Émile Belcourt

Émile Belcourt (27 June 1926 – 3 August 2017) was a Canadian operatic tenor. He appeared in operas at English National Opera and elsewhere, and also appeared in musicals.

Early life

Belcourt was born in Lafleche, Saskatchewan, in 1926, son of Adrien Belcourt and Jeanne ''née'' Rivard. His mother, a church organist and pianist for silent films, encouraged his musical talents.Émile Belcourt, operatic tenor – obituary.
''The Daily Telegraph'', 24 August 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2017.

He served in the Canadian navy towards the end of the Second World War. In 1949 he obtained a degree in pharmacy; while studying he continued singing lessons, and in 1949 he won a prestigious singing event in Saskatchewan, the Justice Brown Competition. Persuaded there that he should be in London, Belcourt auditioned with John Pritchard; as a result he joined the chorus at Glyndebourne in Sussex, England. During subsequent years he studied in Vienna and Paris.Obituary – Émile Belcourt, tenor and star of Scottish Opera.
''Herald Scotland'', 26 August 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2017.

Operatic career

His teacher in Vienna, Editha Fleischer, advised that he should move to baritone roles, and he unwisely made this change from 1951 with contracts in Bonn and Ulm.Christopher Webber. Obituary for Emile Belcourt. ''Opera'', October 2017, Vol.68, No.10, p1277. Following the misjudgment, he retrained in Paris and achieved success as Pelléas in Debussy's '' Pelléas et Mélisande'' for French radio.

In 1962, Belcourt appeared in Scottish Opera's first season, as Pelléas. He returned to Scottish Opera in the later years, including their production of Verdi's ''Otello'' in the second season, and as Shuysky in Mussorgsky's ''Boris Godunov'' in 1965.

In London, he appeared in 1962 with the Royal Opera as Gonzalve in ''L'heure espagnole'' by Ravel. In the following year he appeared with Sadler's Wells Opera as Pluto in Offenbach's ''Orpheus in the Underworld'' (repeating the role twenty years later in the 1983 BBC television production"Orpheus in the Underworld"
British Film Institute, retrieved 7 May 2019.). During the following thirty years, he played many roles at Sadler's Wells (later renamed English National Opera); these included Eisenstein in ''Die Fledermaus'' and Loge in ''Das Rheingold'', as well as Herod in ''Salome'', Shuysky in ''Boris Godunov'', Dr Suda in '' Osud'' and Sciocca in '' The Violins of Saint-Jacques'' (creation, 1966), and he participated in the premieres of ''Toussaint'' by David Blake and ''The Royal Hunt of the Sun'' by Iain Hamilton.

Belcourt appeared in musicals, including ''Man of La Mancha'' in London's West End in 1968 and ''Kiss Me, Kate'' at Sadler's Wells in 1970. In 1988, as Émile de Becque, he was in ''South Pacific'' at the Prince of Wales Theatre. He created the role of the neurologist in '' The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat'' by Michael Nyman in 1986.

He was described in the ''Financial Times'' as "a character tenor of great accomplishment".

Belcourt returned to Canada in 1992 and settled in Toronto. He died there in August 2017, aged 91.

Family

Belcourt married Margaret Eagle in 1951, and they had seven children. The marriage was dissolved, and in 1980 he married the operatic soprano Norma Burrowes; they had two children.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Belcourt, Emile
1926 births
2017 deaths
Fransaskois people
Canadian male musical theatre actors
Canadian operatic tenors
People from Lafleche, Saskatchewan