Belgian baritone Lionel Lhote started his vocal education at the Conservatoire Royal in Mons with Marcel Vanaud and Jacques Legrand and eventually graduated at Brussels’ Royal Conservatory. His professional career started at Opéra Royal de Wallonie (Liège) where he participated in productions such as Les Contes d’Hoffmann and Don Carlo. Soon followed his German debut at the Opera House of Giessen where he appeared in Faust (Spohr), Aeneas (Purcell), Vater in Haensel und Gretel, Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia as well as Zar in Zar und Zimmermann by Lortzing a.o.

Subsequently Lionel Lhote went to Aachen (Germany) to interpret Père Germont in La Traviata and Scarpia in Tosca and made several comebacks at Opéra Royal de Wallonie to appear in André Chénier/Giordano (as Mathieu), in La Forza del Destino/Verdi (as Fra Melitone) and in Cosi fan tutte (as Don Alfonso). The Flanders Opera engaged him as Barbe-Bleue in Ariane et Barbe Bleue de Dukas, Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Leporello in Don Giovanni.

At Brussels Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie Lionel Lhote appeared in Midsummer Night’s Dream (Britten), Monsieur Choufleuri (Offenbach), Werther (Massenet), Giulio Cesare, and later in La Cenerentola as Dandini, in Lucia di Lammermoor as Enrico and very recently in Don Quichotte as Sancho Panza (under the baton of Marc Minkowski), a part for which he got lavish praise and which he revived in the mean time at the Opera House of Palermo.

Since his international breakthrough Lionel Lhote is guesting in Europe’s most renowned opera houses and festivals. This current and next season he will be appearing at Bordeaux Opera House as Sharpless in Butterfly, at La Monnaie as Pandolfe in Cendrillon and Lescaut in Manon Lescaut, at Opéra Royal de Wallonie as Guesler in Guillaume Tell by the Belgian composer Grétry and at Grand Théâtre de Genève to sing Faninal in Rosenkavalier. Further plans include engagements in Lucia di Lammermoor (Enrico), La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein (Général Boum), Faust (Valentin), Fledermaus (Frank) and Les Pêcheurs de perles (Zurga).

Lionel Lhote has sung under the baton of renowned conductors such as Silvio Varviso, Evelino Pido, Patrick Fournillier, René Jacobs, Andreas Spering, Philippe Auguin, Julian Reynolds, Marc Minkowksi, Stefano Montanari, Kazushi Ono, Alain Guingal, Johannes Willig, Julia Jones, Roberto Rizzi-Brignoli, Gérard Korsten, Emmanuel Joel-Hornak and Emmanuel Krivine. He was stage directed by David MacVicar, Karl-Ernst Ursel Herrmann, Guy Joosten, Achim Freyer, Laurent Pelly, Numa Sadoul, Dieter Kaegi , Rolando Villazon etc...

Since 2002, Lionel Lhote is frequently singing in France. He was cast as Père Germont in various productions, got invited by the Massenet Festival to appear in Le Jongleur de Notre-Dame, interpreted Figaro (Barbiere di Sivigla) at Avignon Opera, made his debut in Les Troyens/Berliozas Chorèbe at Strasbourg (Opéra national du Rhin) and guested on a regular base in the Opera Houses of Monte-Carlo, Marseille and Bordeaux with parts such as Ourrias in Gisèle, Luna in Trovatore, Faninal in Rosenkavalier and Papageno. Lionel Lhote has built a special partnership with the Opera House of Lyon, that welcomed him amongst others as Albert in Werther (stage directed by Rollando Villazon), Père Germont and as Leporello and Don Alfonso.