Award-winning singer José van Dam dies at age 85

José van Dam, Renowned Belgian Opera Singer, Dies at 85

The classical music world is mourning the loss of José van Dam, the celebrated Belgian bass-baritone who died Tuesday in Croatia at age 85. The Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium, where van Dam founded the voice section in 2004 and served as a master in residence, announced his passing on Thursday.

Born Joseph van Damme in Brussels on August 25, 1940, he studied at the Brussels Royal Conservatory before adopting his stage name for his 1960 opera debut as Don Basilio in Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège.

Van Dam’s illustrious international career began to flourish in the late 1960s during his time with the Deutsche Oper Berlin under Lorin Maazel’s musical direction. His reputation soared after performances at the 1971 Salzburg Easter Festival as Don Pizarro in Beethoven’s “Fidelio” under the baton of Herbert von Karajan, one of the 20th century’s most influential conductors.

Throughout the 1970s, van Dam conquered the world’s premier opera houses. He performed the role of Escamillo in Bizet’s “Carmen” for his debuts at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala in 1972, London’s Royal Opera in 1973, and New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 1975. The following year, he returned to the Met as the title character in Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” during the Paris Opera’s tour.

Critics and audiences particularly admired van Dam for his interpretations of the title roles in Verdi’s “Falstaff” and “Simon Boccanegra,” Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” Berg’s “Wozzeck,” and Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov.” He also garnered acclaim for his performances as Philipp II in Verdi’s “Don Carlo,” Hans Sachs in Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg,” and Amfortas in Wagner’s “Parsifal.”

Van Dam’s careful approach to his craft contributed to his vocal longevity. “Before taking on a new role that has interested me, I always looked carefully at the tessitura,” he told Opera magazine in 2010. “At age 20, I was more of a bass; with the help of careful exercises, the voice stretched further at both ends, and especially at the top. I’ve never had any particular vocal difficulties with a role, but I’ve always been careful.”

Perhaps most significantly, van Dam created the title role in Olivier Messiaen’s “Saint François d’Assise,” premiering the challenging work at the Paris Opera in 1983 and later performing it at the Salzburg Festival in 1988. New York Times critic John Rockwell praised him as “technically and interpretively impressive in his extremely long role” during the premiere run.

Despite his tremendous success in opera, van Dam once expressed a preference for concert performances. In a 1981 interview, he reflected on the difference between his stage persona and his true self: “When I’m on the stage and I’m acting, I’m singing Figaro or Giovanni or Amfortas,” he said. “I’m not José van Dam!”

His final opera role came in 2010 when he performed in Massenet’s “Don Quichotte” at La Monnaie in Brussels, bringing his stage career full circle in his home country.

Throughout his distinguished career, van Dam received ten Grammy Award nominations and won three times. His recording of Ravel songs with conductor Pierre Boulez earned him a vocal solo honor in 1984, and he won best opera recording for Strauss’s “Die Frau ohne Schatten” in 1992 and “Meistersinger” in 1997, both under conductor Georg Solti’s direction.

Van Dam’s artistry extended to film as well. He portrayed Leporello in Joseph Losey’s 1979 cinematic adaptation of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and starred as an opera singer named Joachim Dallayrac in “The Music Teacher,” a 1988 film that received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.

With van Dam’s passing, the opera world has lost one of its most distinguished interpretive artists, a singer whose technical mastery was matched by profound musical intelligence and dramatic insight throughout a career spanning five decades.