Over to Paris this week for a special concert featuring the Spanish-born Mezzo-soprano Beatrice Uria-Monzon and the Orchestre National de Lyon led by the legendary Michel Plasson. It was all recorded for posterity by Radio France Musique from the stage at the Opera Comique Salle Favart in Paris on March 6, 2011.
Totally French this week – with Pelléas et Mélisande by Gabriel Fauré – Poémé de l’amour et de la mer by Ernest Chausson – Scénes de féerie by Jules Massenet and ending the concert with a performance of the Bizet Symphony in C major.
A few words about Béatrice Uria-Monzon via her website (gist translated):
Béatrice Uria-Monzon spent her formative years in her native town of Agen south west of France. With her Baccalauréat safely under her belt and with her love of Art acquired from her father painter, she then studied in Art History while attending at the same time the Bordeaux Conservatoire, followed in 1984 by the Centre National d’Artistes Lyriques (CNIPAL) in Marseille. She took further advanced musical training at the l’École d’Art Lyrique from the Paris National Opera and rapidly made her debuts in the major French opera houses : Lyon, Toulouse, Aix-en-Provence, Bordeaux, Nancy, Marseille in a varied repertoire.
1993 marked a turning point in her career with her debut in the role of Carmen in J-L Gomez’s new production at the Bastille Opera, where her interpretation distanced her straight away from the standard usually performances associated with the character. She then revived the role on both national and international stages: the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Miami Opera, the Teatro Regio in Turin, Arènes in Verona, the Orange Summer Festival, the Vienna Staatsoper, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Houston Grand Opera, the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Liceu de Barcelone, la Fenice, Palermo….
She then enlarged her French repertoire with her first Dalila in Zurick,then Béatrice in Béatrice and Bénédicte in Bordeaux, Nancy, Tours, Giulietta in » les Contes d’Hoffmann » at the Chorégies d’Orange, french summer festival, La Scala de Milan, and the Paris National Opera.
She has also addressed the German repertoire first with Orlowsky from Johan Strauss at the Paris National Opera and Venus in Tannhaüser she gave four times at the Paris National Opera, at the “ Teatro dell Opera di Roma”, at the Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona and the Opera National du Rhin in Strasburg.
She gave as well Ghita in » Der Zwerg » from Zemlinsky at the Paris National Opera.
One should also add Judith in the Beard Blue Castle from Bartok at the Paris National Opera.
A few weeks back for her debut in Lady Macbeth in Brussels, the press recognized unanimously her remarkable performance.
Coming soon in the Opera Bastille in Paris she will be singing La contessa de Sérisy in « Trompe la mort « from Luca Francesconi, a contemporary first worldwide creationDuring her career she has worked with conductors such as S. Ozawa, K. Nagano, A. Jordan, G. Prêtre, M. Plasson, A. Lombard, M-W. Chung, J-C Casadesus, G. Bertini, J. Conlon, L. Slatkin, N. Santi, M. Janowski, A. Lombard, B. De Billy, Daniel Oren, Evelino Pido, Paolo Carignani , Alain Altinogliu.
Amongst the list of directors appear R. Carsen, H. Kupfer, J-L Gomez, E. Sagi, L.Ronconi, G. Deflo, La Fura dels Baus, P. Caurier et M. Leiser, K. Warnert, P.Konwitschny…C.Bieito…N. Dufflot, J.C.Auvray…C.Roubeau.
Béatrice Uria-Monzon can often be found performing in concerts with Orchestra. Her credits include “Les Nuits d’Eté” and « la mort de Cléopâtre » from Berlioz. Shéhérazade from Ravel, “Le Poème de l’Amour et de la Mer” from Chausson, the Wesendonk lieder from Wagner. With piano, Ravel, Duparc and Fauré, the Spanish repertoire of Granados, De Falla, Montsalvatge and Mompou and in Oratorio : the Requiem of Verdi, Fauré and the Stabat Maters of Rossini and Pergolesi.
Once again, Anti-Road Rage Wednesday scores mightily – the relaxation settings are on maximum. Take advantage of the peace and chill out for at least the next 75 minutes. Come back a new person.
