Bruno Laplante was born in Beauharnois, Quebec, where he came into contact with French music at an early age, since the well-known vocal works of Massenet, Franck, and Hahn were an integral part of his family life. He studied with Father Léonce Jacob, who was to have a decisive influence over his education, at the Collège Bourget in Rigaud. Father Jacob introduced him to a broad range of repertory and provided him with a strong basic technique: exemplary diction and a sense of phrasing and nuance, in addition to his growing interest for the French repertory.
He then prepared for admission to the Montreal Conservatory with Édouard Wooley and, once accepted, studied French opera with Raoul Jobin, and French art song with Roy Royal. He also made his first appearances on the concert stage: in a Serenade by Léo Delibes for Geneviève Bujold in À quoi rêvent les jeunes filles, as Siméon in Debussy’s L’Enfant Prodigue with the Conservatory orchestra and choir, and as a chorister in L’Arlésienne by Daudet and Bizet, under the direction of Wilfrid Pelletier.
After five years of study, he was awarded a Premier Prix diploma, with great distinction, in vocal performance, and went on to train with Pierre Bernac in Paris for three years. This is where he acquired the true art of musical interpretation, deriving the essence of each song, and especially of its literary text, and then communicating the entire range of its colours to the audience. His time in France also provided him an opportunity to gain an inside view of European culture. He took part in several national and international competitions, and won various awards and prizes, including a Special Performance Prize in Guelph (Ontario).
Upon returning to Quebec in the early 1970s, he organized several important recitals of French art songs. The scope of his repertory resulted in a number of recording engagements for radio broadcasts, bringing his name before the general public. He was receptive to new music, and gave the first performances of several works. He also sang for television, toured for Jeunesses Musicales in both Canada and France, and founded and conducted the Montreal ensemble “Cantabile.”
His international career developed quickly following the release of his first recitals on the Calliope label. He toured in Europe, as a soloist in large-scale works for choir and orchestra such as Les Béatitudes by César Franck, in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande (recorded live), and in operas by Massenet and songs by Duparc with orchestral accompaniment. He appeared in the first European performance of Debussy’s La Chute de la Maison Usher in Frankfurt with Eliahu Inbal, and worked with conductors such as Jean Fournet, Spiros Argiris, Charles Dutoit, Franz-Paul Decker, Pierre Bartholomée, Philippe Herreweghe, Kenneth Montgomery, James de Priest, Louis de Froment, Henry Lewis, José Cérébrier, and Jérôme Kaltenbach.
He also performed recitals in prestigious venues such as Wigmore Hall in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Kungstring Diligentia in the Hague, Salle Gaveau in Paris, the Musikverein in Vienna, Theatro Sao Luis in Lisbon, the Bunka Kaikan, Oji Hall and Casals Hall in Tokyo, Izumi Hall in Osaka, and at the Festival du Marais in Paris, the Aix-en-Provence Festival, the Nuits de Septembre in Wallonia, the Flanders Festival, and the Ottawa Festival in Canada.
Recording has long played an important role in his artistic career, and he is best-known for his personal vision of each work, his artistic curiosity, his interest in research, and in particular for his performances of both well-known and neglected works. He has recorded for the national radio services of Norway, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Romania, Switzerland, Greece, Spain, Portugal, England, and especially France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, in addition to frequent appearances on the Japanese and Canadian national networks.
In addition to being invited to several opera companies in France, Germany, and Canada, Bruno Laplante, as an artistic director, produced some fifty operatic works of all styles, amounting to over 800 performances, employing some 400 artists, 200 creators and craftspeople—a unique effort to revive the presentation of opera in Canada and to open the market to young professional artists. He was also a lecturer at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) for many years.
Since 1989, he has been appearing as part of an opera duo with mezzo-soprano France Duval. From their home base in Quebec City, they have toured internationally. In 1998, for the Fêtes de la Nouvelle-France, they recreated the first Canadian historical opera, L’Intendant Bigot by Ulric Voyer, and in May 2004, they presented the world premieres of two works published by the NTM: the cantata Fernand (1839) and the hymn La Liberté éclairant le monde (1876) by Charles Gounod. In October 2003, Bruno Laplante was honoured with the Medal of the National Assembly of Quebec.
His latest passion is music publishing and, over the last few years, he has taken on a monumental project: the publication of an Anthology of Music from Quebec, from its origins to today, from Calixa Lavallée to François Morel. Sixty scores are already available.
Recently, France honoured him by making him a Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters of the French Republic. In December 2011, he will be inducted into the Canadian Opera Hall of Fame.
