Choirmaster
A native of Brittany, Christophe Talmont trained at the Psalette de Rennes, now the Maitrise de Haute Bretagne, a benchmark in France, thanks to the tireless work of its choirmaster, Jean-Michel Noël, who instilled in him a taste for high standards and a passion for the human voice, and offered him his first conducting opportunities. Nourished from an early age by choral and orchestral sounds, and also thanks to his training as a clarinettist, Christophe Talmont has developed a taste for both choral and orchestral conducting.
After studying orchestral conducting at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, he was appointed conductor of the Centre National d’Insertion Professionnelle d’Artistes Lyriques in Marseille from 1989 to 1994, where he worked alongside Jean Laforge, former conductor of the Paris Opéra Chorus, and Michel Lasserre de Rozel, former conductor of the Maîtrise de Radio-France choir. This was a vital experience that helped him perfect his training and discover the versatility of the operatic repertoire. He is responsible for preparing the centre’s vocal ensemble for the Operas of Marseille, Avignon, Montpellier, the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, the Opéra-Comique in Paris and the Festival International d’Art lyrique des Chorégies d’Orange.
Throughout his career, Christophe Talmont has gained a wealth of experience in the choral field. He was Chorus Master at the Opéra National de Montpellier from 2002 to 2004, Guest Chorus Master at the Chœur de Radio France, the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, the Opéra de Lausanne, and the Operas of Rennes, Lille and Dijon. In 2023, he took on an interim role at the Opéra de Marseille and in 2021 at the Opéra Grand-Avignon, which ended with the reopening of the theatre in October 2021, with the preparation of the choir for a new production of Britten’s Peter Grimes, whose choral work was unanimously acclaimed by the press.
He has also prepared choirs for various recordings: Alfano’s Cyrano de Bergerac (DVD with Roberto Alagna), Wolf Ferrari’s Vedova Scaltra (CD), Pascal Dusapin’s Perelà Uomo di fumo (CD) with the Opéra National de Montpellier Chorus, and Salieri’s Grotta di Trifonio (CD) with the Opéra de Lausanne Chorus.
Christophe Talmont has also developed his repertoire with a cappella and oratorio pieces, thanks to his work at the CNIPAL, with the Ensemble Vocal Provence as part of the Chœur Région Sud Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur, and with the Chœur Départemental de l’Aude.
With his dual training, he has helped to enrich the symphonic-choral repertoire in Venezuela. In Mérida, he gave the first performance of Mendelssohn’s 2nd Symphony ‘Lobgesang’ (a concert recorded live by the Television of the University of the Andes) and has conducted, among others, Mendelssohn’s Psalm 42, Haydn’s Mass of St Nicholas, Schubert’s Mass in G, Brahms’s Nänie and Schicksalslied and Fauré’s Requiem.