Guillemette Laurens

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Guillemette Laurens (born 6 November 1957 in Fontainebleau, France) is a French operatic mezzo-soprano.

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Career

Laurens was born in Fontainebleau in 1957. She studied music theory, piano and chamber music at the Toulouse Conservatory. [1] Guillemette trained at the Academy of Toulouse and debuted as Mother Goose in The Rake's Progress at Salle Favart at the age of 19, following this with Enrichetta in I puritani . [2] She took part in the first modern revival and premiere recording of Lully's Atys (Cybèle) conducted by William Christie.

She has made recordings of medieval music, Monteverdi operas and of contemporary works. [2]

In 1979, she participated in the founding of the ensemble Les Arts Florissants, the spearhead of the Baroque revival movement with which she worked intensively throughout the 1980s under the direction of Christie. [3] She sang Phénice and the Naiad in Gluck's Armide at the Innsbruck Early Music Festival in 1985. [4] As part of the Lille festival in October 1988 she sang the title role in Stradella's San Giovanni Battista. [5]

She sang the title-role in a performance of Bononcini's II trionfo di Camilla in Utrecht in 1997, "projecting a wide range of emotion and taking lots of vocal risks, [Guillemette Laurens] excelled in the title role". [6]

Laurens has taught at the conservatoires in Toulouse and Toulon and the Conservatoire Hector Berlioz in Paris. [2] In 2002 she became a Chevalier dans l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres. [2]

Recordings

References

  1. ↑ Source : Goldberg, portail de la musique ancienne
  2. 1 2 3 4 Biographical note for Guillemette Laurens. In: Programme book for Ciboulette, Opéra-Comique, 2013, p.131.
  3. ↑ Source : site de l'orchestre baroque Les Passions
  4. ↑ Leslie, Murray. Innsbruck - Gluck and Cavalli. Opera , 1985 Festival Issue, p.57.
  5. ↑ Pitt, Charles. Report from Lille. Opera, January 1989, Vol.40 No.1, p.93.
  6. ↑ Davidson, Michael. Report from Utrecht. Opera, December 1997, Vol.48 No.12, p.1472.
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