Karine Deshayes

Biography

French mezzo-soprano Karine Deshayes studied musicology at the Sorbonne, then singing at the Paris Conservatory. To further her work, she attended Régine Crespin's masterclasses. Once she graduated, she joined the troupe of the Lyon Opera in 1998. There, she sang the roles of Cherubino in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Stéphano in Gounod's Romeo and Juliet, and especially Rosina in Rossini's The Barber of Seville. At the same time, she also took on the role of Elena in Rossini's The Lady of the Lake at the Radio-France Festival in Montpellier. In 2002, she received First Prize in the "Voix Nouvelles" competition.

At the same time, the small role of the Marmiton in Dvorak's Rusalka allowed her to take her first steps at the Paris Opera, while she sang the Second Lady in Mozart's The Magic Flute in Toulouse, Mercédès in Bizet's Carmen in Orange, Irène in Handel's Tamerlano at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Boulotte in Offenbach's Bluebeard in Avignon. She gradually took on more important roles, such as Angelina in Rossini's La Cenerentola in Bordeaux in 2004, as well as the title role of Berlioz's Béatrice et Bénédict in Strasbourg in 2005. With her growing fame, she took part in the Salzburg Festival for the first time as the Second Lady in The Magic Flute. In 2006, Karine Deshayes made a notable debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in the role of Siebel in Gounod's Faust. She was regularly invited by the Paris Opera to perform major roles in the repertoire. During the 2009/2010 season, she reprised her role as Rosina in The Barber of Seville at the Bastille and as Elena in The Lady of the Lake at the Palais Garnier. In 2011, she played Dorabella for the first time in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte before returning to Lyon as Charlotte in Massenet's Werther. The mezzo also made her debut at the Teatro Real in Madrid in the demanding role of Urbain in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots. That year, she was named best lyric artist at the Victoires de la musique classique. In 2012, she performed her first Carmen at the Paris Opera, where she tackled Handel's Julius Caesar in Egypt in 2013, playing Sesto. That same year, she sang the title role in Massenet’s Cendrillon for her Liceu debut. Karine Deshayes returned to the Met in 2013 as Isolier in Le Comte Ory, then took on the roles of Isoletta in L’Etrangère in Marseille and Romeo in Les Capulets et les Montagues in Paris in 2014. Back in Paris, she sang the title role in Le Couronnement de Poppée before returning to the Chorégies d’Orange as Fenena in Nabucco. She sang the title role in La Belle Hélène in Toulon in 2014, while Cenerentola opened the doors of the San Francisco Opera for her. In 2015, the role of Nicklausse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann took her to the Met, before Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni brought her back to the Paris Opera. In 2016, she returned to Avignon for the role of Elisabeth in Donizetti's Marie Stuart in concert version before being elected Lyric Artist of the Year for the second time at the Victoires de la Musique Classique. Madrid welcomed her as Adalgisa in Bellini's Norma the same year. The mezzo then worked on Ravel's repertoire with L'Heure espagnole (Concepcion) in concert version at the Bordeaux Opera.

In 2017, she triumphed in Lyon in the title role of Gluck's Alceste. Then, she sang Elvira in Bellini's Les Puritains in concert version at the Montpellier Festival and Mère Marie in the Dialogues des Carmélites for her debut at La Monnaie. In 2018, the Saint-Étienne Opera offered her the title role of Rossini's Semiramide. She plays Astasie in the rediscovery of Tarare by Salieri, in concert in Versailles, at the Théâtre de la Vienne, at the Philharmonie de Paris and in Caen. In 2019, she takes the role of Marguerite in La Damnation de Faust in concert in Nice, then sings Peace in Le Triomphe du Temps et de la Désillusion at Versailles. In 2019, she takes the role of Balkis in La Reine de Saba by Gounod in concert in Marseille, then finds Angelina in La Cenerentola by Rossini in Liège. She wins the Victoire de la Musique Classique Artiste Lyrique 2020, ex æquo.

Source: olyrix.com