Jeanine De Bique and Warren Jones

Jeanine De Bique has been described as „one of the most exciting sopranos to catch onstage these days. Animated, joyful, and technically flawless, the Trinidadian vocalist with the light, starry voice that soars before landing on audiences’ ears like a musical meteor shower“ (Operawire) and a “sheer endless wealth of colour and nuances[…] a radiant, free-floating timbre.” (Opernwelt)

Highlights in 2022-23 include the return to the Opéra National de Paris as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, to
the Salzburger Festspiele for the production of Indian Queen under the baton of Teodor Currrentzis, to Theater an der Wien as Nicrotis in a new production of Handel’s Belshazzar by Marie-Eve Signeyrole and give her house and role debut at Opernhaus Zurich as Isabel in George Benjamin’s Lessons in Love and Violence.

In the US, she will perform Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Dallas Symphony, arias by Weber with the New World Symphony, Poulenc’s Stabat Mater with the St Louis Symphony Orchestra and Mozart’s Requiem with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Manfred Honeck. Ms De Bique is also looking forward to returning to the BBC PROMS at the end of the season in Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri with Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra.

Mirrors, Ms De Bique’s first solo-CD with Concerto Köln was released by Berlin Classics in 2021 to outstanding reviews. The album received the 2022 Opus Klassik Award for best solo recording Vocal, a Diapason d’Or découverte, the Edison Klassiek award as well as the Editor’s Choice award in Gramophone, Fono Forum and Opera Magazines earlier this year. The programme was presented this year in Europe and further performances follow this season in the US, including Carnegie Hall in New York.

The last two seasons saw several important role and house debuts: as Alcina in Handel’s Alcina in Robert Carsen’s acclaimed production at l’Opéra National de Paris, conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock, Poppea in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea with the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Iván Fischer, Anaï in Rossini’s Moïse et Pharaon at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Agathe in Weber’s Der Freischütz with Konzerthausorchester Berlin and Christoph Eschenbach, Bess/Porgy and Bess and as La Folie in Robert Carsen’s celebrated production of Rameau’s Platée at Theater an der Wien, conducted by William Christie. At Houston Grand Opera, she debuted the role of Maria in excerpts from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music and performed a programme of works by Handel and Mozart, conducted by Patrick Summers.

Next to these Ms. De Bique gave her solo recital debut at New York’s Carnegie Hall, appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel, Martin Fröst and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic and Herbert Blomstedt, the WDR Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck, the Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, both conducted by Wayne Marshall. She concluded the season 2021-22 with a return to the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Centre New York in Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and arias by Mozart, followed by concerts at the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal’s summer festival.

Other opera highlights include Annio in Peter Sellar’s production of La Clemenza di Tito at the Salzburg Festival and De Nationale Opera Amsterdam, Susanna/Le Nozze di Figaro for San Francisco Opera, Helena in Ted Huffman’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Deutsche Oper Berlin, the title role of Handel’s Rodelinda at Opéra de Lille, conducted by Emmanuelle Haïm and released on DVD by Erato (winner of the Opus Klassik Award 2020), Donna Anna in Don Giovanni for Opéra National du Rhin, Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare at Theater St Gallen and Aida in the world premiere of Caruso a Cuba by Micha Hamel at De Nationale Opera Amsterdam.

Early on in her career, she had the pleasure to perform Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem and Mahler’s Symphony no 8 with the late Lorin Maazel in Munich and New York respectively. Consecutive concert invitations in repertoire ranging from Handel to Beethoven, Mahler and Arvo Paert have lead to appearances at the Aspen and Ravinia Festivals, the BBC PROMS, Lincoln Centre New York, Philharmonie de Paris, Hollywood Bowl et al with a diverse list of conductors and ensembles such as Raphaël Pichon, Richard Egarr, Teodor Currentzis, Iván Fischer, Marin Alsop, Tughan Sokievh, Wayne Marshall, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Melbourne Symphony, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, MusicAeterna, as well as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Reflecting her versatility and artistic curiosity, Ms De Bique is featured on Joachim Horsley’s new album and video release ‘Caribbean Nocturnes’ with the single ‘Le M’ouri’, which fuses classical sound and Latin Caribbean Afro rhythm. She also made a guest appearance in season 2 of the Netflix series The OA.

Ms De Bique holds a Master degree from the Manhattan School of Music. Notable awards include the Arleen Auger Prize at the Hertogenbosch International Vocal Competition and Third Prize in the Viotti International Music Competition. She is a recipient of the Youth Ambassador for Peace, awarded by the National Commission of UNESCO, Trinidad and Tobago.

Warren Jones—pianist, master teacher, chamber musician, conductor, and vocal coach—was born in Washington, DC and grew up in North Carolina. A resident of New York City, Mr. Jones is a former member of the Collaborative Piano Faculty at the Manhattan School of Music. He has served as Artist-in-Residence in Music at the Mason Gross School of Music at Rutgers University, and Artist-in-Residence in Opera at New England Conservatory and at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. For many years he was the head of the Vocal Piano program during summers at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, CA.

His credentials as a musical jurist are impeccable: he was on the jury of the First China International Piano Competition in Beijing in 2019 as well as the Montreal International Vocal Competition in 2018, and has served on the juries of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the Naumberg Awards, and the Metropolitan Opera Auditions.

Having enjoyed a long performing career, he occupied the Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Chair in Principal Piano at Camerata Pacifica, and has been recital partner for Stephanie Blythe, Anthony Dean Griffey, Eric Owens, Andrew Garland, Kathleen Battle, Sidney Outlaw, Samuel Ramey, Dame Kiri TeKanawa, Christine Brewer, Barbara Bonney, James Morris, Martti Talvela, Thomas Hampson, Marilyn Horne, Carol Vaness, Richard O’Neill, and Lynn Harrell. Mr. Jones has toured with both the Juilliard Quartet and the Borromeo Quartet and has performed several times with members of the Takacs Quartet in varied repertory.

Mr. Jones has been invited three times to the White House in Washington to perform at state dinners, and he has been a guest at the United States Supreme Court for their annual musicales on three occasions.

As a conductor, Mr. Jones has led opera performances of Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Mascagni, Bernstein, and Menotti, as well as the 2014 world premiere at Houston Grand Opera of Iain Bell’s setting of A Christmas Carol, starring Jay Hunter Morris and directed by Simon Cowell.

His discography includes 32 recordings on every major label, featuring diverse content, styles, and periods. Most recently his newly-released recording with Sidney Outlaw, “Lament”, is garnering critical acclaim and reflects their ongoing interest in Black American music and poetry.

In his spare time, Mr. Jones enjoys cooking, history, politics, exercise, and music.