Eustase Thomas-Salignac

Eustase Thomas, known under the stage name Salignac or Thomas-Salignac[1] (29 March 1867[2] – 6 November 1943 in the 7th arrondissement of Paris)[3] was a French tenor and lyrical singing professor.

He then joined the Conservatoire de Paris where he followed the courses of Victor Alphonse Duvernoy and won the prize for opéra comique by singing the role of Don José in Bizet's Carmen.

After a tour in the northeast of the country, he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera of New York on 11 December 1896, performing Don José in Carmen, where he responded to the already famous soprano Emma Calvé.

Recruited to the post of director of the Casino municipal de Nice [fr] in 1912, he gained experience as a show business owner.

Apart from a short interlude at the head of a French lyrical troupe touring Canada and New York in 1926, Salignac remained faithful to this house where he completed his career.

Under the Nazi occupation, he compromised himself by sitting as a member of the Music Section Executive Committee (chaired by composer Max d'Ollone) from the Groupe Collaboration.

In one of the single excerpts containing his voice (there is also a recording of the act 3 finale from Gounod's Faust in which he can be heard singing a single word at the end of the recording), Salignac can be heard along with Marcella Sembrich in a portion of the love duet from Donizetti's La Fille du régiment, under the direction of Philippe Flon, during the performance given on 30 January 1903.