André d’ Arkor

André d'Arkor (Liège, 1901 – Brussels, 1971) was a Belgian tenor who, in addition to singing, directed one of the leading opera houses in his country. His career unfolded mainly on French-speaking stages and in the lyric repertoire, a field in which his consistent production and the breadth of his upper register earned him recognition.

He trained in his native Liège, where he made his debut in 1924 as Gérald in Lakmé. He then performed in Lyon and Ghent before joining La Monnaie in Brussels in 1930 as its principal lyric tenor. During the seventeen years he remained at that theatre, he performed more than forty roles and took part in several premieres, among them that of Lattuada's Le preziose ridicole. In 1931 he sang Des Grieux in Manon at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, and in 1937 and 1940 he can be heard in works by Lehár, Der Zarewitsch and Das Land des Lächelns. He later became director of the Théâtre Royal de Liège, a post he held for twenty years, a period during which more than fifty new productions were staged.

His legacy is associated as much with his work on stage as with his recordings, which reflect an even voice and a very wide upper register.