José van Dam

2025-06-30T01:39:00Z

66.94.181.132: /* Recordings */Added the 1978 Preformance of Brahms “Ein Deutsches Requiem” with Gundula Janowitz

{{Short description|Belgian Count and bass-baritone}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=January 2013}}
'''Joseph, Baron Van Damme''' (born 25 August 1940 in [[Brussels]]), known as '''José van Dam''', is a [[Belgium|Belgian]] [[bass-baritone]], described as having "a magnificent resonant and expressive voice" and being "an excellent actor".<ref name="GroveForbes"/>

==Life and career==
At the age of 17, he entered the [[Brussels Royal Conservatory]] and studied with Frederic Anspach. A year later, he graduated with diplomas and first prizes in voice and [[opera]] performance. He made his opera début as the music teacher Don Basilio in [[Gioacchino Rossini]]’s ''[[The Barber of Seville|Il Barbiere di Siviglia]]'' at the [[Opéra Royal de Wallonie|Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège]] in 1960, and was engaged the next year at the Paris Opera where he remained until 1965,<ref name="GroveForbes">Forbes, Elizabeth. van Dam, José. The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Vol IV p894, Macmillan, New York, 1997.</ref> when he sang his first major role, Escamillo from [[Bizet]]'s ''[[Carmen]]''. He then sang for two seasons at [[Geneva]], [[La Scala]], [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden]], and in Paris. At Geneva, Van Dam sang in the première of Milhaud's ''[[La mère coupable]]'' in 1966. [[Lorin Maazel]] heard van Dam and invited him to record [[Maurice Ravel|Ravel]]’s ''L’heure espagnole'' with him for [[Deutsche Grammophon]]. In 1967, Maazel asked him to join the [[Deutsche Oper]] in [[Berlin]].

Van Dam has performed at [[Opéra National de Paris|L’Opéra de Paris]], Covent Garden, the [[Metropolitan Opera]], [[Teatro alla Scala]] in [[Milan]], [[Vienna State Opera]], Deutsche Oper Berlin, the [[La Monnaie|Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie]] in Brussels, [[Teatro Colón]] in [[Buenos Aires]], the [[Salzburg Festival]], and festivals in [[Aix-en-Provence]] and [[Orange, France]].
[[File:José Van Dam, Les Contes d'Hoffmann-1988.jpg|thumb|right|150px|José Van Dam at La Monnaie]]
[[File:José Van Dam, B.Hendrickx.jpg|thumb|right|150px|José Van Dam and [[Barbara Hendricks]], Brussels 2006]]

Van Dam has become the Master in Residence of the singing section at the [[Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel]] in his home country, Belgium, since 2011.<ref>[https://musicchapel.org/en/jose-van-dam-baritone/ José van Dam, baritone] - Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel's Official Website</ref>

==Awards==
Van Dam is also a concert, oratorio, and lieder singer and has won international awards for his performances on stage and in recordings. Berlin conferred on him the title of [[Kammersänger]] in 1974, and the same year he received the German Music Critics’ Prize. Other awards include the Gold Medal of the Belgian Press (1976), Grand Prix de l’Académie française du Disque (1979), Orphée d’Or de l’Académie Lyrique Française (1980), the European Critics’ Prize, (1985), Diapason d’Or and Prix de la Nouvelle Académie du Disque (1993), and the Orphée d’Or de l’Académie du Disque Lyrique (1994).

In August 1998, His Majesty King [[Albert II of Belgium]] made van Dam a [[baron]], recognizing him as one of the finest classical singers. On 4 December 1999 van Dam was one of the performers at the marriage of Belgium's [[Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant|Crown Prince Philippe]] and [[Princess Mathilde, Duchess of Brabant|Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz]].

Van Dam is featured as one of the three interviewees in 'Doucement les Basses', with [[Gabriel Bacquier]] and [[Claudio Desderi]] discussing their approach to roles in the bass-baritone repertoire.<ref>Milhau, Sylvie. ''Doucement les Basses ossia Diner avec Gabriel Bacquier, José van Dam et Claudio Desderi.'' Canaïma, Orléans, 2010. OCLC Number: 706993497 (In French).</ref>

==Films==
{{BLP unreferenced section|date=November 2020}}
Van Dam appears in the films ''[[The Music Teacher (film)|The Music Teacher]]'' (1988) as Joachim Dallayrac, and in ''[[Don Giovanni (1979 film)|Don Giovanni]]'' (1979) as Leporello, directed by [[Joseph Losey]], and conducted by Maazel. Van Dam also appears as Philip in the DVD of the 1996 production of ''Don Carlos'' from the [[Théâtre du Châtelet]] in Paris under Pappano directed by Luc Bondy, and as Hans Sachs in the 2003 [[Zürich Opera]] production of ''[[Die Meistersinger]]'' conducted by [[Franz Welser-Möst]].

== Recordings ==
{{BLP unreferenced section|date=November 2020}}
Among van Dam's extensive discography are complete studio recordings of ''Carmen'' as Escamillo (in 1974 under [[Alain Lombard|Lombard]] in Strasbourg, in 1975 under [[Georg Solti|Solti]] in London and 1982 under Karajan in Berlin), as the father in ''Louise'' ([[Julius Rudel|Rudel]], 1977), ''Die Zauberflöte'' (as the Speaker, 1980), ''Faust'' as Méphistophélès (conducted by [[Michel Plasson]], 1991), ''Les contes d'Hoffmann'' as the four opponents of Hoffmann (in 1988 under [[Sylvain Cambreling|Cambreling]], and under [[Kent Nagano|Nagano]] in 1994–1996), ''Don Carlos'' (1996), and ''Die Meistersinger'' (conducted by [[Sir Georg Solti]], 1997). In 2010, the Metropolitan released his 1980 ''Wozzeck'' (with [[Anja Silja]] and [[Richard Cassilly]], conducted by [[James Levine]]) on compact disc.

With [[Herbert von Karajan]], he also recorded ''Fidelio'' (1970), ''Le nozze di Figaro'' (1978), ''Salome'' (1978), ''Pelléas et Mélisande'' (1978), ''Parsifal'' (1979–1980), ''Die Zauberflöte'' (1980), and ''Der fliegende Holländer'' (1981–1983), ''Ein Deutsches Requiem'' (1978 and 1985), as well as Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (1977 and 1983).

One of the bass-baritone's greatest successes was in the title role of [[Olivier Messiaen]]'s ''[[Saint François d'Assise]]''. The world-premiere was recorded under [[Seiji Ozawa]] (1983), as was the Salzburg production, under [[Kent Nagano]] (1998).

==See also==
* [[La damnation de Faust (Georg Solti recording)]]
* [[Pelléas et Mélisande (Herbert von Karajan recording)]]
* [[Le nozze di Figaro (Herbert von Karajan April 1978 recording)]]
* [[Dardanus (Raymond Leppard recording)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
MALISCH, KURT. (2001) 2016. “Dam, José van.” In: MGG Online, edited by Laurenz Lütteken. Bärenreiter, Metzler, RILM, 2016–. Accessed August 27, 2022. https://www.mgg-online.com/mgg/stable/12468

==Sources==
*Warrack, John & West, Ewan (1992), ''The Oxford Dictionary of Opera'', 782 pages, {{ISBN|0-19-869164-5}}

==External links==
*[http://www.bruceduffie.com/vandam.html Interview with José van Dam], April 24, 1981 (Mostly about Wagner)
* [http://www.colbertartists.com/jose-van-dam Colbert Artists Management Inc.]

{{International Classical Music Awards Lifetime Achievement}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Dam, Jose}}
[[Category:1940 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Belgian barons]]
[[Category:Belgian opera singers]]
[[Category:Royal Conservatory of Brussels alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Conservatoire de Paris]]
[[Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of Leopold II]]
[[Category:Grammy Award winners]]
[[Category:Operatic bass-baritones]]
[[Category:People from Ixelles]]
[[Category:Belgian male actors]]
[[Category:20th-century Belgian male opera singers]]
[[Category:Italian-language singers of Belgium]]
[[Category:French-language singers of Belgium]]
[[Category:German-language singers of Belgium]]

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José van Dam