Michel Sénéchal
Michel Sénéchal (born 11 February 1927 in Paris; † 1 April 2018 in Eaubonne) was a French tenor and music educator.
Michel Sénéchal's vocal talents were discovered early on in the Chapelle de Taverny boys' choir. Here he sang as an alto soloist. He trained at the Conservatoire National in Paris with Gabriel Paulet. From 1950 to 1951 he sang at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. In 1952 he won first prize at the Geneva Singing Competition. He became known as a lyric tenor at the Opéra-Comique Paris. He gave highly successful guest performances in Lyon, Strasbourg, Marseille and Toulouse. He had an outstanding success in 1956 at the Aix-en-Provence Festival with the difficult title role of Rameau's opera "Platée". For the recording of this opera he received the Grand Prix du Disque. Since then he has performed at the Aix Festival for many years.
Since 1961 Sénéchal was considered the leading buffo and character tenor of the Grand Opéra Paris. Numerous international appearances followed: in 1967 at the Holland Festival, in 1966 at the Hamburg State Opera, in 1980 at the Cologne Opera House. From 1972 to 1976, 1979 to 1980 and 1987 to 1988 he sang Basilio in Figaro's Wedding, from 1985 to 1986 Dancario in "Carmen", and in 1978 Cruzio in "Il Sant' Alessio" by Stefano Laudi at the Salzburg Festival. In 1953 and 1955 he appeared in concerts at the Salzburg Festival. In 1955 he made guest appearances at the Rome and Bologna operas, and in 1960 at La Scala in Milan. At the Glyndebourne Festival in 1966, he appeared in "L'Heure espagnole" by Maurice Ravel. In 1985 he sang at the Paris Opera in the world premiere of Konrad Boehmer's "Dr. Faustus". He also took on the role of Monastatos in The Magic Flute. Sénéchal was generally regarded as an exceptional Mozart singer. In 1985 he appeared as Fabien in Marcel Landowski's opera "Montségur". In 1982 he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Here Sénéchal took on the four character roles in "The Tales of Hoffmann" by Jacques Offenbach. Numerous appearances at the Met followed after this debut, including Basilio in Figaro's Marriage, Guiot in "Andrea Chénier" (1987), Hortensio in Donizetti's "La Fille du Régiment" (1994), Incredibile in Umberto Giordano's "Andrea Chénier". He gave acclaimed guest performances at the San Francisco Opera as Mr. Taupe in Richard Strauss' "Capriccio" (1990) and as Hortensio in "La Fille du Régiment" (1993).
With concerts in France, Switzerland, England and North America, Sénéchal had great success. In 1980 he was appointed director of the Opera School of the Grand Opera Paris. Sénéchal has made numerous recordings for various labels (Platée, Decca, HMV, Véga, Lumen, Rodolphe Records, Erato, DGG, Philipps, Hungaroton, MGB-Helikon, Solstice).
