Hubert Claessens
Bass - Baritone

Born in Ulestraten, Holland, Mr. Hubert Claessens studied at the Conservatory of Music in Maastricht where he graduated “Cum Laude” in Voice, Opera and Classical Saxophone and he was awarded with the Edmond Hustinx Prize 1986.

During the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels 1988 he was distinguished as Third Laureate and was also rewarded with the special “European Prize of the Art Song”, with highest recommandation by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. This led to many  songrecitals all over the world, among others in Brussels, Vienna, Paris, Dublin and Tel-Aviv.

Hubert Claessens made his opera debut in 1984 as Roberto in I Vespri Siciliani at the Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam conducted by Edo de Waart. He was engaged for two seasons and has sung in Il Prigioniero (Dallapiccola), La Fianciulla del West (Puccini), Parsifal and Meistersinger (Wagner) as well as the role of Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte (Mozart), Colline in La Boheme (Puccini) and in Debussy’s Pelleas et Melisande conducted by Michel Plasson.

The “ Nationale Reisopera” in Holland invited him through the years to interpret the role of Samuel in Un Ballo in Maschera and Monterone in Rigoletto ( both by Verdi), Schaunard in La Boheme and Collatinus in Benjamin Britten’s Rape of Lucretia, followed by succesful appearances as Papageno and Sprecher in the Magic Flute and Masetto and Leporello in Don Giovanni, roles which he also performed throughout France, Spain and Ireland. Most recently he sang in Erik Vos’ beautiful production of Monteverdi’s Orfeo with the same company.

Mr. Claessens made his debut at the  Salzburger Festspiele, the Wiener Staatsoper and The Theatre Le Chatelet in Paris with the world-premiere of “ Die Schwarze Maske” by Christof Penderecki under the supervision of Herbert von Karajan and sang the leading role of Young Sam in Bernstein’s  “A Quiet Place”.From that moment on he was involved in many new creations.He sang the title-role in the worldpremiere of Walter Hus’ opera “Orfeo” in Brussels, Antwerp, Paris, Vienna, Lisboa, Berlin, Amsterdam etc.

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra invited him to perform the solopart in “ A Survivor of Warsaw” by Schoenberg conducted by Klaus Tennstedt.He interpreted Orgon at the first production of “ Spiel von Liebe und Zufall” by Helge Joerns at the Schwetzingen Festival in Germany.Recently he appeared in a new opera by Guus Jansen/Friso Haverkamp/ Pierre Audi in the title-role of “Hierº” for the Netherlands Opera Amsterdam. There will be a recording of this production.
He also sang the main part in a new opera by the Dutch composer Gerard Ammerlaan:
“Ontstaan in Grote Nood”.

Besides singing he played and plays many contempory compositions on saxophone, some especially written for and recorded with Hubert Claessens as a soloist. This brought him to many beautiful concert halls such as the Birmingham Symfony Hall, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, The Philharmonie in Cologne, the Konserthus in Stockholm and many others.

In the meantime he was a regular guest in Karlsruhe, especially in the Handel Festival.He could be heard in many concerts and opera productions like “Admeto”, “ Jephta”,  “Imeneo”, and “ Samson”.
This gave him the opportunity to work with Nicholas Mcgegan, Roy Goodman, Charles Farncombe and others. On the same stage, by the way, he interpreted Dr. Doolittle in My Fair Lady.

Hubert Claessens has always enjoyed performing opera’s and concerts with baroque orchestras.
His first appearance with La Petite Bande conducted by Sigiswald Kuijken was as Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte,  recorded live in Budapest during a tour in 1992.This made them work together on many nice occasions. Hubert was involved in their 1995 European tour of Mozart’s Don Giovanni as Leporello, also recorded live, and in 1998 he sang the Count Almaviva during their tour and recording of Le Nozze di Figaro. With the same orchestra he also appeared in Antonio Caldara’s “ I Disingannati”, during the Festwochen der Alte Musik in Innsbruck, and on many tours in Japan, Portugal, Spain, Austria, Switzerland and France singing the bass-parts in oratorio’s such as Haydn’s Creation, Mozart’s Requiem and Bach’s St. John’s Passion.

That brings us to France and Jean-Claude Malgoire. With his wonderful orchestra : La grande Ecurie & la Chambre du Roy, he accompanied Hubert Claessens in many different productions, like Don Giovanni (Leporello), Le Nozze di Figaro (Figaro),the Magic Flute (Papageno, Sprecher and Sarastro) and La Clemenza di Tito (Publio), all by Mozart.
In 1997 they invited him to produce, sing and conduct a long tour with concert-arias by Mozart, the charming opera “ Il Maestro di Capella” by Cimerosa and some instrumental pieces by Mozart.
This was after Mr. Claessens made his conducting debut with the Noordholland Philharmonic Orchestra in Haarlem.

One of Hubert’s favourite parts is Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress by Strawinsky, which he sang most recently in Amsterdam and which he will sing in 2001 in Berlin (Konzerthaus), conducted by Jac van Steen.
For the season 2000-2001 Pierre Audi has invited Hubert to sing in “ Broken Strings” and “Snatched by the gods” by Param Vir with the Belgian company  “ Transparant”.

Apart from all this Hubert Claessens is well-known as a concert singer.
He performed the St. John’s Passion, the St. Matthew”s Passion ( most recently in Japan and Europe with Michel Corboz), Ein Deutsches Requiem by Brahms, Verdi’s and Faure’s Requiem, Haendel’s Messiah and more than 80 other oratorios and concert-pieces in the finest concert halls such as the Queen Elisabeth Hall in London, Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, the Palacio de Congresos y Auditos in La Coruna ( Spain) and the Concerthall of the Conservatory in Moscow.

Hubert Claessens is a versatile artist who finds challenge to be authentic in any period or style of music, reflecting in his repertoire ranging from from Schuetz to Penderecki and even Gershwin and Cole Porter.
He has participated in numerous radio and television recordings  in Holland, Belgium, Ireland, Israel, Austria, Germany, France and Japan and can be heard on many CD recordings.

Represented by :
Ariën Arts & Music Management (Albrecht Klora)
De Boeystraat 6
B 2018 Antwerpen
Tel 0032/3/285 9680
Fax 0032/3/230 3523
mail: albrecht.klora@arien.telenet.be