Bernard Imbert

Born in Marseille, Bernard Imbert has won awards at the international competitions of Toulouse, in French melody, and Verviers (Belgium) in singing.

For his professional début he joins the musical comedy troupe performing Les Misérables at the Mogador Theatre in Paris. The show is a huge success with the public and also enjoys professional recognition, winning both a Molière and a Victoire de la Musique award.

Over the following months he performs at the Comic Opera, the Capitole Theate in Toulouse, the Grand Theatre of Nancy and the Opera House in Avignon. At the Madeleine Theatre in Paris he sings Rue de la Gaieté Offenbach, a musical show that retraces the life of Mozart on the Champs Elysées.

From 1994 to 2003, Bernard Imbert performs as a soloist in the Nice Opera troupe, which allows him to widen his repertoire and develop his career alongside some of the greatest names in opera, singing not only Mozart, Haydn, Bizet, Gounod, Verdi and Puccini, but also Janacek, Strauss, Stravinsky, Françaix. He is regularly invited by Eve Ruggieri to take part in music festivals organised in the heart of Antibes and at the Château de Lacoste in the Vaucluse.

In addition to this, he produces Jacques Offenbach’s La Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein for the Festival of Martina Franca (Italy), directed by Pier-Luigi Pizzi and performed by Lucia Valentini-Terrani (recording available on the Dynamic record label)

In Munich he sings pieces by Gabriel Pierné and Ralph Vaughan Williams at a concert with the Radio Bavaroise Orchestra, conducted by Marcello Viotti.

He has always been interested in directing, and makes his directorial debut with Another Carmen at the Château de Roquebrune Cap-Martin festival. He follows this with La Folle Nuit de l’Opérette, performed at the Verdure Theatre in Nice.

In parallel with his singing career (Schaunard in La Bohème, Nardo in La Finta Giardiniera, Alidoro in Cenerentola) he also directs Offenbach dans tous ses éclats at the Francis Gag Theatre in Nice – an anthology of the famous composer that has since been performed in several other French theatres.

As part of the Voix du Domaine Renoir festival in Cagnes sur Mer, he directs Les Contes d'Hoffmann with the Rumanian Radio Orchestra conducted by John Burdekin and featuring, amongst others, Luca Lombardo in the title role.

Bernard Imbert has also directed a new production of Rossini’s L'Italiana in Algeri at the Nice Opera House, which has received great public acclaim. This production has been performed at the Toulon Opera House with the same level of success.