Julien Dran
Tenor
Praised for his uniquely „noble voice“ (Bachtrack), French tenor Julien Dran is widely considered one of the most refined vocal artists of his generation. His appearances as Nadir in The Pearlfishers, as Alfredo in La Traviata or in the title role of Gounod’s Faust are critically acclaimed renditions of rare depth and beauty.
Julien Dran’s recent and upcoming season highlights include appearances as Nemorino in L’Elisir d’amore and as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor at Opéra Québec, as Belmonte in Mozart’s Entführung aus dem Serail at Opéra Marseille, as Georges Brown in Boieldieu´s La Dame Blanche at Opéra de Limoges, as Artistée/Pluton in Orphée aux enfers at Opéra de Lausanne, appearances in the 2021 world premiere of Marc André Dalbavie’s opera Le Soulier de satin at Opéra de Paris, in Gounod’s Mireille and Bizet‘s Clovis et Clotilde, concert performances with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris under Hervé Niquet, and repeated appearances as Alfredo in La Traviata and Faust in Gounod’s Faust, at the Marseille, Toulouse, Vichy and Limoges Operas.
His roles include Fenton at the Massy Opera, Matteo Borsa inRigolettoat the 2013 Aix Festival, Lindoro (L’Italiana in Algeri), Nadir (Les Pêcheurs de perles), Arturo (Lucia di Lammermoor), and Kudrias (Kátia Kabanová) at Avignon Opera; Ruodi (Guillaume Tell), Bénédict (Béatrice et Bénédict), and Antinoüs (Pénélope) at La Monnaie in Brussels; Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor) at Centre Lyrique de Clermont Auvergne and Massy Opera; Matteo Borsa (Rigoletto) and the Count of Lerma (Don Carlos) at the Paris Opera; Alfred (Die Fledermaus) and Tebaldo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi) at the Marseille Opera, Alfredo (La Traviata) with the Opéra Éclaté Company, the Young Horace (Salieri’sLes Horaces) at Versailles and Theater an der Wien with the Les Siècles orchestra, Gerald (Lakmé) at Tours Opera, and Nadir (Les Pêcheurs de perles) in Limoges and Reims. He also created the role of Tibère in the world premiere production of Dominique Gesseney-Rappo’sCarlotta ou la Vaticaneat Fribourg Opera.
Following his success at the Clermont-Ferrand International Singing Competition in 2009, he performed the role of Ferrando inCosì fan tutteat the Centre Lyrique Clermont Auvergne. During the 2010/2011 season, he sang the role of Fenton inFalstaffat Metz Opera and participated in his first recording: Charpentier’sDidon. In 2012, he sang Tamino (Die Zauberflöte) at the Corte Festival and then sang the role of Count Almaviva inLe Nozze di Figaroat the Bordeaux Opera and Edmondo inManon Lescautat the Théâtre de La Monnaie in Brussels. In 2013 he sang the title role of Auber’sFra Diavoloat the Limoges Opera.
Julien Dran is the recipient of numerous awards and prizes. Among other awards, he won First Prize at the Gayarr Competition in Pamplona, Spain, under the presidency of Teresa Berganza. He won first prize in the male singer category at the “Paris Opera Awards” at Salle Gaveau in Paris in 2013.
Julien Dran was born in Bordeaux, into a family of opera singers: His grandparents were tenor André Dran and Soprano Monique de Pondeau, his father tenor Thierry Dran, his mother the soprano Martine March. Julien began his musical education at a very early age. He studied piano and French horn then voice for two years at the Bordeaux Conservatory with Malcolm Walker, Pierre Catala and Lionel Sarrazin, and earned a residency at the CNIPAL National Centre for Opera Artists in Marseille for the 2007/2008 season. Julien Dran made his debut on stage at the Marseille Opera in the 2007/2008 season.
