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Marie-Bénédicte Souquet

Marie-Bénédicte SOUQUET   -   Soprano

Marie-Bénédicte Souquet studied at the Maîtrise of Radio-France, at the Baroque Music Center in Versailles, at the Paris National Conservatory and then at the Opera Studio of the Paris National Opera.

 

She won the Dresden Opera Prize at the Belvedere Competition in Vienna in 2004 and was then invited to sing the Queen of the Night from Die Zauberflöte at the Dresden Semperoper. She regularly took over this very part at the Opéra de Massy, then in the touring open-air opera festival in France, at the Opéra de Rouen, Tours, Angers, Nantes and also some highlights in concert in Rennes.

 

Lakmé - Délibes

Aria of Lakmé :

"Tu m'as donné le plus doux rêve..."

She was heard at the Aix-en-Provence Festival (Barbarina from Le Nozze di Figaro conducted by Daniel Harding), at the Cité de la Musique in Paris (Erste Blumenmagd from Parsifal conducted by Pierre Boulez), at the Palais des Arts in Montreal (L’Enfant et les Sortilèges conducted by Kent Nagano).

 

She sang such parts as Tytania from Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream (Tours), Elvira from L’Italiana in Algeri (Limoges, Massy, Avignon), Flaminia from Il Mondo della Luna (Fribourg), L’Amour from Orphée et Eurydice (Besançon and Limoges), Fanny from La Cambiale di Matrimonio, Belinda from Dido and Aeneas, L’Amour and Un Songe from Rameau’s Dardanus conducted by Emmanuelle Haïm (Lille, Caen, Dijon), Ines from La Favorite and The First Servant from Strauss’ Daphne (Toulouse), Despina from Cosí fan tutte (Nice), Frasquita from Carmen (Toulouse, Rennes), Noémie from Cendrillon by Massenet (Angers, Nantes), Adina from L'Elisir d'Amore (Soustons) and Dargelos/Agathe from Les Enfants Terribles by Philip Glass (touring production in France).

 

Praised for her roles in the light French repertoire, she sang in Varnay’s Les Mousquetaires au Couvent (Marie), she took part in the musical Arsène Lupin (Francine) at the Théâtre de l’Athénée in Paris and on tour, she sang in Offenbach’s Les Brigands (Fiorella) in Avignon and Besançon, and Offenbach's Monsieur Choufleuri restera chez lui (Madame Choufleuri) in Reims. She was heard in Délibes’ La Cour du Roi Pétaud (Madame de Bois-Pigeon) in Paris, Offenbach’s Pomme d’Api (Catherine) and Chabrier’s Une Education Manquée (Hélène de la Cerisaie) in Orléans, she sang in Bizet’s Le Docteur Miracle (Laurette) in Avignon, La Belle Hélène (Parthoenis) in Toulouse and Toulon, Auber’s Fra Diavolo (Zerline) in Limoges, and extracts from La Vie Parisienne (La Gantière) in Rennes. She took part in Le Crocodile Trompeur which won the award for the 'best music-theater piece' at the Molière Competition in 2014, and Orfeo – Je suis mort en Arcadie, an adaptation of Orpheus' myth at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris and on tour.

 

Since season 2020-2021, she has been an Artist in Residence in the opera houses in Angers and Nantes where she takes part in several productions - sometimes with revivals in Rennes (Laura  from Luisa Miller, Gianetta from L'Elisir d'Amore, Le Chant d'Orphée, Les Fourberies de Figaro, Die Opernprobe, Les Sauvages, Séraphine) and many series of concerts (Ça va mieux en le chantant, Ciné-Concerts) throughout the seasons.

In the concert field, she sang at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with the Dutch Radio Orchestra and the Radio Kamer Filharmonie (Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien and La Damoiselle Elue), she sang Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem with the Orchestre de Pau and on tour with the Orchestre de Lille. She sang Salle Pleyel in Paris Karl Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France. She took part in Oscar Strauss’ Ces Sacrés Niebelungen at the Cité de la Musique in Paris and at the Radio-France Festival in Montpellier conducted by Alain Altinoglu. She sang Betsy Jolas’ Quatuor n°2 with the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Charpentier’s Les Leçons de Ténèbres and a series of Rameau concerts with La Grande Ecurie et la Chambre du Roy. She sang L'Orfeo by Monteverdi in a rewriting by Luciano Berio (Paris), the Gloria and Magnificat by Vivaldi (Avignon Orchestra).

 

She recorded the part of The Vixen from Janacek’s Cunning Little Vixen (French version) for a cartoon adaptation of the opera with the Orchestra of the Opéra National de Lyon, Mozart's Notturni (CD, Klarthe) and the role of Laurette from Bizet's Le Docteur Miracle (CD, Timpani).

 

During season 2023-2024 she sings in the concert series "Ça va mieux en le chantant" in the operas in Angers and Nantes, she takes part in Saint-Saëns' Requiem during the "Printemps des Orgues" Festival in Angers and Cholet.

"Ali-Baba" de Cherubini

Air de Délia : "Fidèle ami de mon enfance..."

Opéra de Rennes // "Révisez vos classiques"

"Mârouf, savetier du Caire" d'Henri Rabaud.

Air de la Princesse : "Pourquoi ces mots inattendus...?".

Opéra de Rennes // "Révisez vos classiques".

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