French bass Nicolas Testé is a regular guest at many of the world’s leading opera houses, including the Opéra National de Paris, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, the Washington National Opera, the Palm Beach Opera, the LA Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the State Opera in Munich, Berlin, and Hamburg, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Zurich Opera House, the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, the Grand Théâtre in Geneva, and festivals in Glyndebourne and Orange.

His extensive repertoire includes Agamenon (Iphigénie en Aulis), Claudius (Hamlet), Mephistopheles (Faust), The Four Villains (Les contes d’Hoffmann), Nourabad (Les pêcheurs des perles), Jupiter (Castor et Pollux), Marcel (Les Hugenots), Oroveso (Norma), Ramfis (Aida), Ferrando (Il trovatore), Don Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Alvise (La Gioconda), Sir Giorgio (I puritani), Raimondo (Lucia di Lammermoor), and Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte).

In the 2025/26 season, he will return to the Zurich Opera House as Comte Des Grieux (Manon) and to the Berlin State Opera as the Old Hebrew (Samson et Dalila). At the Grand Théâtre de Genève, he will appear as Arkel in Pelléas et Mélisande. He will also sing the role of Landgrave Hermann in Wagner’s Tannhäuser for the first time as part of a recording project.

He began the 2024/25 season as Frère Laurent in Mariame Clément’s new production of Roméo et Juliette at the Berlin State Opera, followed by a revival of the same work at the Zurich Opera House. He appeared as Comte Des Grieux (Manon) at the Hamburg State Opera. Another highlight of the season was his return invitation to the New York Metropolitan Opera, where he appeared as Colline in La bohème under the baton of Alexander Soddy. On the concert stage, he sang Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the George Enescu Philharmonic in Bucharest, among other works.

In 2023, he took on the role of Arkel in Pelléas et Mélisande as part of a tour by the Budapest Festival Orchestra under the baton of Iván Fischer, with performances in Italy, Budapest, and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie.

In addition to numerous opera productions, Nicolas Testé regularly performs in concerts and opera galas with internationally renowned stage partners and symphony orchestras.

Nicolas Testé first studied piano, bassoon, and music history in his hometown of Paris before embarking on a career as a singer. He studied at the Opéra National de Paris and the Centre de Formation Lyrique. In 1998, he won second place in the “Voix Nouvelles” competition.