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Sunday, May 31, 2020

RIP French coloratura soprano Mady Mesplé, aged 89.


Mady Mesplé (7 March 1931 – 30 May 2020) was a French opera singer, considered the leading high coloratura soprano of her generation in France, and sometimes heralded as the successor to Mado Robin. She made her debut at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 1956, as Zémire in Grétry's Zémire et Azor. The same year saw her debut at the Opéra-Comique as Lakmé. Her Palais Garnier debut took place in 1958, as Constance in Francis Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites. Full consecration came at that opera house, in 1960, when she took over from Joan Sutherland in a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor. Other Italian roles included Amina in La sonnambula, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Norina in Don Pasquale and Gilda in Rigoletto. She also sang a few German roles with success, notably the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, and a much-acclaimed Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos in Aix-en-Provence in 1966. WIKIPEDIA