Halidou Nombre
Halidou began his professional life as an aerospace engineer before making an initial career change in finance. Alongside his academic career, his first steps on stage were in the world of musicals. Spotted by a fashion agency, he also explored modeling by walking for designers and appearing on fashion TV. Interested in dance, he joined the Sorbonne's contemporary dance company during his graduate studies. His constant desire to refine his voice naturally led him to the lyrical repertoire, which then became a key revelation for him. He began his training in Saint-Ouen with Frédérique Epin, before perfecting his skills with Pierre Catala and Guillemette Laurens in Paris. A graduate of musical studies at the Conservatoire régional de Paris (CRR), Halidou joined the concert program in 2018 in Elsa Maurus's class and will graduate in 2020. During masterclasses, he has the opportunity to work with artists such as Stéphane Degout, Jean-Philippe Lafont, and Thomas Hampson. He particularly distinguished himself with his in-depth work on the roles of Don Giovanni and the Count in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, under the direction of Maestro Ruggero Raimondi. In September 2020, Halidou was selected as an artist in residence at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth. This period gave him the opportunity to collaborate with resident masters José Van Dam and Sophie Koch. In 2021, he became a laureate of the Académie d'Orsay-Royaumont and joined the Opera Fuoco lyric workshop directed by David Stern. He also participated in the "opera from here and there" program of the Aix-en-Provence Festival Academy. The same year, he distinguished himself by winning the Haydn Prize at the 27th Clermont Auvergne Opéra International Singing Competition. A year later, he received the Menda Scholarship from the Opéra Comique de Paris. 2024/2025 marks his debut as a member of the Royal Opera Academy of Versailles. Contemporary music is also part of his repertoire. He created the opera Jungle in Bordeaux (2019), Babel in Nice (2020), Xynthia in Reims (2022), and performed Kaino in Stockhausen's Freitag aus Licht at the Lille Opera. In 2025, he will be featured in a new creation composed by Alexis Soriano Malcom X which will be performed in Malaga, Spain, as well as in Geneva in a creation composed by Michel Petrossian. Highlights from previous seasons include the role of Marcello in Puccini's La Bohème, for which he was voted Best Artist of the Production by the audience. In Mozart's works, he has played the Count in The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni in the opera of the same name, and Don Alfonso in Cosi Fan Tutte. He has also played Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen, Golaud in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, Mercutio in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, and the Marquis de la Force in Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites. A member of the Academy of the Royal Opera of Versailles for a new season, he will be seen again this year, among other roles, as Aeneas opposite Sonya Yoncheva, as a solo baritone in Handel's Messiah, and as Morales in Carmen (where he will also understudy Escamillo). After a stint at the National Opera in Amsterdam, he is appearing at the start of the season on the show "Aria", which promotes new opera talents, broadcast on the Dutch channel NP01.