Especially noted for interpretations of Verdi, baritone Ludovic Tézier has a large repertory that also includes French, German, and Russian roles. He has performed and recorded with his friend Jonas Kaufmann. Tézier was born on September 10, 1968, in Marseille. Seeing a performance of Wagner's Parsifal as a child, he became fascinated by opera. He studied both singing and economics for a time, the former with Claudine Duprat, and, deciding in favor of opera, he went on to the former Centre National d'Insertion Professionnelle d'Artistes Lyriques (CNIPAL) and then the School of Lyric Art at the Paris Opera, at the latter with Michel Sénéchal. Landing a place in the cast of the Lucerne Opera in Switzerland for two years gave Tézier exposure to a variety of roles; he then made his French debut at the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse and soon after that joined the cast of the Opéra de Lyon, as well as making guest appearances at opera houses in various countries. A major break in Tézier's career came in 2008 when he shared second prize with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato at Plácido Domingo's Operalia competition. By that time, he had already made several recordings, including an appearance as Henri Ashton on Natalie Dessay's Erato recording of Donizetti's Lucie de Lammermoor in 2002. In the 2010s, Tézier built a reputation as a major Verdi baritone, appearing three times in the title role in different presentations of Verdi's Rigoletto (at the Opéra de Besançon, the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, and the Opéra Bastille in Paris), among many other productions. He has sung the role of Rodrigo/Rodrigue in both the French and Italian versions of Don Carlos. Exceptionally versatile, Tézier has appeared in French opera (including in Massenet's rare Cléopâtre at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris in 2014), in German works by Beethoven and Wagner, and in Tchaikovsky's Pique-Dame in Russian. He has appeared on more than 30 recordings, including the 2019 Deutsche Grammophon release Orff: Carmina Burana - Live in the Forbidden City. Tézier has appeared on stage several times opposite star tenor Jonas Kaufmann, and in 2022, the pair released Insieme, an album of tenor-baritone duets, on the Sony Classical label. ~ James Manheim, Rovi