Sylvie Oussenko (born 5 June 1945) is a contemporary French

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C ...

and writer.

Biography

Born in

Saint-Leu-la-Forêt Saint-Leu-la-Forêt () is a Communes of France, commune in the Val-d'Oise department, in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. History In 1806, the commune of Saint-Leu-la-Forêt merge ...

, after a classical baccalaureate degree (Latin-Greek), Oussenko entered the

Institut Catholique de Paris The Institut Catholique de Paris (ICP), known in English as the Catholic University of Paris (and in Latin as ''Universitas catholica Parisiensis''), is a private university located in Paris, France. History: 1875–present The Institut Catholiq ...

, then at the Sorbonne for a degree in philosophy, while taking singing lessons with Paul Derenne, then with in Cologne and drama classes with

Dominique Rozan "Dominique" is a 1963 French language popular song, written and performed by the Belgian female singer Jeannine Deckers, better known as Sœur Sourire ("Sister Smile" in French) or The Singing Nun. The song is about Saint Dominic, a Spanish-born ...

, sociétaire of the Comédie-Française. She made her stage debut in 1977 as Mélisande in Debussy's '' Pelléas et Mélisande'' at Besançon. She worked on the repertoire with

vocal coach A vocal coach, also known as a voice coach (though this term often applies to those working with speech and communication rather than singing), is a music teacher, usually a piano accompanist, who helps singers prepare for a performance, often a ...

Irène Aïtoff Irène Aïtoff (30 July 1904 – 5 June 2006) was a French pianist and vocal coach. Biography Born in Saint-Cast (Côtes-d'Armor), Aïtoff was admitted in the Conservatoire de Paris after having been introduced to Alfred Cortot. She was quick ...

, with whom she gave her first recital devoted to lieder and melodies by

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

in 1978: many others followed. At the same time, she obtained a postgraduate diploma in musicology and psychology at the

Paris-Sorbonne University Paris-Sorbonne University (also known as Paris IV; french: Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris IV) was a public research university in Paris, France, active from 1971 to 2017. It was the main inheritor of the Faculty of Humanities of the Universit ...

. Then, opting for recital and oratorio, she created many melodies by Roger Calmel ,

Georges Delerue Georges Delerue (12 March 1925 – 20 March 1992) was a French composer who composed over 350 scores for cinema and television. Delerue won numerous important film music awards, including an Academy Award for ''A Little Romance'' (1980), three C� ...

, Lucie Robert-Diessel,

Noël Lee Noël Lee (December 25, 1924 – July 15, 2013) was an American classical pianist and composer. Born in 1924 in Nanjing, China, Lee studied music in Lafayette, Indiana, then attended Harvard University, studying with Walter Piston, Irving Fine, ...

, Pierrette Mari, etc. that she recorded for the Cologne radio station (WDR III). She works on an ongoing basis with pianists Françoise Tillard, Noël Lee, Lucie Robert-Diessel, and conductor Dominique Fanal. Since the 1990s, she has devoted part of her activities to pedagogy and literature: since 2007, she has published fiction, poetry and music writings on a regular basis. She is also the author of several plays. In 2013, the ''Quatre Mythologiques'' are put on music by Michel Decoust, song cycle on poems by Sylvie Oussenko (excerpts from the collection ''Pèlerinages''). On 10 December 2013, she married baritone

Gabriel Bacquier Gabriel Bacquier (; 17 May 1924 – 13 May 2020) was a French operatic baritone. One of the leading baritones of the 20th century and particularly associated with the French and Italian repertoires, he was considered a fine singing actor equ ...

Distinctions

* Chevalier of the

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

Publications

* ''Les Madrigaux de Bellone'' (short stories), éditions France Univers, 2007 * ''Chopin'', , 2009 * ''L'Opéra tout simplement'', Eyrolles, 2009 * ''Schumann'', Eyrolles - 2010 * ''Pèlerinages'', preface and illustrations by Gabriel Bacquier (poem), France Univers, 2010. * ''Gabriel Bacquier, le génie de l'Interprétation'' (biographical essay), éditions MJW Fédition, 2011.Cf
site éditeur
/ref> * ''Richard Wagner'', in collaboration with François Poncet, Eyrolles, 2013 * ''Verdi'', in collaboration with Gabriel Bacquier, Eyrolles, 2013 ;Translations *

Ludwig Tieck Johann Ludwig Tieck (; ; 31 May 177328 April 1853) was a German poet, fiction writer, translator, and critic. He was one of the founding fathers of the Romantic movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Early life Tieck was born in Be ...

: ''Les Fils Aymon'', ''Les Amours de la Belle Maguelone et de Pierre de Provence'', ''La légende de Mélusine'', Montpellier, éditions Grèges, 2008

Discography

* ''Mélodies italiennes'' with Thierry Macé, piano (Concord, 1997) * Berlioz' ''

Les nuits d'été ''Les nuits d'été'' (''Summer Nights''), Op. 7, is a song cycle by the French composer Hector Berlioz. It is a setting of six poems by Théophile Gautier. The cycle, completed in 1841, was originally for soloist and piano accompaniment. Berlio ...

'' and Wagner's ''

Wesendonck Lieder , Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis, WWV 91, is the common name of a set of five songs for female voice and piano by Richard Wagner, (''Five Poems for a Female Voice''). He set five poems by Mathilde Wesendonck while he was working on his opera ''Tristan u ...

'' with

, piano (Tam Attitudes, 2001)

References

External links

*Sylvie Oussenko o
Eyrolles

Sylvie Oussenko

''Rencontre littéraire avec Gabriek Pasquier et Sylvie Oussenko''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oussenko, Sylvie 21st-century French women writers French operatic mezzo-sopranos 1945 births Living people Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres