Simon Chalifoux,
BIOGRAPHY
French-Canadian bass-baritone Simon Chalifoux completed his master’s degree at Université de Montréal. In 2016-2017 he was part of Calgary Opera Emerging Artist Program. His most recent performances include : Quince, A Midsumer Night’s Dream ; Colline, La Bohème ; Sarastro, Die Zauberflöte ; Gremin, Eugene Onegin ; Harasta et Farar, Cuning Little Vixen. He also sang the bass and Jesus in Bach St.John Passion, and the bass in Bach Coffee Cantata .
During the 2019-2020 season, he made his debut with Edmonton Opera in the title role of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. He also sang Colline (La Bohème, Puccini) in Hamilton, Schaunard (La Bohème, Leoncavallo) in Montréal, and was Leporello in the online production of Don Giovanni (Mozart) from Brott Opera. In 2019, he premiered the title role of Michel Gonneville’s L’hypothèse Caïn.
In parallel with his engagement on stage, Simon works with Canadian opera companies creating facilitation workshop. His work with Opéra de Montréal include the creation of workshop aiming to challenge social inequities and reflect on social crisis through the lens of opera. He also worked with Pacific Opera Victoria through an artistic residency in 2022 in which he co-designed a participative workshop joining musical improvisation and thinking about biodiversity.
He saw an opportunity during the actual sanitary crisis to acknowledge his privilege. He took time to self educate on the subject of racism, sexism and colonialism that plague society as much as it does the arts and cultural world. He’s also creating a new collective art project that will deploy in Montreal.
More
ROLES :
- Capelio, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Bellini
- Quince, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Britten
- Zuniga, Carmen, Bizet
- Papa Costanza, Filumena, Estacio
- La basse, Manuscrit trouvé à Saragosse, Evangelista
- Duc de Vérone, Roméo et Juliette, Gounod
- George Benton, Dead Man Walking, Heggie
- Harasta, Cunning Little Vixen, Janacek
- Parson, Cunning Little Vixen, Janacek
- Schaunard, La Bohème, Leoncavallo
- Leporelle, Don Giovanni, Mozart
- Figaro, Le Nozze di Figaro, Mozart
- Antonio, Le Nozze di Figaro, Mozart
- Papageno, Die Zauberflöte, Mozart
- Sarastro, Die Zauberflöte, Mozart
- Simone, Gianni Schicchi, Puccini
- Colline, La bohème, Puccini
- Timur, Turandot, Puccini
- Il Mandarino, Turandot, Puccini
- Dr Gibbs, Our Town, Rorem
- Don Parmenione, L’Occasione fà il ladro, Rossini
- Gremin, Eugene Onegin, Tchaikovski
ORATORIOS :
- St.John Passion, Bach (Bass and Jesus)
- Coffee Cantata, Bach
- Magnificat, Bach
- Messiah, Haendel
- Mass for the Children, Rutter
CALENDAR
2022
PAST EVENTS
2022
July 23rd : Final gala, ICAV-CVAI.
July 19th : Pinelloccio and the notary, Gianni Schicchi, ICAV-CVAI.
June 1st to 18th : Voices in Nature, Pacific Opera Victoria in collaboration with Yarrow Collective.
May 29th : Voight Stockey Fundraising, Pacific Opera Victoria.
May 28th : Selkirk Waterfront Festival, Pacific Opera Victoria.
Janvier : Ask it All with Simon, video project with Pacific Opera Victoria. Watch here
2021
November : Civic Engagement Artist in residency at Pacific Opera Victoria.
2020
July : Leporello, Don Giovanni, Brott Opera. (Shortened version online) Info Watch
July 15th-16th : PopOpera. Brott Music Festival. (Online) Info Watch
May 5th, Gala de l’Opéra de Lévis, CANCELLED
February 1st, 4th and 7th: Figaro, Marriage of Figaro, Mozart. Edmonton Opera
2019
November 14th : Fundraising recital, Collège Mont-Saint-Louis, Montréal. Info
August 9th : Gala concert (recital), ICAV-CVAI.
August 7th : Schaunard, La Bohème, Leoncavallo, ICAV-CVAI.
August 5th : Musique française (recital), ICAV-CVAI.
July 27th : Le Monde de l’opéra (recital), ICAV-CVAI.
July 18th : Colline, La Bohème, Puccini. Brott Opera.
July 4th : PopOpera. Brott Opera.
April 26th : Mozart est mort, Vive Mozart. Production Lenoir. Montréal
March 10th : Recital, Série Découverte, Café d’art Vocal (Les femmes en Musique)
February : Caïn, L’hypothèse Caïn, Michel Gonneville. Info
2018
October-November : Opera Cruise.
August 8th : Gala recital, ICAV-CVAI
August 6th : Bel canto recital, ICAV-CVAI
August 1st : Opera recital, ICAV-CVAI
July 27th, 28th, 29th : Bass, Coffee Cantata, Bach.
July 18th : Sarastro, Die Zauberflöte, Mozart. Brott Opera.
July 12th : PopOpera. Brott Opera.
June 23rd : Histoire de héros, St-Jean celebration concert. Info
June 10th : Opéra Bouffe du Québec gala, Maison des Arts de Laval.
May : Recital War and Peace, Série Découverte, Café d’art Vocal
March 1st, 2nd, 3rd : Quince, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Benjamin Britten. Université de Montréal.
February : Papageno, Die Zauberflöte, Mozart. Montréal
2017
December 9th, 10th : Mass for the Children, John Rutter. Montréal (Petits Chanteurs de Laval)
August 12th : Concert Gala. Montréal (ICAV-CVAI)
August 10th: Simone, Gianni Schicchi, Puccini. Montréal, ICAV-CVAI.
June 25th, 29th : Faràr, Cunning Little Vixen, Janacek. Opera NUOVA
June 23rd, 27th : Harasta, Cunning Little Vixen, Janacek. Opera NUOVA
June 15th : Gremin, Eugene Onegin, Tchaikovsky. Opera NUOVA
June 9th, 10th, 11th : Major Murgatroyd, Patience, Gilbert and Sullivan. Opera NUOVA
April 29th : St. John Passion, Bach. Festival Chorus Calgary
31 mars : Taste of the Opera, Calgary Opera
2016
December 18th : Messiah Sing Along. Voicescape
December 9th, 10th : Le Podestat, Dr. Miracle, Bizet. Calgary Opera
August 11th : Duc de Vérone, Roméo et Juliette, Gounod. ICAV-CVAI
PRESS
Figaro, Nozze di Figaro, Edmonton Opera
«There were some encouraging debuts, too. Simon Chalifoux is an energetic Figaro.»
Edmonton Journal, Mark Morris, February 2022.
Colline, La Bohème, Brott Opera.
«Simon Chalifoux’s Colline romped and sang delightfully.»
Hugh Fraser, Juillet 2019.
Colline, La Bohème, Brott Opera.
«As Colline, Simon Chalifoux offered up a heartfelt ‘’Vecchia zimarra’’.»
Opera Canada, Leonard Turnevicius, Vol LX No 1.
Figaro, Nozze di Figaro, Université de Montréal.
«(…)dans le modeste emploi de jardiner, a éclipsé la distribution masculine par sa présence vocale.»
Le Devoir, Christophe Huss, février 2016.
Le Modiste, Cendrillon, ICAV-CVAI.
«Une mention honorable mérite par ailleurs d’être attribuée au baryton-basse Simon Chalifoux qui a incarné le Modiste avec un humour fin et intelligent.»
Revue l’Opéra, Daniel Turp, Octobre 2018.
Sarastro, Magic Flute, Brott Opera.
«Chalifoux’s low F sharps and an interpolated final low E in “Within these holy portals” projected easily to the back of the auditorium.»
Opera Canada, Leonard Turnevicius, July 2018.
ART PROJECTS
Projet vidéo : Ask It All!
Le projet vidéo Ask it ALL a été réalisé en partenariat vec Pacific Opera Victoria lors de la participation de Simon au Civic Engagement Quartet. Lors du projet, Simon a récolté des questions du public de façon anonyme. Il a par la suite construit un Talk Show sur le thème de l’opéra durant lequel il […]
Récital: Ça se demande pas!
Le récital Ça se demande pas! est un récital ludique de une heure. Durant ce récital Simon invite les spectratrices à poser toutes les questions qu’elles n’ont jamais osé poser sur le monde de l’opéra, du spectacle ou de la musique classique. Les questions sont demandé de façon anonyme. Durant le récital, je répond, sans jugement, aux […]
Petit Dictionnaire Poétique des Mots Oubliés
Avec le «Petit Dictionnaire Poétique des Mots Oubliés», j’ai voulu inviter des passantes à se rencontrer autour d’un objet ludique. J’ai donc créé un dispositif sur lequel était écrit un mot ancien de la langue française que l’on ne croise plus de nos jours; par exemple «Bacbuc», «Esquipot», «Jocrisse» ou «Mache-Laurier». Lors de la rencontre, […]
Autres projets
- January 2022 (1)
- October 2020 (3)