Léopold Simoneau

Simoneau was the prototypical Mozart tenor, with an unusually sweet voice, strong breath control, easy pianos and pianissimos, and graceful phrasing. His unstrained head voice also made him ideal for French lyric roles, such as Wilhelm Meister in Mignon, Nicias in Thais, and Nadir in Les Pêcheurs de Perles, operas in which he enjoyed great success as well. He studied in Montreal with Salvator Issaurel and made his operatic debut there in 1941, as Hadji in Delibes' Lakmé. In 1949, he made his debuts in Paris, at the Opera-Comique as Vincent in Gounod's Mireille and at the Op...