Jean-François Novelli, Ensemble Sébastien de Brossard & Fabien Armengaud
Biography Jean-François Novelli, Ensemble Sébastien de Brossard & Fabien Armengaud
Jean-François Novelli
The French tenor Jean-François Novelli, graduate of Paris CNSMD in singing, holds a master in Musicology from Sorbonne and received a Prime recorder Prize. Thanks to his musical instrument experience he turned to old and Baroque European music, which he has practiced ever since with great passion. As a result Jean-François recorded over thirty CDs and DVDs in collaboration with Philippe Pierlot, Gerard Lesne, Christophe Rousset, Jordi Savall among others.
Recent engagements, mixing baroque repertoire and more actual opera roles, include : Telemaco and Pisandro (Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in patria by Claudio Monteverdi) with the Ricercar Consort in New York and Potsdam, staged by William Kentdridge, the Spirit (Dido and Aeneas by Purcell) in Israel, Beaune Festival and at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées. He was also Remendado (Carmen) with the Orchestre Symphonique Rhône-Alpes under Laurent Pillot's baton, le Fonctionnaire de la métropole (Fridom by Jean-Luc Trules) and did a tour around Corea with the Centre de Musique de Baroque de Versailles and Olivier Schneebeli (staged Charpentier Oratorios).
He collaborates on a regular basis with ensembles like Les Nouveaux Caractères and Sébastien d'Hérin (Sailor and sorceress in Dido and Aeneas in Avignon, Haendel's Messiah in Périgueux), Les Talens Lyriques, Scherzi Musicali and Nicolas Achten (concerts in Utrecht, Brussels, Köln, Regensburg, Madrid...), but also the Ensemble Sébastien de Brossard (conducted by Fabien Armengaud).
Jean-François created and co-directed from 2004 to 2014 ‘les Lunaisiens’, which is now under the direction of his collaborator Arnaud Marzorati. Dozens of projects and three CDs were the fruits of this musical and artistic association.
His love for the stage and his taste for bringing differents things together also determined him to create original theatrical one-man shows, for example, his new endeavor around the licentious tales of Jean de La Fontaine with music by Antoine Sahler. This show, which was created at the City of voice in Vezelay, has already made several forays in French festivals. He will be directed by the famous singer Juliette at the theater of Ivry in February 2017 and performed it in Off festival in Théâtre de la Luna this last summer.
To be noticed this 2017/2018 season : Tantale (la Descente d'Orphée aux Enfers by Charpentier) with les Talens lyriques in Basel and in Teatro Rela de Madrid, the Vespro della Beata Vergine by Monteverdi with Ensemble Gli Angeli in Geneva, Le destin du Nouveau siècle by André Campra with ensemble La Tempesta and Patrick Bismuth. He will also record a recital of French music with Ensemble Sébastien de Brossard, and be on tour with Croustilleux la Fontaine, in Niort, Château Thierry and La Rochelle.
