Natalie Dessay Soprano

Season 24/25 Artist

After an exceptional career on the greatest international stages (New York Metropolitan Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Paris Opera…) portraying many roles including The Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute), Lucia di Lammermoor, Lakmé, Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos), Ophelia (Hamlet), Manon, Violetta Valery (La Traviata) or Marie (La Fille du Régiment) and (Pelléas et Mélisande), Natalie Dessay chose to focus on recitals, theatre and songs.

She had a decisive encounter with Michel Legrand, which confirmed her choice, and was followed by tours in Europe and in the USA, performance of Les Parapluies de Cherbourg at the Théâtre du Châtelet and recordings of two albums: Entre Elle et Lui and Between Yesterday and Tomorrow. She is regularly invited to the Théâtre du Châtelet for the musical Passion (Sondheim), staged by Fanny Ardant. In parallel, she continues her career as a recitalist in a duo with the pianist Philippe Cassard. Together they recorded the albums Debussy, Fiançailles pour rire and Schubert.

Natalie Dessay is the first French opera singer to be appointed Kammersängerin at the Vienna Staatsoper. Theatre now holds a central place in her artistic life. She made her stage debut in Und at the Théâtre Olympia in Tours, which was later revived at the Théâtre des Abbesses, Athénée Théâtre Louis-Jouvet and Dejazet in Paris. In July 2018, she played at the Avignon Festival in Certaines n’avaient jamais vu la mer, then in La Légende d’une vie at the Théâtre Montparnasse and for many other French theatres, and in Un pas de Chat sauvage at the Théâtre National de Strasbourg, in Bourges, Forbach and Marseille. Future projects include recitals with Philippe Cassard, the role of Tognina (L'impresario delle Smirne) in Louvain-La-Neuve, Lièges, Brussels, Caen, Antibes and the Athénée Théâtre Louis-Jouvet, and Mrs Lovett (Sweeney Todd) at the Opéra national du Rhin.

At the Paris Opera: Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Olympia), 1992, 2000; Alcina (Morgana), 1999 ; The Magic Flute (the Queen of the Night), 1999, 2000; Les Indes galantes (Fatime, Hébé, Zima), 1999; Ariadne auf Naxos (Zerbinetta), 2003; Lucia di Lammermoor (title-role), 2006; La Bohème (Musetta), 2009; La Sonnambula (Amina), 2010; Giulio Cesare (Cleopatra), 2011; Manon (title-role), 2012; La Fille du Régiment (Marie), 2012