Ludovic Tezier

Especially noted for his command of Verdi, baritone Ludovic Tézier commands an expansive repertory that embraces French, German, and Russian parts as well. He has shared both the stage and the studio with his close colleague Jonas Kaufmann.

Born in Marseille on September 10, 1968, Tézier first encountered opera as a boy when he attended a performance of Wagner’s Parsifal, an experience that ignited his passion for the art form. For a period he pursued parallel studies in voice and economics, training with Claudine Duprat in the former discipline; ultimately choosing music, he entered the former Centre National d’Insertion Professionnelle d’Artistes Lyriques (CNIPAL) and subsequently the School of Lyric Art at the Paris Opera, where Michel Sénéchal guided his development. Two seasons with the Lucerne Opera in Switzerland afforded him a broad range of roles, after which he made his French debut at the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse and soon joined the roster of the Opéra de Lyon while also appearing as a guest at houses abroad. His profile rose sharply in 2008 when he shared second prize with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato at Plácido Domingo’s Operalia competition; by then he had already accumulated several recordings, among them the role of Henri Ashton on Natalie Dessay’s 2002 Erato release of Donizetti’s Lucie de Lammermoor.

During the 2010s Tézier established himself as a leading Verdi baritone, performing the title role in Rigoletto on three separate occasions—at the Opéra de Besançon, the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, and the Opéra Bastille in Paris—while taking part in numerous additional productions. He has sung Rodrigo/Rodrigue in both the French and Italian versions of Don Carlos. Remarkable versatility has allowed him to appear in French opera, including Massenet’s seldom-heard Cléopâtre at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris in 2014, in German repertory by Beethoven and Wagner, and in Tchaikovsky’s Pique-Dame sung in Russian. More than thirty recordings document his work, among them the 2019 Deutsche Grammophon release Orff: Carmina Burana - Live in the Forbidden City. Tézier has shared the stage with star tenor Jonas Kaufmann on several occasions, and in 2022 the duo issued the album of tenor-baritone duets Insieme on the Sony Classical label.