Jean-François Brion

After studying engineering in horticulture and tropical agronomy, Jean François Brion enrolled at the Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles, where he obtained a Premier Prix in dramatic art, a Prix Supérieur in declamation with great distinction, and a certificate in methodology.

An eclectic artist born into a family of musicians, he quite naturally turned toward multidisciplinary performances, alternating between song, piano, and dramatic or non dramatic text. In addition to his own productions, he has worked with directors Frédéric Dussenne, Jean Claude Penchenat, Yves Claessens, Jean Claude Idée, Herbert Rolland, Marine Haulot, David Alexandre Maricq, Pierre Abs, Armand Delcampe, Thierry Janssen, as well as with film director Kris de Meester.

Deeply devoted to text, he has directed several productions in professional theatre: Debout les morts by Layla Nabulsi, Récits de femme by Franca Rame and Dario Fo, Iphigénie and Andromaque by Racine, in which he introduced musical elements. He also co created, together with former students, the production Guerre Fragments, which received the Grand Jury Prize at the FIESAD festival in Morocco.

He specialized in voice work for actors through training courses in Belgium, France, the United States, and Germany, working with Sylvie Storme, Françoise Walot, Joëlle Charlier, François Combeau, Andrea Haring, and Kristin Linklater.

Strongly interested in pedagogy and teaching methodology in theatre, and holder of a teaching qualification in dramatic art, he has taught courses in dramatic interpretation and declamation at the academies of Saint Josse ten Noode, Auderghem, and at the Conservatoire. At the Conservatoire, he was also the principal professor of the theatre methodology course for ten years, before devoting himself exclusively to vocal work.

Deeply interested in openness to the world, he leads workshops, takes part in conferences, and participates in ERASMUS exchanges in Italy, Greece, France, India, and the United Kingdom. With ACTING VOICE, Belgian Arts, he organizes workshops in Belgium in partnership with internationally active pedagogues, placing emphasis on training through technical courses in body, voice, and acting.

Committed to a popular and accessible theatre, and a defender of spoken and sung storytelling and of theatre as a tool for development, he now works mainly in retirement homes, cultural centers, and in corporate theatre.