Jean Noté

Jean-Baptiste Noté was a Belgian operatic baritone. He graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Ghent in 1884 with first prizes in singing and lyrical declamation. He made his professional opera debut in 1885 at the Opéra de Lille as Lord Enrico Ashton in Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. From 1887-1889 he was committed to the Théatre Royal in Antwerp. He then became a member of the Opéra National de Lyon where he had major success in the operas of Richard Wagner; especially the parts of Friedrich of Telramund in Lohengrin and Wolfram von Eschenbach in Tannhäuser. He was also admired at that theatre as Roland in Jules Massenet's Esclarmonde. He left Lyon in 1893 to join the roster of principal artists at the Paris Opera where he remained for the rest of his career. He made his debut in Paris in the title role of Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto. He continued to perform with that company up until his death.