Julie Fuchs


Julie Fuchs is a French soprano known for her interpretation of light-lyric repertoire.

Childhood and studies

Born in Meaux, France to a father who was a manager, and a mother who was a swimming teacher, Julie grew up in Avignon. At age 7, she began violin lessons and started studying music theory and history at the Avignon Conservatory. After singing a variety of repertoire, she was selected to be part of a European choir, “Voices of Europe” with whom she toured Europe, and sang with Bjørk during the recording of “Which was the Son of” by Arvo Pärt. This experience marked a turning point in her young musical life, as she discovered a desire to explore singing. At age 18, she began private classical voice lessons and acting lessons.
In 2006, she entered the Conservatoire of Paris, considered the top conservatory in France. There, she made her first operatic role debuts as Elle in L'amour masqué by Messager and Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart. During her time at the conservatory, she met and developed relationship with artists that she is still working with today, such as the founder of the French contemporary classical music group, Le Balcon, and the pianist Alphonse Cémin. In 2010, she graduated with honours.

Career

As soon as she finished her studies, she made her professional career performing Galatea at the Aix-en-Provence Festival.
In 2013, she joined the opera ensemble at the Zurich Opera where she debuted several roles, including Marzelline in Fidelio, Morgana in Alcina, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, and Angelica in Orlando.
In 2014, Fuchs signed a recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon; she released her first album Yes! the following year, which paid homage to French repertoire in the 1930s and 1940s.
Also in 2015, Fuchs made her debut at the Opéra national de Paris in the role of la Folie in Platée by Rameau. She also made her debut in the Rossini repertoire as the Comtesse Folleville at the Zurich Opera, and sang in the televised concert in celebration of Bastille Day in Paris, under the Eiffel Tower. At the Salzburg Festival that same year, she made her festival debut singing the soprano part in Mozart’s Mass in C Minor.
2016 marked her debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich as Musetta in La Bohème. she sang with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms, and she made her debut at the Chorégies d’Orange, the celebrated festival in the South of France. Her year of debuts continued in Vienna, where she was praised by the press for her debut as Marie in Donizetti's La Fille du régiment.
In 2017, she returned to the Opéra national de Paris, creating the role of Esther for the premiere of the opera Trompe-la-mort de Lucas Francesconi, and to sing the role of Nannetta in Verdi's Falstaff. Other highlights included Leïla in Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de perles at the Auditorium du Nouveau Siècle in Lille and at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. She also returned to the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence as Zerlina in Don Giovanni. She also made her debut at the Teatro Real de Madrid as Giunia in Lucio Silla.
2018 began with the role of Comtesse Adèle in Le Comte Ory, a new production at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. Her season ended at the Zurich Opera in a new production of Monteverdi's L’Incoronazione di Poppea, appearing in the title role.
The same year, she was also the center of a media firestorm regarding her firing from the Hamburg Staatsoper where she was scheduled to sing Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, due to her pregnancy. The coverage surrounding her brought to light the progress that still needs to be made regarding women’s right in the opera world.
In 2019, she released her latest recording for Deutsche Grammophon, Mademoiselle, a collection of Bel Canto arias, some of which were recorded for the first time.
Julie Fuchs is particularly active on social media under the handle juliefuchssoprano.

Other

She was a “marraine” of Tous à l'Opéra alongside Ruggero Raimondi in 2012. At the end of 2017, she sang Ave Maria by Franz Schubert at the televised funeral of Johnny Hallyday at the Madeleine Church in Paris.

Awards