Julien van Mellaerts
Winner of the Maureen Forrester Prize and the German Lied Award at the 2018 Concours Musical International de Montréal, Winner of the 2017 Wigmore Hall / Kohn Foundation International Song Competition, the 2017 Kathleen Ferrier Awards, and the 2015 Maureen Lehane Vocal Arts Award, New Zealand / British baritone Julien Van Mellaerts graduated with the Tagore Gold Medal from the International Opera School of the Royal College of Music. His studies have been supported by the Kiwi Music Scholarship, a Countess of Munster Award, the Hunn Trust and the ongoing support of the Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation. He is also a scholar and alumnus of the Verbier Festival Academy, the Heidelberger Frühling Lied Academy with Thomas Hampson, the Bayreuth Festspiele Stipendium, a Samling Artist and a lauréat of Fondation Royaumont. In January 2021, he was invited to return to the Royal College of Music as a member of staff to teach English Song. He is also the co-curator and co- founder of the recital series Opera in Song at Opera Holland Park.He represented New Zealand at Cardiff Singer of the World 2019, and has toured for Chamber Music New Zealand. He has given recitals at many prestigious venues including the Wigmore Hall and the Royal Opera House.
Recordings and broadcasts include Britten's War Requiem, songs by Duparc, Fauré, Richard Strauss and Vaughan Williams on Classic fM, In Tune and Lunchtime Recitals on BBC Radio 3. Other recent releases include Barber’s Dover Beach and the previously unrecorded Two Songs of Youth on Resonus Classics, Samuel Barber: The Complete Songs (Editor’s Choice for BBC Music Magazine and an Observer CD of the Week), Rodelinda on Accent CD and Russell Pascoe’s Secular Requiem on Regent CD (Gramophone Editor’s Choice for January 2023).
