Reinoud Van Mechelen graduated in singing from the Royal Conservatory in Brussels in 2012 in the class of Dina Grossberger. In 2017, he received the prestigious »Caecilia Prize« as Young Artist of the Year, awarded by a jury of the Belgian press. This prize was awarded to him in recognition of his early successes on the international stages.
As early as 2007, Reinoud Van Mechelen came to the attention of the music world when he participated in the European Baroque Academy in Ambronay (France) under the baton of Hervé Niquet. In 2011 he was a member of the Jardin des Voix founded by William Christie and Paul Agnew and subsequently became a permanent soloist in the baroque orchestra Les Arts florissants. With this ensemble he has performed at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, the Edinburgh Festival, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Royal Albert Hall and the Barbican Centre in London, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the Philharmonie and Opéra Comique in Paris and the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York.
Many well-known baroque orchestras have since invited him regularly for projects, such as Collegium Vocale Gent, Le Concert Spirituel, La Petite Bande, Les Talens Lyriques, L’Arpeggiata, B’Rock, Ricercar Consort and the European Union Baroque Orchestra.
He first appeared as the Evangelist in J. S. Bach’s St. John Passion with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and received further invitations for this part from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, among others. In recent years he has also made a name for himself on the opera stage, for example in the title role of Rameau’s »Dardanus« (Opéra national de Bordeaux) conducted by Raphaël Pichon. In 2016/17 he made his debut at Zurich Opera as Jason in Charpentier’s »Medée«, conducted by William Christie. Among numerous other engagements, the roles of Belmonte (»Die Entführung aus dem Serail«) with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris and Gérald (»Lakmé«) with the Munich Radio Orchestra should be highlighted.
In addition to numerous performances with his own ensemble a nocte temporis, there have been some special highlights in recent years: the 30th anniversary tour of the orchestra Concert Spirituel and two major international tours together with Les Arts florissants. In addition, Reinoud Van Mechelen was heard in the title role of Rameau’s opera »Pygmalion« at the Dijon Opera, made his debut at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie (Tamino in »The Magic Flute«) and appeared at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin (Hippolyte in »Hippolyte et Aricie« by J. Ph. Rameau conducted by Sir Simon Rattle).
Reinoud Van Mechelen can be heard on numerous recordings. His first solo CD entitled »Erbarme Dich« (arias by J. S. Bach) was released in 2016 on Alpha Classics and was received extremely positively by critics. He has also released other recordings with a nocte temporis on Alpha Classics: »Clérambault, cantates françaises« (2018, Diapason d’or), »The Dubhlinn Gardens« (2019), »Jéliote, haute-contre de Rameau« (2021) and »Oh, ma belle Brunette« (2022).