Thibault de Damas

The bass-buffo Thibault de Damas has enjoyed an active career on French and European opera stages for over 14 years.

Renowned for his stage presence, his theatrical flair, and his mastery of buffo roles, he is regularly cast in comic roles from the repertoire, where his distinctive voice and acting skills are particularly appreciated.

In the Rossini repertoire, he has performed the role of Bartolo (Il barbiere di Siviglia) on numerous occasions—at the Opéra de Bordeaux and in many French opera houses—as well as Don Profondo (Il viaggio a Reims), a role he performed at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées as part of the Radio Classique Festival: “Viva Rossini!”

In the French repertoire, part of his work is devoted to Offenbach’s operas; examples include the role of Count Oscar (Barbe Bleue) at the Opéra de Lyon.

Alongside Offenbach, he performs other comic and character roles from the French repertoire, including Don Inigo Gomez (Ravel’s L’Heure espagnole) at the Opéra de Nancy, Brander (Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust) at the Opéra Royal de Versailles and the Philharmonie de Köln, Wagner (Gounod’s Faust) at the Limoges and Vichy Operas, as well as The Oak Tree and the Armchair (Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges) at the Lille, Limoges, and Lyon Operas.

Thibault de Damas regularly collaborates with Laurent Pelly, who has directed him in Snug (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) at the Lausanne Opera and the Lille Opera, and in the role of Count Oscar in Bluebeard at the Lyon Opera.

This season, among his projects, Thibault de Damas will sing the role of Count Oscar at the Lausanne Opera, Snug at the Seville Opera, and Agamemnon (La Belle Hélène) at the Avignon Opera; he will also perform as Don Iñigo in L’Heure espagnole at the Ravel Festival and as Brander in La Damnation de Faust at the Barbican Centre with the BBC.

On disc, he will perform the role of the Grand Mongol in Offenbach’s Barkouf on the Opera Rara label, followed by a concert at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester.