Born in Kongo - however a French citizen - Patrick Kabongo has been enthusiastic about singing since his very early childhood. While studying for a Master degree in engineering he passionately practised choral singing. After a Mozart’s Requiem in Kinshasa he was offered a scholarship to study singing at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels. His dream slowly turned into reality.
In 2009, he made his debut on stage in L’incoronazione di Poppea with the ensemble Scherzi Musicali. From 2010 to 2012, he was a member of the group of young singers of the Opéra de Rouen Haute-Normandie. In 2013, he was a member at the Académie de l’Opéra Comique in Paris.
If there is no doubt that he found his way, his true voice is just to be discovered. Following the advices from his musical coach Bertrand Halary he works on a higher, lighter repertoire and asserts himself as a true Rossini tenor. And so in 2012, he made his successful debut in the title role of Le Comte Ory with the Ensemble Matheus and Jean-Christophe Spinosi. The next year he performed Norfolk in Rossini’s Elisabetta, Regina d'Inghilterra, again with the Ensemble Matheus.
From 2015 to 2017, he was a member of the Accademia del Maggio Musicale in Florence in order to deepen his Belcanto repertoire. Since then, he has performed at the Teatro Maggio Musicale in Firenze (Lindoro in L'italiana in Algeri), at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo (Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore), at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza (Rossini’s L'inganno felice), at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari (Elvino in La Sonnambula), at the Oman Opera (Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia), at the Opéra du Rhin and at the Cologne Opera (Offenbach’s Barkouf), at the Metz Opera (Don Pasquale, Le Comte Ory, Rota’s Un chapeau de paille d’Italie), at the Tours Opera (L'italiana in Algeri and Il barbiere di Siviglia), at the Nice Opera (Boieldieu's La Dame Blanche), at the Klagenfurt Opera (Il barbiere di Siviglia) and at the Festival „Rossini in Wildbad“ (L'equivoco stravagante, Moïse et Pharaon, Tancredi, Armida, Ermione).
In the last two seasons, he made his debuts at the Opéra de Québec, the Irish National Opera (Ernesto in Don Pasquale) and the MusikTheater an der Wien (Donizetti's Les Martyrs). He also appeared at the Opéra d'Avignon (Il turco in Italia), the Festival Donizetti in Bergamo (French version of Lucia di Lammermoor), the SWR Festival in Schwetzingen (Grétry's Zemira e Azor, Italian version), the "Rossini in Wildbad" Festival (Rossini's Le Comte Ory), the National Theatre Mannheim (Handel's La Resurrezione), the Krefeld-Mönchengladbach Opera (Il viaggio a Reims), the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (La Cenerentola) and Leipzig Opera (La Cenerentola).
His plans in 2024/25 include La Cenerentola at the Teatro Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florenz, Il viaggio a Reims at the Theater Krefeld und Mönchengladbach and La fille du régiment at the Opéra Royal de Versailles.
September 2024
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