Véronique Gens
Véronique Gens is one of France’s best loved sopranos, enjoying a distinguished career in opera, concert, recitals and recordings: she is recognised as one of the finest interpreters of Mozart and the French repertory.
Véronqiue’s recent and upcoming operatic appearances include: Madame Lidoine Dialogues des Carmélites at the Bayerische Staatsoper and at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the title role of La Fille de Madame Angot at the Opéra Comique, Giulietta Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the La Fenice, Clitemestre Iphigénie en Aulide at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and for the Greek National Opera, the title role of Charpentier’s Médée with Les Arts Florissants at the Teatro Real in Madrid.
One of the flagship roles of her career, Donna Elvira in the production of Don Giovanni by Peter Brook conducted by Claudio Abbado at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, brought her worldwide recognition. Her repertory comprises the leading Mozart roles (Contessa Almaviva, Vitellia, Fiordiligi) and the great roles of tragédie lyrique (including Iphigénie en Tauride, Iphigénie en Aulide and Alceste) but also heroines of a later period including: Alice Ford Falstaff; Eva Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg; Madame Lidoine Dialogues des Carmélites and Hanna Glawari Die Lustige Witwe. Véronique Gens also gives numerous concerts and recitals in a wide-ranging repertory all over the world, notably in Paris, Dresden, Berlin, Beijing, Vienna, Prague, London, Tanglewood, Stockholm, Moscow, Geneva and Edinburgh.
She has performed on the world’s foremost operatic stages, among them the Opéra National de Paris, The Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Wiener Staatsoper, the Bayerische Staatsoper, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Liceu in Barcelona, the Teatro Real in Madrid, Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam and the Aix-en-Provence, Salzburg and Glyndebourne festivals.
In 1999, she was voted Vocal Artist of the Year at the Victoires de la Musique Classique. Her many recordings (more than eighty CDs and DVDs) have received several international prizes: most recently, her album of French mélodies, Néère won a Gramophone Award in 2016, while Visions obtained an International Classical Music Award and an International Opera Award in 2018. Also La Reyne de Chypre by Halévy obtained a Gramophone Award in 2019, in the Opera category – she also named “Artist of the Year” by Gramophone in 2023 and received the Ehrenpreis 2023 from the Schallplattenkritik.
Véronique Gens has been promoted to the rank of Chevalier in the French order of La Légion d’Honneur as well as Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres and Officier de l’Ordre national du Mérite.