"Dispatched the high-flown coloratura with laserlike precision and tonal beauty."
- Dallas News
BIOGRAPHY
Hailed for her “sparkling top notes and vocal brilliance, lightness and finesse” (Neue Musikzeitung) and “remarkable intelligence of vocalization as well as of legato” (Opera Forum), Canadian soprano Claire de Sévigné is enjoying an exciting and diverse international career. Named one of CBC’s Top Canadian Classical Musicians, Ms. de Sévigné was recently nominated for a Classical Album of the Year JUNO award for her Naxos album of Vivaldi Cantatas with Kevin Mallon and the Aradia Ensemble.
Recent and forthcoming 23/24 season engagements include Die Nachtigal in Die Vögel with Pacific Opera Victoria, Adele in Die Fledermaus with Rennes, Anger, Nantes and Opéra de Toulon, L'Ange in Saint François d' Assise with the Grand Théâtre de Genève and Mother in Law in Innocents with the San Francisco Opera.
Other operatic engagements have included the roles of Solveig in Peer Gynt at Ópera National de Lyon, Henriette in Halévy's L'Éclair at Grand Théâtre de Genève, Erst Dame in Die Zauberflöte with Opéra National Montpellier, La Feé in Cendrillon at Lucerne Opera House, Cunegonde in Candide at Grand Théâtre de Genève, Venus in Le Grand Macabre with the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Phani in Les Indes Galantes, Fiakermilli in Arabella with Opernhaus Zürich and the Canadian Opera Company and Blonde in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Opernhaus Zürich and the Canadian Opera Company.
Appearances on the concert platform have included Mozart concerts with the Salzburg Festival, a tour of China with the Salzburg Young Singers Project in collaboration with Hantang International Music Festival, Mozart' s Kronöngsmesse and Exsultate, jubilate with the Mozarteum Orchestra in Spain, Handel’s Messiah and a Coloratura Spectacular with the Edmonton Symphony, and La Vierge in Honegger's Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher in Amsterdam with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. Claire has also performed Mahler's Fourth Symphony and Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Niagara Symphony Orchestra, Carmina Burana with the Grant Park Music Festival of Chicago, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor for the Elora Festival of Canada, Handel’s Messiah with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and concerts for Pacific Opera Victoria, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and Opéra de Québec.
From 2015 to 2017, Ms. de Sévigné was engaged by Opernhaus Zürich, performing the roles of Hermione in a new production of Trojahn’s Orest, Feu, Princesse and Rossignol in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges, as well as the role of Angelica in Haydn’s Orlando Paladino. As a member of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble, her roles on the main stage included Despina in Così fan tutte, First Niece in Peter Grimes and Servilia in La clemenza di Tito.
Ms. de Sévigné has been awarded accolades by the Operalia Competition, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal Standard Life Competition, the Montreal International Competition, Vancouver Opera Guild, the Christina and Louis Quilico Competition, the Marcello Giordani Foundation International Vocal Competition and the Annual COC Ensemble Studio Competition.
The Montreal native is also proud to be supported by the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation, SSHRC Bombardier Master’s Research Grant, the Canadian Opera Volunteer Committee as well as the Leanara Foundation in Zürich. Ms. de Sévigné is a graduate of the Zürich International Opera Studio, Salzburg Young Singers Project and the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble. She holds a Master’s degree in Opera from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance from Montreal’s McGill University.