Pierre Mollet

Who was Pierre Mollet?

Pierre Mollet was a Canadian operatic baritone of Swiss birth. He became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1974 and in 1979, he married the Canadian pianist Suzanne Blondin.

Mollet was trained at the Lausanne Conservatory where he was a pupil of Charles Panzéra. In 1946 he won second prize at the Geneva International Music Competition. The following year he began studies in music interpretation with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, France and became highly active performing as a concert soloist with orchestras in that city during the late 1940s and 1950s. From 1948 to 1962, he traveled throughout Northern Africa and France performing in concerts sponsored by the Jeunesses Musicales International. He also sang in concerts at a number of notable music festivals such as the Strasbourg Festival and the Aix-en-Provence Festival.

Mollet made his professional opera debut in 1952 portraying Pelléas in Claude Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande at the Opéra-Comique; recording the part later that year with conductor Ernest Ansermet. He went on to sing that role for performances in cities throughout Europe and South America. He created the role of Eraste in Frank Martin's opera Monsieur de Pourceaugnac; other significant roles include Albert in Massenet's Werther and Mercutio in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette.