Robert Vernay
Born Robert Grodent in the province of Liège, he grew up and studied in Brussels. He was a house tenor at La Monnaie for many years. The great photo collector and expert for Belgian and French singers, Claude-Pascal Perna wrote on Flickr: A gifted tenor who overstrained his voice, becoming a jack-of-all-trades singer at the Monnaie and in other Belgian opera houses such as Ghent. He should have sticked to his light/lyric repertoire, avoiding heavier roles such as Don José, des Grieux, Rodolfo, Pinkerton... Like many other singers attached to the Monnaie company – e.g. soprano Michèle Auber –, he was forced to sing almost any role and damaged his magnificent voice...
I want to thank Georges Cardol for the picture and recording. |
