Andrée Esposito (born 7 February 1934) is a French opera singer, a

lyric Lyric may refer to: * Lyrics, the words, often in verse form, which are sung, usually to a melody, and constitute the semantic content of a song * Lyric poetry is a form of poetry that expresses a subjective, personal point of view * Lyric, from ...

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

particularly associated with the French repertory and contemporary works.

Biography

Andrée Esposito was born in

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

, Algeria, into a family of French-Italian origin. She began her musical studies at the Music Conservatory of her native city, obtaining a first prize there. She completed her studies at the Paris Music Conservatory, where she was a pupil of Louis Noguéra and

Charles Panzéra Charles uguste LouisPanzéra (February 16, 1896 in Geneva – June 6, 1976 in Paris) was a Swiss operatic and concert baritone.''Piano ma non solo'', Jean-Pierre Thiollet, Anagramme Ed., 2012, Overview Panzéra's studies at the Paris Conser ...

. She made her professional debut at Metz, as Suzel in Camille Erlanger's ''Le Juif Polonais''. Esposito was then quickly invited to all the major opera houses of France, including the Paris

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief rival, the Comédie-Italienne ...

, singing the standard French light lyric repertory: Olympia in '' Les contes d'Hoffmann'', Philline in '' Mignon'', '' Mireille'', Micaela in ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

'', Leila in ''

Les pêcheurs de perles ' (''The Pearl Fishers'') is an opera in three acts by the French composer Georges Bizet, to a libretto by Eugène Cormon and Michel Carré. It was premiered on 30 September 1863 at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris, and was given 18 performances in ...

'', '' Lakmé''. She made her debut at the Paris Opéra in 1959, as Violetta in ''

La traviata ''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on ''La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his own 18 ...

''. Other roles there included, Rosina in '' Il barbiere di Siviglia'', the title role in '' Lucia di Lammermoor'', Gilda in '' Rigoletto'', Xenia in ''

Boris Godunov Borís Fyodorovich Godunóv (; russian: Борис Фёдорович Годунов; 1552 ) ruled the Tsardom of Russia as ''de facto'' regent from c. 1585 to 1598 and then as the first non-Rurikid tsar from 1598 to 1605. After the end of his ...

'', Marguerite in '' Faust'', Juliette in '' Roméo et Juliette'', as well as Massenet's ''

Manon ''Manon'' () is an ''opéra comique'' in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel '' L'histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut'' by the Abbé Prévost. It was first ...

'' and '' Thais''. She was also a very active recitalist, especially of French songs by Chausson and

Duparc Eugène Marie Henri Fouques Duparc (21 January 1848 – 12 February 1933) was a French composer of the late Romantic period. Biography Son of Charles Fouques-Duparc and Amélie de Guaita. Henri Fouques-Duparc was born in Paris. He studie ...

. She participated in the creation of many contemporary works, such as ''Le chevalier de neige'' by Delerue, ''Andrea del Sarto'' by

Daniel-Lesur Daniel Jean-Yves Lesur (19 November 1908 – 2 July 2002) was a French organist and composer. He was the son of the composer Alice Lesur. Biography Born in Paris, he entered the Conservatoire de Paris at age 11, studying solfège with Emile Schw ...

, '' The Mines of Sulphur'' by

Bennett Bennett may refer to: People *Bennett (name), including a list of people with the surname and given name Places Canada * Bennett, Alberta *Bennett, British Columbia * Bennett Lake, in the British Columbia and Yukon Territory **Bennett Range **Benn ...

, and '' The Devils of Loudun'' by Penderecki. She also enjoyed singing in

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

s, such as '' Die Fledermaus'', and '' The Merry Widow''. Esposito was married to French baritone Julien Haas, with whom she often appeared on stage, the two were also active as voice teachers at the Strasbourg Music Conservatory.

Sources

Alain Pâris Alain Pâris (born 22 November 1947) is a French conductor and musicologist. Biography Born in Paris, Alain Pâris was trained as a pianist and has a law degree. He studied conducting with Pierre Dervaux, Paul Paray and Georg Solti and won the ...

, ''Dictionnaire des interprètes et de l’interprétation musicale au XX siècle'' (2 vols), Editions Robert Laffont (Bouquins, Paris 1982, 4th ed. 1995, 5th Edn 2004). {{DEFAULTSORT:Esposito, Andree 1934 births French operatic sopranos People from Algiers Living people Pieds-Noirs French people of Italian descent