Christian Papis, International Tenor Lyrique, graduated from the Ecole d’Art Lyrique de l’Opéra de Paris, and was very quickly considered for his qualities as among the best French tenors of his generation between 1982 and 1999.
He has performed in France and abroad, in the greatest opera houses, interpreting some sixty title roles in the following works: Werther, Traviata, Manon, Rigoletto, La Damnation de Faust, Faust, Mireille, Lakmé, Roméo et Juliette, La Flute Enchantée, Idoménée, Katia Kabanova, Jenufa, Lulu, Woccek, Eugéne Oneguine, etc. ….
He has had as conductors and directors some of the greatest – to name but a few: Plasson, Prêtre, Muti, Harnoncourt, Ozawwa, Nagano, Jordan, Barenboïm, Lombard, Dutoit…… for the conductors, Lavelli, Chéreau, Ponelle, Stein, Bourseiller, Wilson, for the prestigious directors….in brief, by great men.
The year 2000 was marked by a tragedy, a medical accident forced him to stop his beautiful career! But he did not stop his musical impetus for all that, and decided to devote himself to teaching, in order to pass on his experience and his passion for this magnificent but difficult art, full of pitfalls.
He founded Opéracademy in Nantes in 2001 to train and produce students, and his teaching has taken him to the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Paris, Nantes and Bordeaux ending up in Perpignan in 2010 where Daniel Tosi entrusted him with the position of Professor of Artistic Teaching, head of the Singing Department, and Study Advisor at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional.
In parallel to his teaching duties, and since 2014, he has been the Artistic Director of “Musiques et Voix en Pays Catalans”, and brilliantly manages the Festival L’Automne Musical en Vallespir, to produce diverse and varied quality shows.
In the same year, he formed a 35-member choir, “L’Accent Lyrique”, with which he regularly performs in the region, to defend the lyrical repertoire (sacred music, secular music, operas, etc.) with the regular participation of professional soloists, most of whom are his best students.
From 2016 to 2018 he was the Artistic Director, Choirmaster and Director of Opera Mosset. This allowed him to mount beautiful opera projects, including Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict, which he directed, conducted and both on stage to interpret the role of Somarone (the music master) given four times in Mosset and as part of the summer 66 in 2017 at the Palace of the Kings of Mallorca, and repeated as part of Amuvall at the Salle de l’Union in Céret the same year.
Christian Papis is a man full of energy, who takes pleasure in sharing his knowledge and his rich experience, in all simplicity, which has allowed him since 2014 to give new impetus to the Association “Musiques et Voix en Pays Catalans” with its beautiful team of volunteers who are active for the smooth running of the Festival, every year. Not forgetting its Choir “L’Accent Lyrique” and its brilliant pianist Emilie Benterfa, to add to the highlights.