Honoré Vaillancourt

Vaillancourt, Honoré

Honoré Vaillancourt. Baritone, actor, director, administrator, b Montreal 25 Nov 1892, d there 25 Jan 1933. His gifts as a singer and actor were evident at the Collège de St-Jean, where he studied solfège. He then studied voice with Arthur Laurendeau, Salvator Issaurel, and Albert Roberval and acting and staging with Jeanne Maubourg. He made his debut 11 Apr 1917 at the Monument national as Jean in Massé's Les Noces de Jeannette, subsequently appearing in plays and opera in Canada and the USA, singing leading roles in such works as Carmen, Faust, Lakmé, Thaïs, and La Fille du Régiment, as well as Gounod's Mireille and Philémon et Baucis, Messager's Véronique and La Basoche, and Thomas's Mignon. He founded the Société canadienne d'opérette in 1921 and served it tirelessly, as manager and 1925-33 as artistic director. For 10 seasons, 1923-33, he performed in and directed many productions. His premature death shocked the Quebec theatre world, and the society disbanded a few months later. Vaillancourt recorded three 78s ca 1913-17 for Columbia. The titles of these operetta excerpts are listed in Roll Back the Years.