Belgian Count and bass-baritone
Joseph, Baron Van Damme (born 25 August 1940 in Brussels), known as José van Dam, is a Belgian bass-baritone, described as having "a magnificent resonant and expressive voice" and being "an excellent actor".
Life and career.
At the age of 17, he entered the Brussels Royal Conservatory and studied with Frederic Anspach. A year later, he graduated with diplomas and first prizes in voice and opera performance. He made his opera début as the music teacher Don Basilio in Gioacchino Rossini’s "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège in 1960, and was engaged the next year at the Paris Opera where he remained until 1965, when he sang his first major role, Escamillo from Bizet's "Carmen". He then sang for two seasons at Geneva, La Scala, Covent Garden, and in Paris. At Geneva, Van Dam sang in the première of Milhaud's "La mère coupable" in 1966. Lorin Maazel heard van Dam and invited him to record Ravel’s "L’heure espagnole" with him for Deutsche Grammophon. In 1967, Maazel asked him to join the Deutsche Oper in Berlin.
Van Dam has performed at L’Opéra de Paris, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Vienna State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Salzburg Festival, and festivals in Aix-en-Provence and Orange, France. 
Van Dam has become the Master in Residence of the singing section at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in his home country, Belgium, since 2011.
Awards.
Van Dam is also a concert, oratorio, and lieder singer and has won international awards for his performances on stage and in recordings. Berlin conferred on him the title of Kammersänger in 1974, and the same year he received the German Music Critics’ Prize. Other awards include the Gold Medal of the Belgian Press (1976), Grand Prix de l’Académie française du Disque (1979), Orphée d’Or de l’Académie Lyrique Française (1980), the European Critics’ Prize, (1985), Diapason d’Or and Prix de la Nouvelle Académie du Disque (1993), and the Orphée d’Or de l’Académie du Disque Lyrique (1994).
In August 1998, His Majesty King Albert II of Belgium made van Dam a baron, recognizing him as one of the finest classical singers. On 4 December 1999 van Dam was one of the performers at the marriage of Belgium's Crown Prince Philippe and Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz.
Van Dam is featured as one of the three interviewees in 'Doucement les Basses', with Gabriel Bacquier and Claudio Desderi discussing their approach to roles in the bass-baritone repertoire.
Films.
Van Dam appears in the films "The Music Teacher" (1988) as Joachim Dallayrac, and in "Don Giovanni" (1979) as Leporello, directed by Joseph Losey, and conducted by Maazel. Van Dam also appears as Philip in the DVD of the 1996 production of "Don Carlos" from the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris under Pappano directed by Luc Bondy, and as Hans Sachs in the 2003 Zürich Opera production of "Die Meistersinger" conducted by Franz Welser-Möst.
Recordings.
Among van Dam's extensive discography are complete studio recordings of "Carmen" as Escamillo (in 1974 under Lombard in Strasbourg, in 1975 under Solti in London and 1982 under Karajan in Berlin), as the father in "Louise" (Rudel, 1977), "Die Zauberflöte" (as the Speaker, 1980), "Faust" as Méphistophélès (conducted by Michel Plasson, 1991), "Les contes d'Hoffmann" as the four opponents of Hoffmann (in 1988 under Cambreling, and under Nagano in 1994–1996), "Don Carlos" (1996), and "Die Meistersinger" (conducted by Sir Georg Solti, 1997). In 2010, the Metropolitan released his 1980 "Wozzeck" (with Anja Silja and Richard Cassilly, conducted by James Levine) on compact disc.
With Herbert von Karajan, he also recorded "Fidelio" (1970), "Le nozze di Figaro" (1978), "Salome" (1978), "Pelléas et Mélisande" (1978), "Parsifal" (1979–1980), "Die Zauberflöte" (1980), and "Der fliegende Holländer" (1981–1983), "Ein Deutsches Requiem" (1985), as well as Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (1977 and 1983).
One of the bass-baritone's greatest successes was in the title role of Olivier Messiaen's "Saint François d'Assise". The world-premiere was recorded under Seiji Ozawa (1983), as was the Salzburg production, under Kent Nagano (1998).
References.
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MALISCH, KURT. (2001) 2016. “Dam, José van.” In: MGG Online, edited by Laurenz Lütteken. Bärenreiter, Metzler, RILM, 2016–. Accessed August 27, 2022. [URL]