Lionel LHOTE, (Belgium) started his vocal education at "l’Académie de Musique de La Bouverie-Frameries" with his father. Subsequently he studied at "Conservatoire Royal" in Mons with Marcel Vanaud and Jacques Legrand and eventually graduated at Brussels’ "Conservatoire Royal de Musique" with a "First Prize for Concert singing" and the "Superior Diploma of Lyric Art" with "greatest distinction". In 2004, he reached the Finals and became Laureat of the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Singing Competition of Belgium. He was also award with the  "Audience Prize". Meanwhile he belongs to the leading baritones of his generation with repeated engagements throughout Europe's prestigious opera houses.

News !

Recent role debuts as Henry VIII (one of the rarely performed operas by Camille Saint-Saëns) here in a new production signed Olivier Py at the ROH La Monnaie and as Hamlet by Ambroise Thomas at the ROH Wallonie Liège,  have again confirmed the artist’s excellency as interpreter of the French romantic opera repertoire. If this Belgian baritone has over the past years repeatedly gained international recognition he's now raised to the rank of the best interpreters of his generation, both for the way he lives his characters as for his vocal potential. Other roles sung during the current season were Don Pedro de Hinoyosa in the new production signed bei Laurent Pelly of Offenbach’s La Périchole at Théâtre des Champs Elysées next to Nilakantha in Lakmé at ROH Wallonie Liège.

Meanwhile his voice has developed the essential dramatic skills enabling him to sing important Verdi roles without compromising on legato, creamy sound and impeccable diction. His sublime interpretation of Paolo Albiani in Simon Boccanegra or Posa in Don Carlos – both premiered at Opéra royal de Wallonie - testify to his aptitude for the more dramatic repertoire.

A singer all over the stages

As a result of his steady improvements over the past years, Lionel Lhote's has gained notoriety on Europe's main stages, with invitations by: La Scala Milano where he debuted as Saint-Joseph in Berlioz' L'enfance du Christ, the BBC Proms (Royal Albert Hall London) as Fieramosca in Berlioz' Benvenuto Cellini  as by the Glyndebourne Festival to take part as Pandolfe in the production of Cendrillon. Next to a string of successes as Dottor Malatesta in Don Pasquale (Donizetti) at the ROH La Monnaie and Amonasro in Aida at ROH Wallonie Liège. Furthermore he sang Figaro at Liceu Barcelona (house debut), was cast as Mercutio and Lescaut at the opera house of Monte-Carlo, made his debut at Glyndebourne Festival as Don Iñigo (l’Heure espagnole) and Le Fauteuil/L’Arbre (L’Enfant et les sortilèges) and appeared as Faninal (Der Rosenkavalier) in Geneva, Rivière in Volo di notte (Dallapiccola) in Frankfurt, Dandini (La Cenerentola) in Stuttgart and Marcello and Zurga at the Opera house of Muscat (Oman).

Repertoire squared

Lionel Lhote sings it all ! From Bizet, over Massenet, Gounod, Offenbach, Delibes, Saint-Saëns, Ravel to Boesmans ... from Mozart and Rossini, over Verdi, Puccini to Dallapiccola ... next to Johann Strauss, Lehar and Richard Strauss ... to name just a few.

It all began at Opera House of Giessen where he appeared in Faust (Spohr), Aeneas (Purcell), Vater in Haensel und Gretel Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia as well as Zar in Zar und Zimmermann" by Lortzing a.o. Subsequently Lionel Lhote participated in production in Aachen : Père Germont (La Traviata) and Scarpia (Tosca). Back home in Belgium he enhances his relationship with the ROH Wallonie Liège in André Chénier/Giordano as Mathieu, La Forza del Destino/Verdi as Fra Melitone, Cosi fan tutte as Don Alfonso, Guillaume Tell by André Ernest Modeste Grétry as Guesler, La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein as Général Boum, Zurga in Les Pêcheurs de perles, Don Carlos in Ernani and Escamillo in Carmen. The Flanders Opera engaged him as Barbe-Bleue (Ariane et Barbe Bleue/Dukas), Figaro (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) and as Leporello (Don Giovanni).

As a result of his successful debut at ROH La Monnaie as Starveling in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Britten) amongst others in Monsieur Choufleuri (Offenbach), in La Cenerentola as Dandini, in Lucia di Lammermoor as Enrico and in Massenet’s Don Quichotte as Sancho Panza and his Cendrillon as Pandolfe, in Fledermaus as Frank, in Romeo and Julia as Mercutio, in Manon Lescaut as Lescaut and in Béatrice et Bénédict as Somarone.

Since 2002, Lionel Lhote appears frequently in France : as Père Germont in various productions thoughout the country, as Figaro (Barbiere di Sivigla) and Paolo Albiani (Simon Boccanegra) in Avignon, as Chorèbe (Les Troyens, Berlioz) in Strasbourg, as Albert in Werther (directed by Rollando Villazon), Père Germont, Leporello and Don Alfonso in Lyon, Papageno (Zauberflöte), Falstaff in Tours, Ottokar (Freischütz, Berlioz version) in Nice, Sharpless (Butterfly) in Bordeaux, Don Alfonso (Nozze di Figaro) and Popolani in Barbe-Bleue/Offenbach (Opéra de Nancy) and Schaunard in La Bohème at Chorégies d’Orange and at the Paris Bastille.

Artistic friendships

Lionel Lhote has sung under the baton of Silvio Varviso, Evelino Pido, Patrick Fournillier, René Jacobs, Andreas Spering, Philippe Auguin, Patrick Davin, Julian Reynolds, Marc Minkowksi, Stefano Montanari, Kazushi Ono, Alain Guingal, Johannes Willig, Julia Jones,Robin Ticciati, Roberto Rizzi-Brignoli, Gérard Korsten, Jacek Kaspszyk, Emmanuel Joel-Hornak, Emmanuel Krivine, Adam Fischer, Alain Altinoglu and Carlo Rizzi  and was directed by David MacVicar, Karl-Ernst & Ursel Herrmann, Guy Joosten, Achim Freyer, Laurent Pelly, Dieter Kaegi, Rolando Villazon, Keith Warner, Mariusz Trelinski, Jonathan Miller, Waut Koeken etc...

He appeared as a soloist with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Symphonic Orchestra of Mulhouse, the Warsaw Philharmonia, the Monnaie Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio ...

CV-UPDATE 2023 : please contact the agency to get the most recent version of Lionel LHOTE'S biography.