Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian

French countertenor Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian studied at the Centre of Baroque Music in Versailles before entering the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied with Yves Sotin.

While he was a student, he performed with Christophe Rousset, Hervé Niquet and Florence Malgoire in venues such as the Theater an der Wien, the Opéra Royal and Chapelle Royale in Versailles, the Arsenal in Metz, the Opéra National de Montpellier, the Opéra de Massy and the Fondation Louis Vuitton. He also appeared as a soloist with Raphaël Pichon, Emmanuelle Haïm, Benoît Haller, Christophe Coin and Philippe Pierlot.

Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian’s early career highlights included his operatic debut as Athamas (Semele), Charpentier’s Le Malade imaginaire and a collaboration with ballerina Ana Yepes at the Centre national de la danse.

He was one of the HSBC Révélation Award winners at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in 2017 and won the Prix Grand Avignon at the first Concours Jeunes Espoirs at the Opéra d’Avignon.
He is much in demand at various opera houses and concert halls around Europe and his recent appearances include Unulfo (Rodelinda) at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris with Le Concert d’Astrée and Emmanuelle Haïm and Ottone (Agrippina) and Marte (Legrenzi’s La divisione del mondo) with Les Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset. He has also recently recorded Farnace (Mitridate, re di Ponto) with Les Musiciens du Louvre and Marc Minkowski and the title role in Stradella’s San Giovanni Battista with regular collaborators Le Banquet Céleste and Damien Guillon. Other appearances across France and the UK include Tolomeo and Nireno (Giulio Cesare) and the title role in Handel’s Rinaldo.

Future operatic engagements include Ottone (L’incoronazione di Poppea) in Aix, Rinaldo at the Opéra de Rennes, as well as on tour, and Nireno at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian will also appear in concert with Le Poème Harmonique, Le Banquet Céleste and Le Concert d’Astrée, as well as making his Wigmore Hall debut with Ensemble Correspondances.