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| José van Dam within the title function of Olivier Messiaen‘s Saint François d’Assise, Salzburg Competition, 1998. (Picture: © SF/Bernd Uhlig ) |
The legendary bass-baritone José van Dam, whose dying was introduced yesterday, was a singer whose profession many knew from recordings and movie than stay. His discography was vast and intensive encompassing a lot of the usual repertoire.
I used to be fortunate sufficient to catch him stay on a treasured few events at Covent Backyard. He was an astonishing Wozzeck in Berg’s opera in Willy Decker’s 1984 revival of Covent Backyard’s unique 1952 manufacturing designed by Caspar Neher. In 1986, he was Jokanaan in Strauss’ Salome in a revival of August Everding’s 1970 manufacturing notable for Gwynneth Jones’ efficiency of the title function. And in 1996 he was an unforgettable Philippe in Luc Bondy’s French-language (hurrah!) manufacturing of Verdi’s Don Carlos with Roberto Alagna within the title function.
Maybe his biggest single function was as Saint François in Messiaen’s opera Saint François d’Assise. José van Dam sang it on the premiere in Paris, carried out by Seiji Ozawa in 1983, and he would once more undertake the function within the 1992 Salzburg Competition (on the Felsenreitschule), directed by Peter Sellars with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic and revived in 1998.
“In a sure method, that efficiency modified my life”, the inventive director of the Salzburg Competition, Markus Hinterhäuser recollects. “On this function, José van Dam was not merely a singer, he was an embodiment. He had a quiet authority, a mix of humility and energy which corresponds precisely to what Messiaen meant when he created the function of his Francis.”
Maybe fittingly, the Salzburg Competition is returning to Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise this 12 months with a brand new manufacturing designed and directed by Romeo Castellucci with Maxime Pascal conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Philippe Sly within the title function. See the pageant web site for particulars.
José van Dam’s obituary on the OperaWire web site.
