Jacques Bouhy

Jacques Bouhy was a Belgian baritone who trained at the Liège Conservatory and made his debut at the Paris Opéra in 1871 as Méphistophélès. He moved to the Opéra-Comique, where he created the title role of Massenet's Don César de Bazan in 1872 and, three years later, Escamillo in Carmen, which made him the first singer of the Toreador Song. He sang at Covent Garden from 1882, then went to New York as the first director of the National Conservatory of Music of America. He returned to Paris to teach; Clara Butt and Louise Kirkby Lunn were among his pupils.