Ravel L’Heure espagnole & L’Enfant et les Sortilèges

Kazuki Yamada is Artistic and Music Director of Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo (OPMC), a role he commenced in 2016. Alongside his commitments in Monaco, he is also Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO). Yamada has forged a link between Monaco and Birmingham having conducted collaborative performances with CBSO Chorus of Mendelssohn’s Elijah in both cities in 2019 and Orff’s Carmina Burana in 2023. CBSO Chorus opened the current season with Yamada in both Birmingham and in Monaco with performances of Verdi Requiem and Mahler Symphony No. 2 respectively. Time spent under the close supervision of Seiji Ozawa served to underline the importance of what Kazuki Yamada calls his “Japanese feeling” for classical music. Born in 1979 in Kanagawa, Japan, he continues to work and perform in Japan every season with NHK Symphony Orchestra and in his position as Principal Guest Conductor with Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. He continues regular guesting commitments with Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and Orchestre National de France. Strongly committed to his role as an educator, Yamada appears annually as a guest artist at the Seiji Ozawa International Academy Switzerland. Yamada studied music at the Tokyo University of the Arts. He first achieved international attention upon receiving first prize in the 51st Besançon International Competition for young conductors in 2009. After living in Japan for most of his life, he now resides in Berlin.

Born in Monaco in 1960 Jean-Louis Grinda began his career in 1981 as Artistic Secretary at the Opéra d’Avignon and Chorégies d’Orange. From 1986 to 1999 he was Director of the Grand Théâtre de Reims. In 1996 he was appointed General Manager and Artistic Director of the Opéra royal de Wallonie (Liège), a position he held until 2007. During his tenure he initiated an eclectic programme, making his debut as stage designer with Singin’ in the Rain (2001 Molière Award for best musical), and a highly acclaimed production of Wagner’s Ring. Since then he has directed over 40 operas and musicals, from Paris to Tel Aviv, Montreal, Rome, Hong Kong, Santiago de Chile, Tokyo, Shanghai… For fifteen years, from 2007 to 2022, he was Director of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, during which his notable achievements include broadening the repertoire, increasing the number of performances, initiating operations aimed at attracting wider audiences to the theatre, especially younger audiences. In 2015 he created with Cecilia Bartoli an orchestra attached to the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Les Musiciens du Prince – Monaco. In 2016 he was appointed Director of the Chorégies d’Orange. Recent and future projects include La bohème at the Royal Opera House Muscat in Oman (May 2024), Bianca e Falliero for the opening of the Rossini Festival in Pesaro (August 2024), followed by Guillaume Tell, Maria Stuarda, Werther, La Fille du régiment…

The Opéra de Monte-Carlo is well known to Rudy Sabounghi given that as a student at the Lycée Albert 1er he already had walk-on parts there, and it was there that he discovered his vocation for opera. However, as no one is a prophet in their own country, it was with other leading theatre companies and opera houses that he had to prove to himself. This led him to work for artists such as Klaus Michael Gruber (Schaubühne in Berlin, Monnaie de Bruxelles, Theater an der Wien in Vienna, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Operhaus Zurich…), Luc Bondy (Young Vic in London, Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, Burgtheater & Akademie in Vienna, Berliner Ensemble, Schauspielhaus in Zurich, BAM in New York), Jean-Claude Berutti (Opéra de Lyon and Vilnius Opera, Comédie-Française, Théâtre du peuple in Bussang, Théâtre national Wallonie-Bruxelles, NTGent in Gand), Jacques Lassalle (Comédie-Française, Oslo, Athens, Venice), Luca Ronconi (Monnaie, Teatro Argentina in Rome), Deborah Warner (Wiener Festwochen), Jean Liermier (Geneva, Lausanne), and more recently with Fabrice Murgia, Muriel Mayette and Arnaud Desplechin. For dance he has worked with Anne-Teresa de Keersmaeker (Brussels, Antwerp, Copenhagen) and Lucinda Childs (Ballet et Opéra du Rhin). He has of course often worked with Jean-Louis Grinda, in Monaco as well as at the Operas of Rome, Valencia, Liège, Vienna, Chorégies d’Orange, Macerata Opera Festival. In August 2024, at the Rossini Festival, he designed the set for Pesaro’s Bianca e Falliero, directed by Jean-Louis Grinda.

Laurent Castaingt divides his time between theatre, dance and opera, constantly seeking to diversify the genres.  He has collaborated with personalities as diverse as Alfredo Arias, Bernard Murat, Jean-Louis Grinda, Richard Brunel, Jean-Claude Auvray, and René Loyon, as well as with Karel Reisz, the Japanese choreographer Hideyuki Yano, Roman Polanski, Gérard Desarthe and François Marthouret, Sylvie Testud, Laure Duthilleul, Madeleine Marion, Pierre Barrat and Marie-Noël Rio, Jean-Claude Berutti, Marie-Pascale Osterrieth, Alain Delon and many more. He has designed the sets and lighting for the theatre adaptation of Virginie Despentes’ novel King-Kong Théorie at the Théâtre de l’Atelier (directed by Vanessa Larré). His research on luminous matter and nature inspired an outdoor installation in Geneva, Écorces vives, as well as a collaboration with the comic book artist François Schuitten for Planet of Visions, for Expo 2000 in Hanover. He has worked for major venues in Paris, Vienna (Volksoper), Barcelona (Liceu), Rome (Teatro Valle), Buenos Aires (Teatro Colón), the opera houses of Hong Kong, Valencia, Tokyo, Dallas, the Chorégies d’Orange, the Sporting de Monaco. He has designed the lighting for more than twenty operas at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, more recently Carmen, Thaïs, Madama Butterfly, Il turco in Italia, Werther, La Damnation de Faust, La traviata, La Fille du regiment and La bohème. He has won three nominations for the Molière award for best lighting design. He is at present working on a book for Deuxième Époque publishers, devoted entirely to the work of stage lighting and its rapport with painting.

After studying dance with Rosella Hightower, Eugénie Andrin was singled out by Éric Vu An, who hired her as a soloist with the Avignon Opera Ballet. She asserts her choreographer vocation and creates many ballets on the opera stage for notably the Israeli Opera of Tel Aviv, the Opera of Santiago-de-Chile, the Teatro Carlo Felice of Genoa, the Opera of Lausanne, the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, the Theater Erfurt, the Opéra de Bordeaux, the Korean National Opera in Seoul, the Shanghai Opera, as well as for the Opéra de Monte-Carlo and the Chorégies d'Orange (Die Zauberflöte, Eugene Onegin, L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, L’Homme de La Mancha, La traviata, Guillaume Tell, Tannhäuser, Adriana Lecouvreur, Samson et Dalila, Thaïs, Carmen, La Damnation de Faust…) In Paris, she choreographed two musicals: Sol en Cirque (written by the French pop singer and songwriter Zazie) and Aimé et la Planète des signes. She has been engaged on several occasions as a guest choreographer at the National Romanian Opera House in Timişoara. In November 2020, she created L’Histoire du Soldat for the Ballet de l’Opéra Grand Avignon. A privileged partner of the Anthéa Theater (Antibes) which has co-produced each of its creations since 2013, the Compagnie Eugénie Andrin is programmed in various cultural venues and events, such as the Théâtre National de Chaillot, the Cannes Dance Festival, the Théâtre National de Nice… In July 2020, Eugénie Andrin was named Knight of the French Order of Arts and Letters.

Born in Livorno (ltaly) in 1960, Stefano Visconti studied the piano and then choral conducting with Fosco Corti and Roberto Gabbiano, as well as orchestra conducting with Piero Bellugi and Giancarlo Andretta. He was appointed choirmaster at Opéra de Monte-Carlo in 2007. Before this he was choirmaster at the Teatro Goldoni, Livorno (1991-2001), Choirmaster at the Opéra-Théâtre d’Avignon (2001-2007), as well as Choirmaster at the Festival Puccini, Torre del Lago (1999-2015). From 1984 to 2001 he conducted the Guido Monaco Polyphonic Choir of Livorno which, under his direction, won several national awards (Vittorio Veneto, Arezzo and Florence competitions). In 2000 he founded the Chamber Choir of Tuscany, formed of professionals. He directed the reconstitution of the complete sacred works of Giuseppe Cambini for soloists, choir, and orchestra. Since 2008 he has conducted the choirs of the Sanxay Lyrical Evenings. He is the artistic and music director of the Monte Carlo Chamber Choir. He has made several recordings with Foné, Agora and Kikko Classics, in particular several of Mascagni’s operas (L’amico Fritz, I Rantzau, Lodoletta, Guglielmo Ratcliff, Silvano, Cavalleria rusticana, Iris and Sì). Since 2017 he has directed the coordination of the choirs for the Chorégies d’Orange festival.

After earning a degree in musicology, French mezzo-soprano Gaëlle Arquez graduated in 2009 from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris. In 2011 she was named “Opera Revelation” at the Victoires de la Musique Classique. She made her performance debuts at the Lille Opera (Prince Charming in Cendrillon). In 2016, she sang the title role of Carmen in Frankfurt and at the Royal Opera House in London. She appeared as Isolier (Le Comte Ory) at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, Adalgisa (Norma), Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande) and the title role of Serse in Frankfurt, the title role in Armide at the Vienna Staatsoper, Carmen at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. In 2019/20, she sang the Muse and Nicklausse (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) at the Vienna Staatsoper and then made her Metropolitan Opera debut in New York in Le nozze di Figaro (Cherubino). She then portrayed Charlotte (Werther) in Frankfurt and Vienna, the title roles of La Belle Hélène and Giulio Cesare and Dorabella (Così fan tutte) at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (Paris), Isabella (L’italiana in Algeri) at La Scala in Milan, Circé at the Royal Opera in Versailles, Angelina (La Cenerentola) at the Liceu in Barcelona. A regular guest at the Paris Opera, she sang there Don Giovanni (Zerlina), Falstaff (Mrs Meg Page), L’incoronazione di Poppea (Drusilla, Fortuna), Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Muse, Nicklausse), Alcina (Ruggiero), La Cenerentola (Angelina), Carmen (title role), Don Giovanni (Donna Elvira) and Giulio Cesare (title role).

Considered one of the best French tenors of his generation, Cyrille Dubois is an artist with an insatiable appetite for discovering new repertoire. His flexible timbre, mastery of nuances and unlimited musicality allow him to cover a broad spectrum of the opera repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary music, and from the classical period to French comic operas. He discovered singing as a child at the Maîtrise de Caen. He then entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris in the class of Alain Buet, and continued at the Atelier Lyrique of Opéra de Paris. This led to major engagements: Teatro alla Scala in Milan (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Monnaie de Bruxelles (La Dispute), Zurich Opera (Hippolyte et Aricie), Opéra royl de Wallonie in Liège (Les Pêcheurs de perles), Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (Point d’orgue by Thierry Escaich, Mitridate, The Barber of Seville), Opéra de Paris (The Magic Flute, Così fan tutte, Alcina, Ariadne auf Naxos, Le Roi Arthus, Les Troyens, Trompe-la-Mort), Opéra-Comique (Le Domino noir, Fortunio)… His desire to promote the French repertoire has led him to work frequently with the Palazzetto Bru Zane (Le Saphir, La Reine de Chypre, La Caravane du Caire, L’Île du rêve…), and the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles (Persée, Dardanus, Acanthe et Céphise). His passion, however, lies in performing lieder and melodies, a repertoire he discovered when working with Anne Le Bozec and Jeff Cohen. He founded Duo Contraste with the pianist Tristan Raës.

French tenor Vincent Ordonneau began his career as a soloist of the renowned French boys’ choir Les Petits Chanteurs à la Croix de Bois, followed by studies at the Conservatory of Lyon and an early career as an engineer. He has since become a noted specialist in the character tenor repertoire, with a reputation for works sung in French and a focus on 20th and 21st century compositions, such as Michel Tabachnik’s Benjamin, dernière nuit at the Opéra de Lyon, and Enescu’s Œdipe at the Salzburger Festspiele and the Opéra National de Paris. He recently sang the Four Servants in Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, the Remendado in Carmen at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden (London) and the Arena di Verona, Schmidt in Werther at Covent Garden, Bardolfo in Falstaff in Nice, and The Chaplain in Dialogues des Carmélites at the Glyndebourne Festival and the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse. Additional roles elsewhere include Goro in Madama Butterfly, Rodolphe in Guillaume Tell, Torquemada in L’Heure espagnole, Tanzmeister & Brighella in Ariadne auf Naxos, Basilio in Le nozze di Figaro, Pong in Turandot, Spoletta in Tosca, Vezinet in The Italian Straw Hat, and First Jew and Fourth Jew in Salome. Highlights in the 2024/25 season include Spalanzani in Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Third Jew in Salome at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Don Curzio in Le nozze di Figaro at the Glyndebourne Festival, and the Remendado in Carmen at the Arena di Verona.

Florian Sempey is one of the most highly sought-after baritones on the international scene. His first solo album, Figaro? Sì! (2022), recorded with the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine and Marc Minkowski, is devoted to Rossini, the composer who guided his brilliant career debut. His roles include Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, his signature role, at Opéra de Paris, the Royal Opera House of London, the Pesaro Rossini Festival, the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, the New National Theatre of Tokyo, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (Paris), the Opéra de Bordeaux, the Capitole de Toulouse, the Opéra de Marseille, the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, the Chorégies d’Orange and the Opéra de Saint-Étienne. He is a regular performer at Opéra de Paris (Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Valentin in Faust, Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette, Nevers in Les Huguenots, Dandini in La Cenerentola, Bellone and Adario in Les Indes galantes), as well as at Opéra de Bordeaux, where he made his stage debuts at the age of 21 in the role of Papageno. He was Marcello in La bohème at the Royal Opera House and the Monte Carlo Opera, Dandini at the Bavarian State Opera (Munich), the Capitole de Toulouse and the Liceu de Barcelona, Dandini and Prosdocimo (Il turco in Italia) at Teatro Real in Madrid, Guglielmo (Così fan tutte) at the Liceu de Barcelona and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Valentin at the Dutch National Opera (Amsterdam), and has performed Handel’s Apollo e Dafne with the Berliner Philharmoniker.

A graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris, Matthieu Lécroart performs in a great number of theatres and concert halls, both in France and abroad (London, Madrid, Vienna, Berlin, Shanghai, Tokyo, Chicago, New York...), covering a vast repertoire. He portrayed Publio (La clemenza di Tito) at the Liceu in Barcelona; Antonio (The Marriage of Figaro) at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, in Luxembourg and at Opéra royal de Versailles; Speaker (The Magic Flute) in Versailles; Méphistophélès (La Damnation de Faust) at Théâtre du Châtelet; Zuniga (Carmen) at Opéra de Monte-Carlo; the Jailer (Dialogues des carmélites) at TCE and Teatro Comunale in Bologna. Recently he was Roi V’lan (Le Voyage dans la lune) in Nice, Limoges, Vichy, Clermont-Ferrand, Compiègne, Rouen, Massy, Reims, Avignon and Neuchâtel, Larivaudière (La Fille de Madame Angot) at TCE and Opéra-Comique, Lord Rocheford (Anna Bolena) and Géralde/Jupiter (Ariane et Bacchus by Marais) at TCE, Antonio at Opéra national de Paris. At the very last minute he stepped in to play the role of the King of Clubs (The Love for Three Oranges) at Opéra national de Lorraine (Nancy). He recorded the Bailli (Werther) in Budapest with the Palazzetto Bru Zane. This season he is Chamberlain (Le Rossignol) and Theatre Director (Les Mamelles de Tirésias) in Nice, Ricimer (Ernelinde) in Oslo, Larivaudière in Nice and Avignon, Thierry/Javelinot/the Jailer (Dialogues des carmélites) and Céphée (Persée) at TCE.

After earning a degree in musicology, French mezzo-soprano Gaëlle Arquez graduated in 2009 from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris. In 2011 she was named “Opera Revelation” at the Victoires de la Musique Classique. She made her performance debuts at the Lille Opera (Prince Charming in Cendrillon). In 2016, she sang the title role of Carmen in Frankfurt and at the Royal Opera House in London. She appeared as Isolier (Le Comte Ory) at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, Adalgisa (Norma), Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande) and the title role of Serse in Frankfurt, the title role in Armide at the Vienna Staatsoper, Carmen at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. In 2019/20, she sang the Muse and Nicklausse (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) at the Vienna Staatsoper and then made her Metropolitan Opera debut in New York in Le nozze di Figaro (Cherubino). She then portrayed Charlotte (Werther) in Frankfurt and Vienna, the title roles of La Belle Hélène and Giulio Cesare and Dorabella (Così fan tutte) at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (Paris), Isabella (L’italiana in Algeri) at La Scala in Milan, Circé at the Royal Opera in Versailles, Angelina (La Cenerentola) at the Liceu in Barcelona. A regular guest at the Paris Opera, she sang there Don Giovanni (Zerlina), Falstaff (Mrs Meg Page), L’incoronazione di Poppea (Drusilla, Fortuna), Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Muse, Nicklausse), Alcina (Ruggiero), La Cenerentola (Angelina), Carmen (title role), Don Giovanni (Donna Elvira) and Giulio Cesare (title role).

French mezzo-soprano Axelle Saint-Cirel dedicates her voice to both opera and musical theatre. She stunned everybody with her rendition of the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics from the roof of the Grand Palais. She is constantly developing her technique and interpretation skills under the guidance of renowned artists such as Sumi Jo, Anne Sofie Von Otter, Barbara Frittoli, Stéphane Fuget, and Sophie Koch, who provide her with invaluable tools to further her career. A graduate of the Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, she explores the organic expression and power of her voice on stage. Axelle seamlessly embodies characters such as Bizet’s Carmen at the Avignon Opera, Nicklausse in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann during tours in the French overseas territories, and the Mother, the China Cup, and the Dragonfly in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges at the Monte Carlo Opera’s Lyric Academy. She has portrayed Dinah, Anita, and Ruth in Leonard Bernstein’s musicals Trouble in Tahiti, West Side Story, and Wonderful Town. Axelle sang alongside Sabine Devieilhe and Mathieu Pordoy at the Salle Gaveau in Paris for the release of their album Mozart R. Strauss Lieder. She won an award at the Nuits Lyriques de Marmande competition, was a finalist at the 2023 Génération Opéra programme and a recent laureate of the Gordes International Art Song Competition. She won first prize at the Voix des Outre-mer competition in 2023.

Born in Paris, the mezzo-soprano Julie Nemer obtained Master and Bachelor degrees at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin, studying with Britta Schwarz and Christine Schäfer. She won Second Prize at the International Marmande Competition in the French Melody category, the Karine Deshayes Special Prize at the Gordes Competition. On stage she has performed the roles of Mercédès in Carmen, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Hansel in Hansel and Gretel and Despina in Così fan tutte. She is Young Artist at the Baroque Opera Festival of the Ulriksdal Palace Theatre Confidencen (Stockholm), and is participating in the Académie de l’Opéra de Monte-Carlo founded by Cecilia Bartoli, performing the roles of the Bergère, the Shepherd and the Cat in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. She has given concerts at Opéra de Toulon, the Konzerthaus of Berlin, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden of Berlin, the Flagey in Brussels, and the Salle philharmonique de Liège. She was invited to sing in Santiago-de-Chile and has participated twice in the Royal Palace of Brussels televised Christmas Concert. Well-known in the melody repertoire, she is acclaimed for her “expressiveness, her delicate timbre and her exceptional diction” (Diapason, 2022). Since 2021 Julie is artist in residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Brussels, where she trains with José van Dam, Stéphane Degout and Sophie Koch.

Floriane Hasler began her music studies by learning the French horn before entering the Maîtrise Notre-Dame de Paris, and then the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris in Chantal Mathias’s class. She also took masterclasses with Barbara Hannigan, and has just entered the fifth generation of the Opera Fuoco Company, conducted by David Stern. In 2023 she won Fourth Prize at the International Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. She made her stage debuts as Third Grace (Orfeo by Luigi Rossi), conducted by Raphaël Pichon at Opéra royal de Versailles, Opéra de Bordeaux and at the Théâtre de Caen. She performed the role of Diana (Giove in Argo by Antonio Lotti), conducted by Leonardo García Alarcón, and more recently Didone and Volupia (Egisto by Francesco Cavalli) with Vincent Dumestre at Opéra royal de Versailles, Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus) at the Philharmonie de Paris, Orpheus (Orpheus and Eurydice) in Tourcoing, Enrico (Elisabetta regina d’Inghilterra) at Opéra de Marseille, Mercedes (Carmen) at Opéra de Rouen and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (Paris). In concert she has sung Bach’s Cantatas BWV 3 and BWV 106 conducted by Masaaki Suzuki and Stephan MacLeod, the Magnificat with Marzena Diakun and Philippe Pierlot, St John Passion conducted by Simon Proust. She has also performed in works by Purcell with the Ensemble Correspondance and Sébastien Daucé, and as Bellone (Médée by Charpentier) at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.

After being artist-in-residence at the Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, Canadian soprano Florie Valiquette joined the Studio and then the Ensemble of the Opernhaus Zürich. Her musicality and virtuosity allow her to excel in a wide variety of repertoires, from baroque music to contemporary. She also performs major roles in the Mozart repertoire (Pamina and the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Giunia un Lucio Silla, Frau Silberklang in Der Schauspieldirektor, Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail) as well as in the French repertoire (the title role in Cendrillon, Sophie in Werther, Madeleine and Madame de Latour in Le Postillon de Lonjumeau, the Princess and the Bat in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, Sœur Constance in Dialogues des carmélites). She has performed on prestigious stages: Opernhaus Zürich, Verbier Festival, Glyndebourne Festival, Opéra royal de Versailles, Opéra-Comique and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Capitole de Toulouse, Opéra National de Bordeaux, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence… and regularly collaborates with Les Violons du Roy, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, Les Talens Lyriques, Le Concert de la Loge, Le Concert Spirituel. Her projects include Polifemo (Nerea) in Lille, Carmen (Micaëla) and Die Zauberflöte (Pamina) in Versailles, Hamlet (Ophélie) at the Opéra de Massy, Die Zauberflöte (Queen of the Night) at Opéra de Rennes and at Angers-Nantes Opéra, Werther (Sophie) in Genève and Strasbourg.

Florian Sempey is one of the most highly sought-after baritones on the international scene. His first solo album, Figaro? Sì! (2022), recorded with the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine and Marc Minkowski, is devoted to Rossini, the composer who guided his brilliant career debut. His roles include Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, his signature role, at Opéra de Paris, the Royal Opera House of London, the Pesaro Rossini Festival, the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, the New National Theatre of Tokyo, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (Paris), the Opéra de Bordeaux, the Capitole de Toulouse, the Opéra de Marseille, the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, the Chorégies d’Orange and the Opéra de Saint-Étienne. He is a regular performer at Opéra de Paris (Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Valentin in Faust, Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette, Nevers in Les Huguenots, Dandini in La Cenerentola, Bellone and Adario in Les Indes galantes), as well as at Opéra de Bordeaux, where he made his stage debuts at the age of 21 in the role of Papageno. He was Marcello in La bohème at the Royal Opera House and the Monte Carlo Opera, Dandini at the Bavarian State Opera (Munich), the Capitole de Toulouse and the Liceu de Barcelona, Dandini and Prosdocimo (Il turco in Italia) at Teatro Real in Madrid, Guglielmo (Così fan tutte) at the Liceu de Barcelona and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Valentin at the Dutch National Opera (Amsterdam), and has performed Handel’s Apollo e Dafne with the Berliner Philharmoniker.

Vivacious and always very invested on the stage, Jennifer Courcier is one of the most promising light sopranos of her generation. Over the last few years she has performed at the major opera houses in France, in particular the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (Yniold in Pelléas et Mélisande), Opéra de Lyon and Opéra de Marseille (Jemmy in Guillaume Tell and Fleurette in Barbe-Bleue). She was Sophie (Werther) at Opéra national du Rhin and Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Cupidon (Orphée aux Enfers) in Nantes, Nancy and Nice, the Fire and the Princess (L’Enfant et les Sortilèges) in Limoges, the Infanta (The Dwarf by Zemlinsky) in Lille, the Courtesan (Thaïs) in Monte Carlo and Tours. After studying dance and harp Jennifer Courcier trained with the children’s choir at Opéra de Paris (Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine), and made her stage debut as soloist at the age of 14 (The Cunning Little Vixen at the TCE, Flora in The Turn of the Screw in Nantes, Yniold in Toulouse). She studied at Cnipal (Marseille) and at the Conservatoire à rayonnement régional de Paris with Stéphane Fuget and Daniel Ottevaere. Winner of several competitions (Bellan, Marmande), she won the Enesco Prize at the 2016 Enesco Competition. She sings regularly with Opera Fuoco (conducted by David Stern), notably in Shanghai (Belinda in Dido and Aeneas) and at the TCE (Fiordiligi in Così fanciulli, a work by Nicolas Bacri). She participated in the Académie du Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and sang alongside Cecilia Bartoli in Le Comte Ory in Monte Carlo.

Cécile Madelin, a Franco-German mezzo-soprano, was initiated to music at an early age playing the viola da gamba. At eight, she joined the Maîtrise de Paris, where she discovered her passion for singing and performing. She graduated with high honours from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris in 2020, receiving guidance from Élène Golgevit and later from Christine Schäfer during her exchange at the Musikhochschule Hanns Eisler in Berlin. Awarded at the Gordes melody competition and the young singers competition of the Opéra d’Avignon, she has since portrayed Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro (on tour in France) and Rosita in Offenbach’s Un mari à la porte (Compiègne, Brussels, Cologne). At the Opéra de Montpellier, she performed the role of Mathilde in Poil de carotte, and was heard as Giulia in Rossini’s La scala di Seta, a co-production of the Philharmonie de Paris and the CNSMDP, and as Paquette in Bernstein’s Candide with Opera Fuoco. During the 2023-24 season, she portrayed Cherubino at the festival Concerts au coucher de soleil and Dido in Dido and Aeneas at the Burghof in Lörrach. In December 2023, as a member of the Academy of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, she debuted as the Child in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. She sang Yniold in Pelléas et Mélisande, directed by Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser, at the Théâtre de l’Athénée and the Opéra de Clermont-Ferrand. Since September 2024, she has been an artist in residence at the Chapelle Musicale Reine-Elisabeth in Brussels and a member of the 6th generation of Opera Fuoco.

A graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris, Matthieu Lécroart performs in a great number of theatres and concert halls, both in France and abroad (London, Madrid, Vienna, Berlin, Shanghai, Tokyo, Chicago, New York...), covering a vast repertoire. He portrayed Publio (La clemenza di Tito) at the Liceu in Barcelona; Antonio (The Marriage of Figaro) at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, in Luxembourg and at Opéra royal de Versailles; Speaker (The Magic Flute) in Versailles; Méphistophélès (La Damnation de Faust) at Théâtre du Châtelet; Zuniga (Carmen) at Opéra de Monte-Carlo; the Jailer (Dialogues des carmélites) at TCE and Teatro Comunale in Bologna. Recently he was Roi V’lan (Le Voyage dans la lune) in Nice, Limoges, Vichy, Clermont-Ferrand, Compiègne, Rouen, Massy, Reims, Avignon and Neuchâtel, Larivaudière (La Fille de Madame Angot) at TCE and Opéra-Comique, Lord Rocheford (Anna Bolena) and Géralde/Jupiter (Ariane et Bacchus by Marais) at TCE, Antonio at Opéra national de Paris. At the very last minute he stepped in to play the role of the King of Clubs (The Love for Three Oranges) at Opéra national de Lorraine (Nancy). He recorded the Bailli (Werther) in Budapest with the Palazzetto Bru Zane. This season he is Chamberlain (Le Rossignol) and Theatre Director (Les Mamelles de Tirésias) in Nice, Ricimer (Ernelinde) in Oslo, Larivaudière in Nice and Avignon, Thierry/Javelinot/the Jailer (Dialogues des carmélites) and Céphée (Persée) at TCE.

Considered one of the best French tenors of his generation, Cyrille Dubois is an artist with an insatiable appetite for discovering new repertoire. His flexible timbre, mastery of nuances and unlimited musicality allow him to cover a broad spectrum of the opera repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary music, and from the classical period to French comic operas. He discovered singing as a child at the Maîtrise de Caen. He then entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris in the class of Alain Buet, and continued at the Atelier Lyrique of Opéra de Paris. This led to major engagements: Teatro alla Scala in Milan (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Monnaie de Bruxelles (La Dispute), Zurich Opera (Hippolyte et Aricie), Opéra royl de Wallonie in Liège (Les Pêcheurs de perles), Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (Point d’orgue by Thierry Escaich, Mitridate, The Barber of Seville), Opéra de Paris (The Magic Flute, Così fan tutte, Alcina, Ariadne auf Naxos, Le Roi Arthus, Les Troyens, Trompe-la-Mort), Opéra-Comique (Le Domino noir, Fortunio)… His desire to promote the French repertoire has led him to work frequently with the Palazzetto Bru Zane (Le Saphir, La Reine de Chypre, La Caravane du Caire, L’Île du rêve…), and the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles (Persée, Dardanus, Acanthe et Céphise). His passion, however, lies in performing lieder and melodies, a repertoire he discovered when working with Anne Le Bozec and Jeff Cohen. He founded Duo Contraste with the pianist Tristan Raës.