Sébastien Guèze

Sébastien Guèze is one of the few French tenors who have distinguished themselves internationally in recent years in the greatest roles of the French and Italian romantic repertoire. His engagements include renowned theatres such as La Monnaie de Bruxelles, the Theater an der Wien, the Semperoper Dresden, the Grand Théâtre in Geneva, La Fenice in Venice and the Metropolitan Opera.
He recently sang Hoffmann (“Les Contes d'Hoffmann”) in Dresden and Cologne under the baton of Kent Nagano, Don José (“Carmen”) in Geneva, Leipzig and Seville, Werther at La Fenice, Faust in Omaha and Lensky (“Eugene Onegin”) in Charlotte (USA), Cinna (“La Vestale”) by Gaspare Spontini at the Theater an der Wien, Romeo (“Roméo et Juliette”) in Hong Kong, Maurizio (“Adriana Lecouvreur”) in Saint Etienne and Faust in La damnation de Faust at the Met.
He will soon also be appearing as Pinkerton (“Madama Butterfly”) at the Angers-Nantes Opera, in the role of Shakespeare at the Wexford Festival in “Le songe d'une nuit d'été” and making his debut in Palermo as Don José in Carmen.
At the beginning of his career, he completed a master's degree in international trade at the Institute of Management and Business in Montpellier and then won first prize for singing at the C.N.S.M.D. in Paris. In 2006, he won the audience prize and second prize at the Operalia – Placido Domingo competition. His signature roles include Rodolfo in “La Bohème”, which he developed at the Athens Opera under the direction of Graham Vick and has since successfully performed on the stages of La Fenice in Venice, La Monnaie in Brussels, Geneva, Helsinki, Cologne, Austin (USA), Leeds Opera North, Bordeaux and Liège.
He has also sung Alfredo (“La traviata”) at the Semperoper in Dresden, the Wielki Theatre in Warsaw and La Monnaie; Hoffmann (“Les contes d'Hoffmann”) at the Aalto Theatre in Essen, Freiburg, Bonn and Wiesbaden; Romeo (“Roméo et Juliette”) in Amsterdam, Monterrey in Mexico and Miami; Nemorino in “L'elisir d'amore” in São Paulo, Brazil; Chevalier Des Grieux (“Manon Lescaut”) in Marseille and Vilnius; the Duke in “Rigoletto” in Guadalajara and Mantua alongside Placido Domingo; the title roles in Faust in Wrocław, Toulon, Reims and Pamplona; Pelléas in Debussy's “Pelléas et Mélisande” at the Opéra de Nice; Pinkerton (“Madama Butterfly”) in Avignon; Nadir in “Les pêcheurs de perles” at the Opéra National du Rhin; and Le Chevalier de La Force in “Les Dialogues de Carmélites” at the Opéra National de Lyon.
He sings rarities from the French repertoire, including Fabrice del Dongo in Sauguet's “La chartreuse de Parme” at the Marseille Opera, Pyrrhus in Grétry's “Andromaque” in Brussels and Nuremberg, at the Festival de Radio France and at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Mylio in Lalo's “Le roi d'Ys” in Liège, Saint-Etienne, Montpellier and at the Opéra Comique de Paris, Shahabarim in Reyer's “Salambô”, Vincent in Gounod's “Mireille” in Marseille, Floreski in Cherubini's “Lodoïska” at the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome and at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées; the creations of Marius in “Marius et Fanny” by Vladimir Cosma, Jacques in “Un amour en guerre” by Caroline Glory and Patrick Poivre d'Arvor in Metz, and Christian in “Cyrano” by David Di Chiera in Miami and Detroit.
He also sings in concerts at the Chorégies d'Orange, the Salle Pleyel, the Harare International Arts Festival in Zimbabwe, the Alizés Festival in Morocco, the Oji Hall in Tokyo, the Grand Hall Philharmonic in Saint Petersburg and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
In July 2021, after 50 roles, 80 productions and 400 performances, Sébastien Guèze was appointed Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.
In the 2025/26 season, Sébastien Guèze will make his debut at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf and Duisburg as Adoniram.