Biography
In the 2013/14 Season French bass Nicolas Courjal sings Zuniga (Carmen) for The Royal Opera. He made his Royal Opera debut as Zuniga in 2010, and other roles with the Company have included First Soldier (Salome) and Alberti (Robert le diable), and Le Comte Des Grieux (Manon) on the Company's 2010 Japan tour.
Courjal was born in Rennes in 1973. He trained first in Rennes and then at the Paris Conservatoire, on graduation joining the companies of the Opéra Comique and Wiesbaden State Theatre. He has sung widely in France, with companies including La Bastille, the Théâtre du Chatelet, Capitole Toulouse and in Nice, Montpellier, Avignon, Lyon, Boredeux, Nantes and Geneva. His repertory includes many of the major French roles for bass, among a wide range of other roles.
He is a prolific concert performer, repertory including Dvorák’s Stabat Mater, Berlioz's Le Damnation de Faust, Saint François d’Assise by Messiaen and songs by Ibert and Duparc. He is a keen supporter of contemporary work, and has performed in the premieres of pieces by Philippe Fenelon, Marius Constant, Laurent Petitgirard and Pascal Dusapin.
