After having learned with Régine Crespin and Gabriel Bacquier at the “Conservatoire de Paris”, Jean-Luc Chaignaud entered the “Ecole d’Art Lyrique de l’Opéra de Paris”.
1988 is the year of the debut of his international career thanks to Christa Ludwig.

For the Deutsche Gramophon he records in 1989 the role of Silvano in “Ballo in Maschera” with the Wiener Philharmoniker under the direction of H. von Karajan and sings this role at the Salzbourg Festival.
In 1991 he becomes member of the Vienna State Opera where he sings the great roles of his repertoire: Marcello/Bohème, Belcore/Elisir d’Amore, Nozze, Cosi, Don Giovanni, Escamillo/Carmen, Fedora, Manon, Figaro/Il Barbiere, Butterfly etc…
In 1992 he makes his debuts at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and at the Hamburg State Opera in “Le Nozze di Figaro” and at the Bregenz Festival in Escamillo/Carmen.
In 1993 he makes his debuts at the Scala in Milan in Ford/Falstaff under the direction of Riccardo Muti.

His career leads him in to the major opera houses, including Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Bonn, Köln, Dresden, the Schleswig Holstein Festival (M° Eschenbach), Paris (Theatre du Châtelet under M° Boulez, Opéra Bastille), Festival d’Aix en Provence, Bregenz Festival, London, la Fenice, Firenze (M° Sinopoli and M° Oren), Genova, Trieste (M° Oren), The Rotterdam Festival (M° Gergiev), Tel Aviv, Geneva, Athens, Barcelona/Liceu, Houston, etc…
In 2000 he made his successful debut at the MET in a series of Marcello/La Boheme.

His projects : Escamillo/Carmen in Munich, Amsterdam & Rotterdam, Fauré Requiem in Pau, Nozze di Figaro in Tours, Sharpless/Butterfly in Toulouse, Germont/Traviata in Athens, Belcore/Elisir d’Amore in Barcelona/Liceu, Lescaut/Manon at the New York Metropolitan Opera, etc…