amsterdam, Saintes, Brussel, Royaumont and Utrecht ; L’Enfance du Christ (Berlioz) at the Festival des Pierres Lyriques, Le Roi David (Honegger) with the Laurenscantorij Rotterdam, the Matthew Passion with de Chorale and the Saint John's Passion with La Passione, both in Antwerp ; the Vespers (Rachmaninov) with Octopus in Mechelen, Carmina Burana (Orff) in Maasmechelen. New recent opera productions included the world-premiere of Tropenliefde (R.Vermeulen) at the Elisabethzaal in Antwerp ; Ulisse (Dallapiccola), Tamerlano (Haendel) and Les Brigands (Offenbach) with Oper Frankfurt ; Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart), Der Schauspieldirektor (Mozart), Der Rosenkavalier (R. Strauss) and The Nose (Shostakovich) at La Monnaie Brussels.

An active recitalist, Yves Saelens has performed a.o. Schumann’s Dichterliebe, the Liederkreise and Kerner-lieder, Beethoven’s An Die Ferne Geliebte, Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin, Winterreise and Schwanengesang, Brahms’ Die Schöne Magelone and Britten’s Illuminations and Nocturne. He performed Vaughan-Williams’ Songs of Travel, accompanied by the Belgian National Orchestra, and his On Wenlock Edge, with the Penderecki String Quartet, in a Marilyn Horne Foundation Recital. He sung Mahler’s Lied von der Erde with the Opera Orchestra de Tours and with the ASKO Schönberg Ensemble Amsterdam. He also performed and recorded this work with Het Collectief, transcribed and conducted by Reinbert de Leeuw.  

He participated amongst others in recordings of Der Tod Jesu (Telemann), Carmina Burana (Orff), the Serenade for Tenor and Horn (Britten), Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart), L’Enfance du Christ (Berlioz), Lucia de Lammermoor (Donizetti), La Capricciosa corretta (Martin y Soler), Impressions de Pelleas (Debussy), Wuthering Heights (Herrmann) and the Kosegarten Song Cycle (Schubert). He made solo recordings with Lieder by Robert Franz (Etcetera), together with pianist Jan Vermeulen ; Goethe Songs by Hugo Wolf (Eufoda), Romanze by Francesco Paolo Tosti (Eufoda), Wehmut und Liebeshauch, with lieder by Beethoven, Schumann, Grieg and Strauss (Eufoda), and This Wing’d Hour (Phaedra), with songcycles by Quilter, Vaughan-Williams, Britten and Finzi, all with pianist Inge Spinette. 

cv update : Season 2023/2024, May 2024. Please contact the agency to get the most recent biograpy of the artist.