Graduated from the Paris National Conservatory (CNSM) in 2005, tenor Jérôme Billy has been selected as Distinguished Fellow to pursue a much sought after post graduate program, under the tuition of Pierre Mervant.
His studies at the CNSM has given him many opportunities to work with some of the most remarkable personalities of the music world, like Alexandra Miltcheva, Hartmut Höll, Noël Lee, Janine Reiss and most recently, conductor René Jacobs
Jérôme made his professional debuts in opera as Tamino in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, with stage director Lukas Hemleb, Alain Altinoglu conducting the Orchestre National d’Ile-de-France.
His operatic roles have since then included Le Chevalier de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites at the CNSM with coach and conductor Samuel Jean.
Jérôme made then a successful assumption in 2005 as Babylas in Offenbach's Monsieur Choufleuri at the Opera National de Lyon, which he performed in Grenoble and Lyon, a production staged by Laurent Pelly and conducted by Jeremie Rohrer and Benjamin Lévy (the production was further revived in 2007).
In January / February 2006, Jerome Billy embodied Soliman in Mozart's Zaïde at the Opéra of Rouen and at La Cité de la Musique, Paris (staging: Emmanuelle Cordoliani, conductor: Oswald Sallaberger).
Jérôme has recorded Le Renard by Stravinsky, with Maestro Reinhardt de Leeuw, broadcasted by the French National Radio and his performance in Monsieur Choufleuri has already been programmed on TV.
In June 2006, he sang his first Beethoven's IXth Symphony with the Orchestre de Pau under the baton of Fayçal Karoui (who is also currently the Music Director of the New York City Ballet).
Concert engagements, so far, have included a great deal of the lead tenor parts of the oratorio repertoire i.e.: Bach's Johannes Passion, Haydn's Die Schöpfung and Die Jahreszeiten, Mozart's Requiem and Great C Mass, Puccini's Messa di Gloria, as well as the Groom’s part in Stravinsky's Les Noces, the Narrator in Das Paradies und die Peri by Schumann, Saint-Nicolas by Britten.
These last years he has met regularly with Offenbach’s music, singing main parts as Fritz from La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein, Frick and the Brazilian in La Vie Parisienne, Aristée-Pluton from Orphée aux Enfers.
End of 2006 and early 2007, Jérôme sang the lead role in Le Pauvre Matelot by Darius Milhaud in Fribourg (Switzerland), Dijon, Besançon.
During the 2007 summer, he has appeared at the Festival Bach en Combrailles, Mens Alors ! at the Parc Floral de Vincennes and at the Festival de Beaulieu-sur-mer where he sang L’Orfeo by Monteverdi.
In the fall, Jérôme has created L’Arche de Noé by young composer Baptiste-Florian Marle-Ouvrard.
In October 2008, he performed a one man show in Paris, Le Rêve d'Octave, based on Schubert's Winterreise and other French, British and German melodies to great success.
His 2007 / 2008 season included among others: Alfred in Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss at the CNSM in Paris and Ferrando in Cosi fan Tutte of Mozart in Corsica.
His 2008 / 2009 season started with Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni at the Opera de Limoges (October 2008) which obtained a high critical and public acclaim, a role he repeated in a new production at the Opéra de Rouen in May 2009.
Jérôme made his debut at the prestigious Aix-en-Provence Festival in their new production of Orphée aux Enfers (June / July 2009) which will revived in 2010 in Toulon, Dijon, Aix en Provence…
Further appearances include: Janacek’s Cunning Little Vixen (Schoolmaster) in Reims and Liège, Mozart’s Requiem in Limoges, Haydn’s The Seasons…
Appreciated both for his vocal as staging qualities, he has just been reengaged by the Aix-en-Provence Festival for a contemporary creation of Kris de Foort and Wajdi Mouawad which will occur in 2013.
Jérôme will make his débuts at the Zurich Opera in the creation of Marc-André Dalbavie's Gesualdo in the role of Muzio Effrem (October – November 2010)
The season will then see him perform Mahler’s Lied von der Erde with the Orchestra of Burgundy, conducted by David Walter (February 2011) as well as a series of concerts and recitals across France and in Venice (Dvorak's Stabat Mater, Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle…)
NOVEMBER 2010
