Celebrating his 75th birthday in 2015 is the Belgian bass-baritone José van Dam, who ranks as one of the great singers of the last quarter of the 20th century, renowned for his insight and integrity in French, Italian, Austro-German and Russian operatic roles – ranging from the Baroque era to contemporary works – and in French and German song. With his finely focused voice, notable for its nobility of tone, he could also sing both bass and high baritone roles with distinction. Van Dam was ideally cast as Strauss’ Jochanaan (Salome) and in the title role of Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer – both of which he recorded for EMI under Herbert von Karajan, For more than two decades he defined the role of Golaud in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande with his subtle but powerful interpretation, which he also famously recorded with Karajan for EMI. Among his other signature roles were Escamillo in Carmen, Jochanaan in Salome, the villains in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Philippe in Verdi’s Don Carlos and Massenet’s Don Quichotte (which marked his farewell to the opera stage in 2010 at his ‘home’ opera house, La Monnaie in Brussels). All these can be sampled in this Autograph anthology, which also features him in the comic role of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and in operatic rarities by Enescu (OEdipe), Magnard (Guercoeur), Bizet (La jolie fille de Perth) and Reynaldo Hahn (the delightful Ciboulette). The 10 José van Dam CDs, containing opera, oratorio and song, are themed as follows. The names of the composers, from the Baroque to the 20th century, indicate the breadth of José van Dam’s artistry and include a number of rarely-heard names.