Part of: Great Singers III: Evenings of Song
Get together with people who love music after this Weill Recital Hall concert for a free drink and discussion with the evening's musicians.
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The five French composers chosen for this program were all (to a greater or lesser extent) artistically connected to one another. Debussy was the “father” of the group, establishing a new, more flexible style for French songwriting. Ravel—who emulated Debussy in many ways—was the inspiration for Delage, who became his close friend and virtual disciple. Initially, Roussel took a different, more classical path, but matured into a composer who excelled in the Asian exoticism also favored by Ravel and Delage. Adopting a more colloquial approach to language, Poulenc carried French refinement and word-consciousness into the 20th century.
Sabine Devieilhe is one of the most in-demand artists in France and abroad, sought for her expansive repertoire that ranges from ancient to contemporary music. She was unanimously awarded a first-prize diploma from the Paris Conservatoire in 2011 and has subsequently been named Opera Singer of the Year (2015 and 2018) at the annual Victoires de la musique in France.
In her short career, Ms. Devieilhe has already performed roles that include Amina (La sonnambula), La Folie (Platée), Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande), Serpetta (La finta giardiniera), Bellezza (Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno), the title role in Lakmé, Adele (Die Fledermaus), Ophélie (Hamlet), Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte), Constance (Dialogues des Carmélites), Eurydice (Orphée et Eurydice), Nannetta (Falstaff), Fire/Princess/Nightingale (L’enfant et les sortilèges), Ismene (Mitridate, re di Ponto), Héro (Béatrice et Bénédict), Blonde (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), and Cunegonde (Candide). She has appeared in productions led by such conductors and directors as Jean-Claude Malgoire, Vincent Boussard, Emmanuelle Haïm, Marc Minkowski, Christophe Honoré, Jérémie Rhorer, Romeo Castellucci, and Esa-Pekka Salonen.
This season, among other roles, she sings Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) at Opernhaus Zürich; Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos) at La Scala; Marie (La fille du régiment) at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; and Hébé/Phani/Zima (Les Indes galantes) at Paris Opera.
On the concert stage, Ms. Devieilhe regularly performs with Ensemble Pygmalion, Les Ambassadeurs, Les Siècles, and Le Concert d’Astrée, and appears at Wigmore Hall, the Paris Philharmonie, and the Salzburg Festival. She has given recitals with pianists Anne le Bozec, Mathieu Pordoy, and Alexandre Tharaud.
As an Erato / Warner Classics exclusive artist, Ms. Devieilhe has recorded Rameau: Le Grand Théâtre de l’Amour (Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros); Mozart: The Weber Sisters (2016 Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album); a disc of L’enfant et les sortilèges, singing Fire/Princess/Nightingale with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France conducted by Mikko Franck; Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise with Alexandre Tharaud; and Mirages, an album dedicated to French repertoire (Recording of the Year at the 2018 Victoires de la musique).
French pianist and recitalist Mathieu Pordoy has emerged as one of the most promising coaches of his generation. Internationally acclaimed, he has coached at the most prominent opera houses, including the Vienna State Opera (the complete version of Don Carlos), Paris Opera (Les Huguenots), and Opernhaus Zürich (Les contes d’Hoffmann). He also has given master classes at the Mariinsky Academy of Young Opera Singers and—at the invitation of Joan Dornemann—held staff positions with the Canadian Vocal Arts Institute in Montreal and International Vocal Arts Institute in Israel.
As a specialist in French opera, Mr. Pordoy is regularly invited to such opera houses as the Opéra-Comique in Paris, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Grand-Théâtre de Luxembourg, Théatre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, and Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse.
Since 2008, Mr. Pordoy has collaborated on productions every summer with the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and served as coach for the festival’s young artists’ academy. As a vocal coach and accompanist, he has served on the music staffs of the Théâtre des Champs- Élysées (Tristan und Isolde, Pelléas et Mélisande, Il barbiere di Siviglia); Auditorio de Tenerife (Werther); Chorégies d’Orange (Il barbiere di Siviglia, Carmen); Oper Köln (Benvenuto Cellini, L’enfant et les sortilèges, L’heure espagnole); Teatro Municipal de Santiago (La damnation de Faust); and others. Mr. Pordoy has collaborated with such conductors as Fabio Luisi, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Gianandrea Noseda, Daniele Gatti, François-Xavier Roth, Mikko Franck, and Alain Altinoglu. He has given recitals and concerts at the Edinburgh International Festival, Palais Garnier, Musée d’Orsay, and Les Musicales du Luberon, among other venues and festivals.
This season, Mr. Pordoy makes a double debut at Carnegie Hall in Berlioz’s Lélio with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and in recital with Sabine Devieilhe. He also begins a series of recitals throughout Europe with American tenor Michael Spyres.
Mr. Pordoy graduated with honors from the Paris Conservatoire, where he taught from 2006 to 2011.
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