About
Winner of the Maureen Forrester Prize and the German Lied Award at the 2018 Concours Musical International de Montréal, Winner of the 2017 Wigmore Hall / Kohn Foundation International Song Competition, the 2017 Kathleen Ferrier Awards, and the 2015 Maureen Lehane Vocal Arts Award, British / New Zealand baritone Julien Van Mellaerts studied at the University of Otago, before joining the International Opera School of the Royal College of Music. His studies have been supported by the 2016 Kiwi Music Scholarship, a 2016 Countess of Munster Award, the Hunn Trust and the ongoing support of the Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation. He graduated in Summer 2017, having been a Fishmongers Company Scholar, supported by a Toeman Weinberger Award studying with Russell Smythe. On Graduation, he was awarded the Tagore Gold Medal. He is also a scholar and alumnus of the 2017 Verbier Festival Academy, the 2018 Heidelberger Frühling Lied Academy with Thomas Hampson and the 2018 Bayreuth Festspiele Stipendium.
Julien will represent New Zealand at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition in June this year.
At the Royal College of Music, he sang Mr Gedge Albert Herring, Maître Pausanias Une education manquée, Nardo La finta giardiniera,Le Mari / Le Directeur Les mamelles de Tirésias and Gabriel von Eisenstein Die Fledermaus.His engagements elsewhere have included Gustavo Faramondo for the London Handel Festival, Count Danilo The Merry Widow for Ryedale Festival Opera, Schaunard La bohème for Haddo House Opera and Opera Holland Park as a Christine Collins Young Artist, Dandini La cenerentola for Diva Opera and Second Nazarene / Second Soldier Salome at the 2017 Verbier Festival.His broadcasts include In Tune (BBC Radio 3), Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn (Rádio Clásica España) and Salome (Medici TV).
Highlights of 2017 / 2018 included performances with Julius Drake at the Wigmore Hall, the Enniskillen International Beckett Festival and the Juan March Foundation, Madrid, The Referee Mozart vs Machine for Mahogany Opera Group, Harlequin Ariadne auf Naxos for Longborough Festival Opera, the title role in Eugene Onegin for Cambridge Philharmonic Society, Mr Fezziwigin the premiere of Will Todd’s A Christmas Carol for Opera Holland Park, Vaughan Williams Hodie with The London Chorus at Cadogan Hall, recitals for Leeds Lieder, Lewes Festival of Song and the London Song Festival and Elizabeth with the Royal Ballet at the Barbican Hall.
During 2018 / 2019, he tours with James Baillieu for Chamber Music New Zealand. His current engagements additionally include further recitals with Julius Drake at the Pierre Boulez Saal, Berlin and at Temple Song, London, Schaunard La bohème for New Zealand Opera, the title role in Stanford’s The Travelling Companion for New Sussex Opera (to be recorded by SOMM Recordings, and nominated for an International Opera Award), Britten War Requiem in Lincoln and Salisbury Cathedrals, Copland Old American Songs with the Joensuu City Orchestra, Messiah with the Orchestra of St John’s, Mahler Kindertotenlieder with the Kensington Symphony Orchestra and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen on tour with the Israel Camerata and with the Orion Orchestra, A Heine Liederkreis at Oxford Lieder 2018, A Sea Symphony with the Northern Chamber Orchestra, the Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation Concert at the Wigmore Hall, recitals with Simon Lepper for the Canterbury Music Club and the Lied Festival Victoria de los Ángeles (LIFE Victoria), Barcelona, and with Richard Fu at Paul Hall, New York City.
Looking ahead, his future engagements include Figaro Le nozze di Figaro under the direction of Sir András Schiff and Roland Villazón at Salzburg MozartWoche 2020, Papageno Die Zauberflöte and The One-Eyed Brother Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Verbier Festival, Brahms German Requiem with Ensemble Aedes and Les Siècles, a return to the Wigmore Hall, a recital with Catriona Morrison and Julius Drake for the Gustav Mahler FESTIVAL Amsterdam 2020 and a return to LIFE Victoria with Christiane Karg and Simon Lepper.