Sabine Devieilhe


Sabine Devieilhe is a French operatic coloratura soprano. She is known for her interpretation of works by Mozart, Baroque music, and 19th-century opera. She is often regarded as a successor to Natalie Dessay.

Early life and training

Devieilhe was born in Ifs, near Caen, France, on 12 December 1985 into a non-musician family – her parents are specialized educators, although her older sister teaches singing and violin.
She began her musical apprenticeship at the Ifs school of music before entering the at the age of twelve in order to study the cello. Influenced successively by conductor Valérie Fayet, and singing teachers Jocelyne Chamonin, Martine Surais, Pierre Mervant, Malcolm Walker and Elène Golgevit, she became a lyrical singer.
After graduating from the Lycée Malherbe, Sabine Devieilhe obtained a diploma in musicology and ethnomusicology at the University of Rennes 2. In parallel to her studies, she joined the choir of the. She participated as a chorister in a production of The Flying Dutchman by Richard Wagner in 2002. Her voice was praised and she became a soloist. In 2008, she entered the Conservatoire de Paris in the singing class of Pierre Mervant. In 2011 she was unanimously awarded first prize, with the jury's congratulations.

Career

In October 2011, Devieilhe debuted as a soloist with the, singing Amina in Bellini's La sonnambula.
In 2012, she was invited to the Aix-en-Provence Festival to portray Serpetta in La finta giardiniera. In October, she made her role debut as the title role in Lakmé at the Opéra national de Montpellier to critical success. In 2013 she reprised the role of Serpetta in performances at the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg and the Toulon Opera.
In June-July, she debuted in the role of the Queen of the Night in Mozart's The Magic Flute at the Opéra National de Lyon. She also interpreted Sister Constance in Christophe Honoré's staging of Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites at the Opéra de Lyon, Théâtre Graslin in Nantes, and Le Quai in Angers. In December she alternated the role with Sandrine Piau in Olivier Py's production at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.
In 2014, she sang in Lakmé by Léo Delibes at the Opéra-Comique. She made her debut with the Paris Opera portraying the Queen of the Night at the Opéra Bastille in performances in March.
On 11 April 2016, together with the Orchestre de chambre de Paris conducted by Christopher Franklin and the choir Les Cris de Paris, she performed in concert version of La sonnambula at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.
In January, 2019, Sabine Devieilhe made her Carnegie Hall debut at Weill Recital Hall, singing a program of French songs by Debussy and his circle.
She is often praised by critics.

Awards and honors

Discography

In 2013, she signed an exclusive contract with the music label Erato and released her first recital album devoted to Jean-Philippe Rameau with Alexis Kossenko and his ensemble Les Ambassadeurs.