Pianist & Vocal Coach
Laurent Philippe
Pianist & Vocal Coach
Laurent Philippe’s keen interest in opera has led him to be associated with various established opera artists such as Jonathan Abernathy, Ambur Braid, Nicole Car, Scott Conner, Ellie Dehn, Joyce El-Khoury, Michael Fabiano, Denyce Graves, Marcello Giordani, Patrick Guetti, Bryan Hymel, Eva Jinhee Kong, Sydney Mancasola, Chloe Moore, Musa Ngqungwana, Clare Presland, Mark Oswald, Heather Phillips, Samuel Ramey, Adam Smith, Virginie Verrez, Chrystal Williams & Corinne Winters.
He has enjoyed a 19-year tenureship as a faculty member of the celebrated Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and has also worked as a guest coach for Houston Grand Opera, the Glyndebourne Festival, Canadian Opera Company, Michigan Opera Theatre, Florentine Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Ottawa’s Opera Lyra, Opera San José, Seattle Opera, The Atlantic Center for the Arts, and Princeton Festival. As an educator, he has lectured at London’s ENO, Opera Australia, The Catholic University of America, the University of Lethbridge, Houston Grand Opera, IOS Opernhaus Zürich, Oper Frankfurt, the University of Cincinnati, the Glyndebourne Jerwood Young Artists Programme, Portland State University, L’Atelier de l'Opéra de Montréal, Temple University, London’s ROH Jette Parker Young Artists Programme, The Glenn Gould School in Toronto, Paris’ Théâtre du Châtelet, Princeton University’s Atelier, New Jersey Opera Theatre, the Crested Butte Music Festival, Theater Münster, and Greenwich King’s College. Mr. Philippe has also judged for the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions.
Laurent Philippe’s performances have been recorded by CBC Two New Hours and Arts National, VPRO Radio, Radio Canada, KING, Concertzender, BBC 1, BBC 3, WJUC, KBS, Danmarks Radio, and Radio-France, and for the recording labels JMP, EDS and Continuum.
His conducting credits include assisting Sir Andrew Davis at the BBC Symphony Orchestra at London’s Barbican Centre and Royal Albert Hall, performances at the helm of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and several opera productions with the Victoria Symphony and the University of Washington orchestra. Furthermore, Mr. Philippe was selected by Richard Danielpour to assist him with the preparation of his opera Margaret Garner for the world premiere that took place in Detroit under the baton of Stefan Lano and featuring Denyce Graves in the title role.
In the field of contemporary music, Laurent Philippe has been a member of Toronto's Continuum for many years and as such has performed often at Toronto's Music Gallery. Further appearances included, among others, Amsterdam's Ijsbreker and the Muziekgebouw Bimhuis, London's Canada House, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, le Centre Culturel Canadien in Paris, le Printemps Musical Européen in Belgium, the Seattle Spring Festival, Copenhagen's Musica Nova, Ottawa's Espace Musique, Ballet Kelowna, and Montreal New Music.
A native of France, Laurent Philippe studied at the CNSM de Paris, from which he graduated with two Premier Prix. Soon after making Canada his new home, he was appointed to the faculty of the department of music of the University of Ottawa. He then received his doctorate from the University of Washington, where he was invited to join the faculty as a guest lecturer following the completion of his degree.
Laurent Philippe studied piano with Dominique Merlet, Jean Paul Sévilla, and Béla Síki, and orchestral conducting with Peter Erös.