Jenny Daviet

“Jenny Daviet is an absolutely outstanding Mélisande, both sensitive and very strong, and sings beautifully.” DAGENS NYHETER

With her convincing stage presence, exceptional musicality and versatile repertoire, French soprano Jenny Daviet has made a name for herself both on the opera stage and in the concert hall. She was unanimously praised for her interpretation of Messiaen’s Poèmes pour Mi with Kent Nagano and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, which was released on CD. A recent DVD production documents another highlight of her career to date: she sang the title role in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande in Benjamin Lazar’s new production at the Malmö Opera under the musical direction of Maxime Pascal.

Her collaboration with the French conductor continues in the current season: as Eva in Stockhausen’s Sonntag from the cycle Licht, she can be heard at the Philharmonie de Paris together with his ensemble Le Balcon, having already participated in the performance of the Licht cycle’s Freitag in 2022. She will also be a guest at the Théâtre Athénée with pianist Alphonse Cemin. There, the duo, which mostly performs German and French repertoire of the turn of the century, will be focussing on the music of Messiaen. With the Orchestre de Caen, she will sing the soprano solo in Oliver Knussen’s 2nd Symphony and George Benjamin’s A Mind of Winter, and she will appear on stage at the Théâtre de Caen in Benjamin’s chamber opera Into the Little Hill.

Last season saw Jenny Daviet’s Asian debut as Pamina in Mozart’s Magic Flute, which was performed at the National Taichung Theater in a production by William Kentridge. In 2023 she was also scheduled to debut as Nadja in Haas’ Bluthaus at the Opéra de Lyon (due to the general strike in France, the performances were cancelled at the last moment). Other recent operatic highlights include Héro in Berlioz’ Béatrice et Bénédict at the Cologne Opera under François-Xavier Roth, George Benjamin’s Into the Little Hill at the Teatro del Canal in Madrid in collaboration with the Teatro Real, Léna in Saint-Saëns La princesse jaune and Mélisande in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande with the orchestra Les Siècles. She also appeared as Angélique in Hervé’s Les Chevaliers de la table ronde at the Opéra Grand Avignon, in the world premiere of Fernando Fiszbein’s El hombre que amaba a los peros at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and in the role of Countess de la Roche in Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten at the Cologne Opera.

Last season, Jenny Daviet sang Ligeti’s Requiem for the first time with the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España under David Afkham. Recent concerts also include performances with Thomas Hengelbrock and his Balthasar Neumann Choir and Ensemble at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival with Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem and with Claire Gibault and the Paris Mozart Orchestra with Mozart’s Mass in C minor. She sang Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire at the Opéra de Rouen, Vivier’s Bouchara at the Cologne Philharmonie, and Fauré’s Requiem at the International Rostropovich Festival in Moscow under Kazuki Hamada. She has longstanding relationships with the orchestra Les Siècles and François-Xavier Roth as well as with the ensemble Le Balcon and Maxime Pascal, with whom she has performed works by Stravinsky, Delage, Mozart, Offenbach, Messiaen, and Debussy, among others.

Jenny Daviet began her musical education as a pianist before joining the Conservatoire Regional Influence de Paris, where she studied under the mentorship of Laurence Equilbey, and commenced her soprano career as a member of the ensemble at the Opéra de Rouen, where she made her debut in numerous roles, including Blonde (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Serpetta (La finta giardiniera), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Second Lady (Dido and Aeneas) and Micaëla (Carmen).

 2023/24 season

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