Marina Viotti | |
|---|---|
| Born | 30 April 1986 Lausanne, Switzerland |
Marina Viotti (born 30 April 1986) is a Swiss-French operatic singer (mezzo-soprano).
Marina Viotti was born on April 30, 1986, in Lausanne, in the canton of Vaud. [1] A dual French-Swiss national, [2] she is the daughter of Swiss conductor Marcello Viotti and French violinist Marie-Laurence Geneviève Jacqueline Bret, and the sister of conductor Lorenzo Viotti. [3] She has a younger brother, Alessandro, a horn player at the Lyon Opera, and a younger sister, Milena, also a horn player at the Munich Opera. [4] She spent her childhood in various places, notably in Lorraine. Following her father's death in 2005, she moved to Lyon with her family. [2]
After graduating with a flute diploma in 2000, [2] Viotti has performed in various musical genres including jazz, gospel, and metal. [5] [6] She also studied literature and philosophy and attended business school in Marseille before moving to Vienna in 2011 to train in opera singing with Heidi Brunner. [2] [7] In 2013, she joined Brigitte Balleys's class at the HEMU in Lausanne, where she earned a soloist diploma. Viotti, a qualified mezzo-soprano, then continued her studies with Raúl Giménez in Barcelona. [8]
During her solo career, Viotti was hired by the Lausanne, the Zurich and Munich Operas, as well as the Lucerne Theatre. In 2015, she won the Belcanto International Prize at the Rossini Festival in Wildbad and, the following year, was awarded Third Prize at the Geneva Competition. She has also received several scholarships, including the Leenaards Scholarship in 2016. [8] In 2017, she won First Prize at the Kattenburg Competition in Lausanne. [5] In 2018, she was named a finalist in the Operalia Competition and was named Young Singer of the Year at the International Opera Awards in 2019. [9] [10] In 2022, she was awarded the Swiss Music Prize by the Federal Office of Culture. [11] [10]
In 2023, Viotti won the Victoire de la Musique Classique in the category of "Olyric Artist of the Year." [12] She also participated in the second day of the 36th edition of "Un violon sur le sable" (Fiddler on the Sand), on Tuesday, 25 July 2023.
On 26 July 2024, Viotti participated in one of the opening ceremony acts for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris alongside the band Gojira, performing a metal adaptation of the revolutionary song "Ah! ça ira," titled "Mea Culpa", incorporating an excerpt from "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle." [13] [14]
On 2 February 2025, Viotti won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for "Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça ira!)," a collaboration with Gojira and Victor Le Masne, at the 67th ceremony in Los Angeles. [15] [16] She is the first woman to win an award in this category since its creation. [17]