Emilie Renard

Biography

“ … particularly outstanding” (New York Times)

“ … une prometteuse découverte” (Forum Opéra)

Anglo-French mezzo-Soprano Emilie Renard burst onto the international performing stage by winning first prize in the 2013 Antonio Cesti Competition at the Innsbruck Festival. A Britten Pears Young Artist in 2010, Emilie Renard’s prowess as a recitalist was further demonstrated by her award of the Premier Prix de la Mélodie Française at the 22nd Concours International de Chant de Marmande, where she also won the overall First Prize for Women’s Voices.

Having already made her professional debut in Richard Jones’ famed production for English National Opera of Martinů’s Julietta, her repertoire embraces five centuries of music, from Amore in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea (“… a remarkable convincing teenage boy”) and Purcell’s Dido (“… the pure musical expression of a heart breaking”) to Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro (“… a ferrety, lascivious performance… breathlessly tumescent”), the title-role in Bizet’s Djamileh, Hänsel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, and concert works as varied as Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans, Ravel’s Shéhérazade and George Benjamin’s Upon Silence (“Emilie Renard… émouvante”).

Performance venues include the Theater an der Wien, the Opéra Comique and the Salle Pleyel, Paris, Lincoln Center, New York, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Tchaikovsky Hall, Moscow, the Opéra Royal de Versailles, and the Auditorio Nacional de Musica, Madrid. Having been a member of Les Arts Florissants’ Jardin des Voix in 2013, she continues to enjoy a particularly rich association with that ensemble and its director, William Christie. She is also a regular guest at the London Handel Festival, having sung Pulcheria in Riccardo Primo and Eurilla in Il Pastor Fido under Laurence Cummings, and Arbace in the pasticcio Catone in Utica, conducted by Thomas Foster.

Recent performance highlights have included performances at the Innsbruck Festival as Ersinda in Porpora’s Il Germanico in Germania, Stradella’s oratorio San Giovanni Battista and Selene in Mercadante’s Didone abbandonata with Alessandro de Marchi and Academia Montis Regalis. Moreover, she sung the female lead in Zingarelli’s Giulietta e Romeo (Heidelberg), the title-role in Handel’s Susanna for Christian Curnyn and the Early Opera Company (Spitalfields Festival), Junon in Rameau’s Platée (Vienna, Paris, New York), the title role in Lully’s Armide (Sanssouci Festival Potsdam), and Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte for Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques (Dijon, Limoges, and Caen).

Emilie collaborates regularly with Scotland's premier baroque ensemble Dunedin Consort, with performances of Handel’s Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (Lammermuir Festival), Blow’s Venus and Adonis (Krakow), Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (Perth and London) and St Matthew Passion (Edinburgh and London). She is also frequently seen in concert with David Bates’ La Nuova Musica, most recently as Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas (Wigmore Hall). Subsequently, she made her debut at Staatsoper Hamburg singing Witness 2/Singer 2/Woman 2 in George Benjamin’s Lessons in Love and Violence, a production staged by Katie Mitchell and conducted by Kent Nagano.

Since 2018, Emilie has been part of the Ensemble of Theater Magdeburg. There she sung Rossweisse in Die Walküre, Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte, Erika in Barber’s Vanessa, the title role in Handel’s Serse, Barbara in Janáček’s Katja Kabanowa, Orest in Offenbach’s La Belle Hélène, Hänsel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, Sesto in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito and Mirabella in Strauss‘ Der Zigeunerbaron. During the 2021/22 season she sang Mrs Meg Page in Verdi’s Falstaff, Jenny in Weill’s Street scene, Serafin in Langer‘s Figaro gets a divorce and Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. In the 2022/2023 season she sang the Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos and performed the German premiere of Gerald Barry's Alice in Wonderland. Moreover, she interpreted the role of Abra in Juditha triumphans at Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik under Alessandro De Marchi.

The 23/24 season holds in place various premieres and revivals at Theater Magdeburg for the mezzo-soprano, including Hänsel und Gretel, Prokofjew’s Die Liebe zu den drei Orangen, Telemann’s Sieg der Schönheit and Le nozze di Figaro. Furthermore, Emilie will be part of the revival of George Benjamin’s opera Lessons in Love and Violence, for a concert performance with the Orchestre de Paris at the Philharmonie de Paris. Concluding the season, she will sing the role of Dorabella in a concert version of Mozart’s Così fan tutte alongside Les Talens Lyrique under Christophe Rousset as part of the Mozart Festival in Würzburg.

(23/24_Please use this biography exclusively.)

Photos

pressphoto A, © Raphaelle Photography
pressphoto B, © Raphaelle Photography
pressphoto C, © Raphaelle Photography
pressphoto D, © Raphaelle Photography

Schedule

24 05 2024

STREET SCENE (Jenny Hildebrand)

Kurt Weill
Theater Magdeburg Magdeburg (DE)
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Recordings

25 08 2017
Edinburgh 1742
Edinburgh 1742
Barsanti and Handel
07 04 2014
Le Jardin de Monsieur Rameau
Le Jardin de Monsieur Rameau