Damien Top is a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 tenor, musicologist and conductor, and is artistic director of the International Albert Roussel

Albert Roussel

Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period...

 Festival.

Damien Top is one of the world’s most distinguished exponents of contemporary French music as singer, conductor, composer and musicologist. Honored by the French government in 2002 with the prestigious "Prix Charles Oulmont - Fondation de France

Fondation de France

The Foundation de France is an independent administrative agency which was established by the French government in an effort to stimulate and foster the growth of private philanthropy and private foundations in France.-History:...

" for his outstanding contributions to French culture, he serves as artistic director for the Lotte Lehmann Foundation

Lotte Lehmann Foundation

The Lotte Lehmann Foundation, named for the great German soprano active in the first half of the 20th century, serves to preserve and perpetuate her legacy, and to honor her dream of bringing art song into the lives of as many people as possible....

, which he represents throughout the world in recitals and recordings.

Graduate of the Conservatoire of Lille

Lille

Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...

 and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, Damien Top studied with Galina Vishnevskaya

Galina Vishnevskaya

Galina Pavlovna Vishnevskaya is a Russian soprano opera singer and recitalist who was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1966.-Biography:...

, Jean-Christophe Benoit and Jacques Pottier

Jacques Pottier

Jacques Pottier, , is a French operatic Lyric tenor and recording artist. He was a Principal Tenor with the Opéra National de Paris.-Career:...

. He has appeared in opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

, operetta

Operetta

Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...

, and sacred works

Religious music

Religious music is music performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence.A lot of music has been composed to complement religion, and many composers have derived inspiration from their own religion. Many forms of traditional music have been adapted to fit religions'...

, as well as performing the entire range of French mélodie

Mélodie

Mélodie refers to French art songs of the mid-19th century to the present; it is the French equivalent of the German Lied. It is distinguished from a chanson, which is a folk or popular song.-Nature of the mélodie:...

. In 1993, he was engaged by the Opéra de Paris-Bastille

Opéra Bastille

L'Opéra Bastille ' is a modern opera house in Paris, France. It is the home base of the Opéra national de Paris and was designed to replace the Palais Garnier, which is nowadays mainly used for ballet performances....

 to sing in a new production of Benvenuto Cellini

Benvenuto Cellini

Benvenuto Cellini was an Italian goldsmith, sculptor, painter, soldier and musician, who also wrote a famous autobiography. He was one of the most important artists of Mannerism.-Youth:...

 by Berlioz under the direction of Myung-whun Chung

Myung-Whun Chung

Myung-whun Chung is a South Korean pianist and conductor.His sisters, violinist Kyung-wha Chung, and cellist Myung-wha Chung, and he at one time performed together as the Chung Trio. He was a joined second-prize winner in the 1974 International Tchaikovsky Competition. Chung studied conducting at...

. In 2002, Damien Top sang and conducted the cantata

Cantata

A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....

 L'oiseau a vu tout cela by Sauguet at the Académie Française

Académie française

L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...

.

Many distinguished contemporary composers have created works for him, including Jacques Chailley, who has proclaimed, "...l'art de Damien Top est exemplaire," as well as Isabelle Aboulker

Isabelle Aboulker

Isabelle Aboulker is a French composer, particularly known for her operas and other vocal works. In 1999 she gained a prize from the Académie des Beaux-Arts and in 2000 the music prize of the Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques for her numerous lyric pieces.-Life and work:Isabelle...

, Françoise Choveaux, Suzanne Joly, Alain Feron, Wally Karveno, Philippe Malhaire, Max Pinchard, Jean-Christophe Rosaz; the American Dianne Goolkasian Rahbee

Dianne Goolkasian Rahbee

Dianne Goolkasian Rahbee is an American contemporary classical composer and pedagogue whose works are performed worldwide.- Biography :Dianne Goolkasian Rahbee was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts...

, Joni Green, Isaac Schankler, the New Zealander Edwin Carr

Edwin Carr (composer)

Edwin Carr was a composer of classical music from New Zealand.-Biography:Edwin Carr was born in Auckland and was educated at Otago Boys' High School from 1940 to 1943. He studied music at Otago University from 1944-5 and Auckland University College from 1946, then left with his degree unfinished...

, the Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 composer Harry Cox

Harry Cox

Harry Fred Cox , was a Norfolk farmworker and one of the most important singers of traditional English music of the twentieth century, on account of his large repertoire and fine singing style....

, the Rumanian Horia Surianu and the Australians Houston Dunleavy, Peter Tahourdin

Peter Tahourdin

Peter Richard Tahourdin was an English-born Australian composer. His compositions range from orchestral and chamber music to choral and educational music, as well as music for the opera and ballet. However, his principal contribution was in the field of electronic music.-Early life and...

, Robert Trumble

Robert Trumble

Robert William Trumble was an Australian musician and author. Son of international cricketer Hugh Trumble, Robert dedicated his first book, The Golden Age of Cricket, to his father. It was published in Melbourne in 1968.Trumble's musical career was also noted by the Australian media...

 and Felix Werder

Felix Werder

Felix Werder is an Australian-based German composer of classical and electronic music; also a noted critic and educator. The son of a distinguished liturgical composer, he has composed all his life; he has an international reputation and is one of Australia's most performed composers...

. Top has recorded Massenet song cycles (BNL), romances of de Coussemaker

Edmond de Coussemaker

Charles Edmond Henri de Coussemaker, known as Edmond de Coussemaker, born on 19 April 1805 in Belle, died on 10 January 1876 in Lille, was a schooled jurist. As a musicologist and ethnologist, he focused mainly on the heritage of French Flanders...

 (R.C.P.), art songs of Émile Goué (SyPr) and melodies of Claude Guillon-Verne (1879–1956), nephew of Jules Verne

Jules Verne

Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...

 (1828–1905) (Azur Classical). “Diapason

Diapason

Diapason may refer to:* Diapason , a just interval in Pythagorean tuning* Diapason , a tonal grouping of the flue pipes of a pipe organ* Diapason , a French classical music magazine...

 magazine” lauded him for his “impeccable taste.”

He has given recitals at Flâneries Musicales de Reims

Reims

Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....

 for the Yehudi Menuhin

Yehudi Menuhin

Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...

 Foundation, Musicales en Valois, Festival des Grands Crus de Bourgogne

Bourgogne

Burgundy is one of the 27 regions of France.The name comes from the Burgundians, an ancient Germanic people who settled in the area in early Middle-age. The region of Burgundy is both larger than the old Duchy of Burgundy and smaller than the area ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy, from the modern...

, Festival de la Mélodie Française of Toulouse

Toulouse

Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...

, as well as performances in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, the Czech Republic, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, Macedonia, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, and the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

A student of Sergiu Celibidache

Sergiu Celibidache

- Biography :Celibidache was born in Roman, Romania, and began his studies in music with the piano, after which he studied music, philosophy and mathematics in Bucharest, Romania and then in Paris...

, he has conducted the Orchestre du Festival Roussel, the Joseph Jongen Ensemble, the Czech Chamber Soloists, and the Prague Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, Mihail Jora Philharmonic Orchestra" among others. In his programs, he focuses on the music of our time, rediscovering many neglected works of Albert Roussel

Albert Roussel

Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period...

 (1869–1937), Vincent d'Indy

Vincent d'Indy

Vincent d'Indy was a French composer and teacher.-Life:Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy was born in Paris into an aristocratic family of royalist and Catholic persuasion. He had piano lessons from an early age from his paternal grandmother, who passed him on to Antoine François Marmontel and...

 (1851–1931), Claude Delvincourt

Claude Delvincourt

Claude Delvincourt was a French pianist and composer of classical music.-Biography:Delvincourt was born in Paris, the son of Pierre Delvincourt and Marguerite Fourès....

 (1888–1954), Jörgen Jersild (b. 1913), Hans Eklund, George Enescu

George Enescu

George Enescu was a Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor and teacher.-Biography:Enescu was born in the village of Liveni , Dorohoi County at the time, today Botoşani County. He showed musical talent from early in his childhood. A child prodigy, Enescu created his first musical...

 (1881–1955), Claude Guillon-Verne, Jean-Louis Martinet, Pauli Sandagerdi, Bohuslav Martinů

Bohuslav Martinu

Bohuslav Martinů was a prolific Czech composer of modern classical music. He was of Czech and Rumanian ancestry. Martinů wrote six symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. Martinů became a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic...

 (1890–1959), Christophe Looten, Otmar Macha, Touve Ratovondrahety, José Soler Casabon, Peter Tahourdin

Peter Tahourdin

Peter Richard Tahourdin was an English-born Australian composer. His compositions range from orchestral and chamber music to choral and educational music, as well as music for the opera and ballet. However, his principal contribution was in the field of electronic music.-Early life and...

, Maurice Thiriet

Maurice Thiriet

Maurice Thiriet was a French composer of classical and film music.-Biography:Born in Meulan, Yvelines, he entered the Paris conservatory in 1925 to study counterpoint and fugue with Charles Koechlin and orchestration and arrangement under Alexis Roland-Manuel. He graduated in 1931...

.

Son of the poet Andrée Brunin

Andrée Brunin

Andrée Brunin was a French poet Her output includes :*Fille du Vent, Poems - Nomad’s land, Paris, 2003.*La pensée, story for children....

, Damien Top gives poetry recitals (Alliance Française of Sydney, University of Melbourne

University of Melbourne

The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...

, University of Hawaii at Manoa

University of Hawaii at Manoa

The University of Hawaii at Mānoa is a public, co-educational university and is the flagship campus of the greater University of Hawaii system...

, Wo International Center at Punahou School), exploring a wide range of song texts set by great composers and introducing the audience to the poetry of our time (Anthologie de la poésie française, Poètes féminins contemporains, Centenaire Paul Verlaine

Paul Verlaine

Paul-Marie Verlaine was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the fin de siècle in international and French poetry.-Early life:...

(1844–1876), etc.).

His biography of Albert Roussel was published in 2000 by Séguier and is considered the standard work on the subject. He has also written full length studies on Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...

 (1873–1943), Emile Goué (1904–1946) and René de Castéra (1873–1955), for which he was awarded the Prix du Salon du Livre d’Hossegor. He is frequently invited to speak on radio and television (France Musique

France Musique

France Musique is a French public radio station devoted to music, including classical music and jazz. France Musique was created in 1954 as Chaîne Haute-Fidélité then renamed 1958 as France IV Haute Fidélité, then RTF Haute Fidélité in 1963, and finally France Musique in same year...

, France Culture

France Culture

France Culture is a French public radio channel and part of Radio France. Its programming encompasses a wide variety of features on historical, philosophical, sociopolitical, and scientific themes , as well as literary readings, radio plays, and experimental productions...

, Hawaii Public Radio

Hawaii Public Radio

Hawaii Public Radio , is a network of five non-commercial, listener-supported stations serving the state of Hawaii. The stations originate from the studios of The Hawaii Public Radio Plaza, located at 738 Kaheka Street, near the Ala Moana Shopping Center in Honolulu.-History/programming:Hawaii...

, Radio Suisse Romande

Radio Suisse Romande

Radio suisse romande is an enterprise unit within public-broadcasting corporation SRG SSR. It is responsible for the production and transmission of French-language radio programmes in Switzerland...

; FR3 (a French TV station), Nederlandse Programma Stichting

Nederlandse Programma Stichting

NTR is a Dutch public-service broadcaster. It supplies television and radio programming of an educational and cultural nature to the Netherlands Public Broadcasting system....

 TV); to present papers on French music at international conferences and to give masterclasses in French art song in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, at the University of Melbourne, Monash University

Monash University

Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....

, La Trobe University

La Trobe University

La Trobe University is a multi-campus university in Victoria, Australia. It was established in 1964 by an Act of Parliament to become the third oldest university in the state of Victoria. The main campus of La Trobe is located in the Melbourne suburb of Bundoora; two other major campuses are...

, the University of Performing Arts at Wollongong; in New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 at the Victoria University of Wellington

Victoria University of Wellington

Victoria University of Wellington was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a former constituent college of the University of New Zealand. It is particularly well known for its programmes in law, the humanities, and some scientific disciplines, but offers a broad range of other courses...

; at the James Madison University

James Madison University

James Madison University is a public coeducational research university located in Harrisonburg, Virginia, U.S. Founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg, the university has undergone four name changes before settling with James Madison University...

 in Virginia; and in Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, at the Université de Sherbrooke

Université de Sherbrooke

The Université de Sherbrooke is a large university with campuses located in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada and Longueuil, a suburb of Montreal approximately west of Sherbrooke. It is one of two universities, and the only French language university, in the Estrie region of Quebec.In 2007, the...

 and the Université de Montréal

Université de Montréal

The Université de Montréal is a public francophone research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It comprises thirteen faculties, more than sixty departments and two affiliated schools: the École Polytechnique and HEC Montréal...

. Damien Top writes a monthly music column in Politique Magazine. Member of the Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique

Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique

Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique is a French professional association collecting payments of artists’ rights and distributing the rights to the original songwriters, composers and music publishers.-History:...

 (SACEM), his compositions have been played in France, Belgium, Italy and in the United States. A member of the board of directors of the Lotte Lehmann Foundation

Lotte Lehmann Foundation

The Lotte Lehmann Foundation, named for the great German soprano active in the first half of the 20th century, serves to preserve and perpetuate her legacy, and to honor her dream of bringing art song into the lives of as many people as possible....

, he is also scientific advisor of the Bibliotheca della Memoria (Barletta - Italia), director of the Centre International Albert-Roussel which he founded in 1992 and of the Albert-Roussel International Festival.

Discography

• Jules Massenet : Poème d'avril, Poème du Souvenir, Poème d'hiver, Expressions Lyriques BNL 1992
• Von Appel : Il triompho della musica, Naxos 2001
• Edmond de Coussemaker : Romances et chansons, RCP 2003
• Émile Goué : Mélodies, SyPr 2006
• Albert Roussel, Jacques Ibert : Mélodies, Azur 2010
• Claude Guillon-Verne : Mélodies, Azur 2010
• Émile Goué : Mélodies avec quatuor, Azur

References: