Jean-Sébastien Bou
He was the Prince of Mantua in Offenbach’s opera Fantasio that opened the 2017 season at the Opéra Comique. French baritone Jean-Sébastien Bou has sung several times at Salle Favart, mainly as Mârouf in Mârouf savetier du Caire and Frédéric in Lakmé. On June 10th he will sing together with Gaëlle Arquez in a recital dedicated to the French repertoire before playing Raimbaud in Le Comte Ory next December.
The ideal work to make people like opera: Don Giovanni by Mozart.
The ideal work to make people dislike opera: I think there’s no work that makes people dislike opera. It’s mainly the way it’s staged that can make people detest a work. But any well-staged work functions.
Your favorite composer: I can’t choose. Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven…
The character you like to interpret: Hamlet, Don Giovanni.
The character you dislike to interpret: none.
The hero you’d like to embody in real life: I find myself in many opera characters in real life. I’d say Don Giovanni because I’d like to be as carefree as he is.
The sound, the noise you like: when there’s a heavy rain and I’m inside a house. The hum of the city, sirens… the sound of the wind at the seaside in Brittany at dusk.
The female singer you most admire: Billie Holiday.
The male singer you most admire: Frank Sinatra.
The best language to sing: Russian.
The aria or tune you sing while taking a shower: I don’t sing in the shower.
An opera hero or heroine to govern France: Lulu because she always resists everything.
Your favorite opéra comique: Le Roi malgré lui by Chabrier.
The artist you’d have liked to meet: Patrice Chéreau.
The song you’d take on a deserted island: An opera, Pelléas or Tristan.
The song you’re ashamed to sing: “Allons-y chochotte” by Satie. It’s great but I always feel ashamed the moment I sing it.
Your current state of mind: mischievous, mocking.
