Benjamin Bernheim became “the tenor of the Olympic Games” since he participated in the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games on August 11, in which, accompanied by the Swiss flying pianist and performer Alain Roche, he performed a tightrope walk in the Stade de France to a French melody, theApollo Hymn, harmonized by Gabriel Fauré in 1896 (at the request of Pierre de Coubertin) based on an ancient song found in Delphi.
However, since the 2010s, the singer has established himself on the great opera stages, from the Paris Opera to the Scala in Milan, from Covent Garden to the Salzburg Festival, without forgetting the prestigious Metropolitan Opera in New York , where he currently programs in the lead role of Hoffmann’s tales from Offenbach, whose performance on October 5 will be broadcast live and in HD by Pathé Live in all affiliated cinemas. We met the 39-year-old artist, who has just released with Deutsche Grammophon, Sweet Francea magnificent album dedicated exclusively to French melody, before performing in a recital at the Paris Opera on November 24.
Have you returned from your night flight through the sky of the Stade de France, where you performed a French melody by Gabriel Fauré?
Not without difficulty, I must say, as this timeless moment had such a profound impact on me. But I had to land very quickly to secure the first of the Hoffmann’s tales from Offenbach, whose main role I sang at the Salzburg Festival.
After two first albums dedicated to opera, with “Douce France” you approach the particular field of French melody. So that ?
Like every singer, I studied opera and the French melody and German lie repertoire at the same time. They are two different worlds, but first you have to prove yourself in opera. This is how my first album, an anthology of French and Italian melodies, was conceived as a calling card to enter the discography. The second, Italian Boulevard (2022), result of the historical and dramaturgical work developed with the Palazzetto Bru Zane around the lyrical Paris of the 19th centurymy century in which transalpine composers – Puccini, Donizetti, Verdi, Spontini, Cherubini, Mascagni – took the risk of composing in French. This third album is more personal. There is a lot of me, my nostalgia, my cracks, my wounds.
He has chosen to interpret the well-known “Summer Nights”, by Berlioz, and the more confidential “Poem of Love and the Sea”, by Ernest Chausson. What were the selection criteria?
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