Paul-Antoine Benos Dijan
Counter-Tenor
Named HSBC Revelation at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2017, Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian began choral singing at the Montpellier Conservatory before joining the choir of the Chantres du Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles. He was then admitted to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris in Yves Sotin’s class, where he earned his degree with unanimous honors. Attentive to a wide variety of repertoire, he further refined his study of operatic repertoire with Antonio Pappano, Philippe Jaroussky, and Andreas Scholl, as well as Lied and mélodie with Anne Le Bozec, Véronique Gens, Mireille Delunsch, Susann Manoff, and Hartmüt Höll.
Paul-Antoine performs as a soloist in both oratorio and opera under renowned conductors including Maxim Emelyanichev, Marc Minkowski, Vincent Dumestre, Emmanuelle Haïm, Christophe Rousset, Damien Guillon, Leonardo García Alarcón, Bertrand Cuiller, and Benoît Haller.
He made his operatic debut in 2017 in the title role of Handel’s Rinaldo at the Opéra de Nantes-Angers. He subsequently performed as Clerio in Cavalli’s L’Erismena at the Festival de Saint-Denis; Unulfo in Rodelinda at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées; Marte in Legrenzi’s La Divisions Del Mundo at the Opéra Royal de Versailles; Ottone in Handel’s Agrippina at the Halle and Dortmund festivals; the title role in San Giovanni Battista at Opéra de Nantes-Angers; Nireno in Giulio Cesare with English Touring Opera and Opera North; Farnace in Mozart’s Mithridate at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona; and La Voce di Dio in Scarlatti’s Il Primo Omicidio at the Opéra de Montpellier and at the prestigious Salzburg Festival.
In oratorio, he collaborates with ensembles such as Café Zimmermann, Correspondances, and Les Cris de Paris, performing a diverse Baroque repertoire (Bach, Schütz, Monteverdi, Purcell, etc.). He also enjoys exploring more intimate music with pianists Lucie Sansen, Sarah Ristorcelli, and Bianca Chillemi. His recording of Britten’s Canticles alongside Cyrille Dubois and Anne Le Bozec has been unanimously praised by critics. On stage, he made his solo theatre debut in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at the Comédie Française in 2019.
During the 2021–2022 season, Paul-Antoine continued to showcase a rich and varied repertoire. Highlights include his debut at the Festival de Radio France alongside Vincent Dumestre; reprising the title role in Rinaldo at Opéra de Rennes (dir. Damien Guillon); the role of Nireno in Handel’s Giulio Cesare at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (dir. Philippe Jaroussky); a series of recitals with Le Consort (dir. Justin Taylor); a Purcell program at the Wiener Konzerthaus (dir. Vincent Dumestre); and a Vivaldi/Handel program under Laurence Equilbey.
