Annick Massis

Acclaimed worldwide as one of the greatest sopranos and one of the most versatile singers of our time, Annick Massis has appeared in celebrated productions in the most prestigious opera houses in Europe, including Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu, Madrid’s Teatro Real, Switzerland’s Grand Théâtre de Genève and Opernhaus Zürich, the famed Wiener Staatsoper in Vienna, Berlin’s Deutsche Oper and Philarmonie, Brussels’ La Monnaie, and Concertgebow in Amsteram. In the United States, Miss Massis has sung at the illustrious Metropolian Opera and in Avery Fisher Hall in New York, at the Pittsburgh Opera, and in Washington, D.C. In her native France, she has taken part in triumphant performances in all of the most important houses, including the Opéra Bastille, the Palais Garnier, and the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris; the Capitole de Toulouse the Opéras of Marseille, Montpellier,Monte-Carlo and Nice. Miss Massis has also appeared on many of the most influential Italian stages, including those of Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, Venice’s Teatro Malibran and Teatro de la Fenice, Florence’s Teatro Comunale, Turin’s Teatro Regio, and in prominent houses in Rome, Naples, Trieste, and Cagliari. In addition to singing in Europe’s greatest opera houses, Miss Massis has also appeared at many of Europe’s most important and artisticallyrewarding festivals, including Britain’s Glyndebourne Festival, the long-celebrated Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Florence), the renowned Salzburg Festival, the Rossini Opera Festival at Pesaro, and most recently at the Arena di Verona and the bath of Caracalla.

During the course of her career to date, Miss Massis has enjoyed opportunities to work with many of the world’s most respected conductors, including Alberto Zedda, Richard Bonynge, William Christie, Trevor Pinnock, Ivor Bolton, Marc Minkowski, Christoph Eschenbach, Georges Prêtre, Ottavio Dantone, Zubin Mehta, Daniel Oren, Eve Queler, Marcello Viotti, and James Levine, Simon Rattle, Bruno Campanella . She has also collaborated with celebrated stage directors such as Pier Luigi Pizzi, David McVicar and Grahm Vick…

Miss Massis has performed many of the greatest soprano roles in the French repertory, singing roles by Berlioz, Halévy, and Debussy, among many other composers, in her musical journeys ranging from Rameau to Poulenc. Many of her portrayals of French Romantic heroines are widely considered models of the genre. She also remains highly respected for her gallery of Mozart heroines. Perhaps most significantly, Miss Massis has assumed the mantels of Callas, Gencer, Sutherland, Sills, and Caballé, redefining for many audiences the art of bel canto by rejuvenating some of the greatest coloratura roles of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini, as well as Verdi and Meyerbeer.

Among Miss Massis’s broad spectrum of operatic roles, special mention should be made of a number of memorable interpretations: Händel’s Semele and Almirena (Rinaldo); Mozart’s Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), and Giunia (Lucio Silla), Ilia (Idomeneo) ; Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes and La Folie (Platée); Thomas’ Philine (Mignon) and Ophélie (Hamlet); Meyerbeer’s Marguerite de Valois (LesHuguenots) and Margherita d’Anjou; Bizet’s Leïla (Les Pêcheurs de Perles); Gounod’s Juliette; Princess Eudoxie in Halévy’s La Juive; Teresa in Berlioz’ Benvenuto Cellini; the four roles in the Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Offman, the Manon of Massenet. the heroines of Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi, I Puritani, La Sonnambula and Alaide La Straniera ; Rossini’s Amenaide (Tancredi), Matilde di Shabran, Comtesse Adèle (Le Comte Ory),la Contess of Folleville ( Viaggio a Reims) Mathilde (Guillaume Tell), Anaï ( Moïse et Pharaon ), and Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia in both Rossini’s original Italian version and the French version adjusted to a considerably higher tessitura for coloratura soprano; Verdi’s Violetta (La Traviata) and Gilda (Rigoletto); Maurice Ravel’s Le Feu, la Princesse et le Rossignol ( L’Enfant et les Sortilèges), F.Poulenc’s Blanche de la Force (Dialogue des Carmélites), Elle ( La Voix Humaine ); Messager ’s Chrysanthème ( Mme Chrysanthème ). Donizetti’s Marie (La Fille du Régiment) and Maria di Rohan, and Lucia di Lammermoor, which Miss Massis has sung in more than ten productions throughout the world.

Building upon her success on the operatic stage, Miss Massis is also devoted to performing French mélodies and German Lieder, especially the songs of Fauré, Poulenc, Pauline Viardot, Ravel, Debussy, Berlioz , Verdi, Cimara, Bellini, Puccini, Cimara etc… and Richard Strauss. Miss Massis’ repertory also includes liturgical and concert works ranging from Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and Mozart’s Requiem, Great Mass in C-minor, and Exultate, Jubilate to Schumann’s Szenen aus Goethes Faust and the twentieth-century works of Debussy (La Chute de la Maison Usher and Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien), Poulenc (Gloria and Stabat Mater). Miss Massis has been recognized with many international distinctions owing to the beauty of her voice, the excellence of her technique, and the power of her interpretations. In Italy, she was awarded the pretigious La Siola d’Oro (awarded in 2007 in memory of Lina Pagliughi to Dame Joan Sutherland) in acknowledgement of critical response to her contributions to French and Italian bel canto. Miss Massis’ native France celebrated her accomplishments by awarding her one of the most important distinctions bestowed upon artists throughout the world, the medal of the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres.