Véronique Gens (born 19 April 1966) is a French operatic

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 ...

. She has spent much of her career recording and performing

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

music. Gens was born in

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

, winning first prize at the school. Her debut in 1986 was with William Christie and his Les Arts Florissants. She has since worked with

Marc Minkowski Marc Minkowski (born 4 October 1962) is a French conductor of classical music, especially known for his interpretations of French Baroque works, and is the current general director of Opéra national de Bordeaux. His mother, Mary Anne (Wade), i ...

, René Jacobs, Christophe Rousset, Philippe Herreweghe, Martin Gester, and

Jean-Claude Malgoire Jean-Claude Malgoire (25 November 1940 – 14 April 2018) was a French oboist and later conductor. Early life Malgoire was born on 25 November 1940 in Avignon, France. His mother was born in Italy. Malgoire graduated from the Paris Conservatory ...

. While she started out as a Baroque specialist, Gens has also come into demand for roles in

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

operas, and as an interpreter of songs by Berlioz,

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

(see also Beau Soir), Fauré and others. Her numerous recordings include many works by Mozart and Purcell, as well as Joseph Canteloube's '' Chants d'Auvergne'' and Berlioz's '' Nuits d'été''.

Selected discography

* Marc-Antoine Charpentier : ''Le Massacre des Innocents'' H.411'', Super flumina Babylonis'' H.170'', Psaumes de David'' H .215'','' H.216, H.220, H.221, ''Gratiarum actiones ex sacris…'' H.326, La Symphonie du Marais, Ensemble Vocal Contrepoint, conducted by Olivier Schneebeli. CD Adda 1990 * Marc-Antoine Charpentier : ''Office des Ténèbres,'' H.95, H.92, H.112, H.93, H.119, H.95, H.134, ''Miserere'' H.157, Noémi Rime, Le Parlement de musique, Martin Gester (organ, harpsichord and conducting). CD Opus 111 (1991) * Jean-Sébastien Bach : ''Messe en si'', Collegium Vocale Gent, dir. Philippe Herreweghe *

Jean Philippe Rameau Jean-Philippe Rameau (; – ) was a French composer and music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera ...

, ''

Hippolyte et Aricie ('' Hippolytus and Aricia'') was the first opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau. It was premiered to great controversy by the Académie Royale de Musique at its theatre in the Palais-Royal in Paris on October 1, 1733. The French libretto, by Abbé Sim ...

'', avec Jean-Paul Fouchécourt, Véronique Gens, Bernarda Fink, Russell Smythe, Thérèse Feighan, Annick Massis, Laurent Naouri, Florence Katz, Luc Coadou, M. Hall, Monique Simon, Jean-Louis Georgel, K. Okada, S. Van Dyck, Jean-Louis Meunier, Jacques-François Loiseleur des Longchamps, Jérôme Varnier, l'Ensemble vocal Sagittarius et Les Musiciens du Louvre conducted by

: Deutsch Grammophon Archiv 4458532, ℗ 1994) *

Reynaldo Hahn Reynaldo Hahn (; 9 August 1874 – 28 January 1947) was a Venezuelan-born French composer, conductor, music critic, and singer. He is best known for his songs – ''mélodies'' – of which he wrote more than 100. Hahn was born in Caracas b ...

, Henri Duparc,

Ernest Chausson Amédée-Ernest Chausson (; 20 January 1855 – 10 June 1899) was a French Romantic composer who died just as his career was beginning to flourish. Life Born in Paris into an affluent bourgeois family, Chausson was the sole surviving child of a ...

with piano accompanist Susan Manoff, on Alpha records, 2019. * Berlioz: ''

Les nuits d'été ''Les nuits d'été'' (''Summer Nights''), Opus number, 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 accompanim ...

- La Mort de Cléopâtre'', direction:

Louis Langrée Louis Langrée (born 11 January 1961) is a French conductor. He is the son of organist and theorist Alain Langrée. One of his sisters is an amateur cellist. Biography Early years Langrée studied at the Strasbourg Conservatory, but had no fo ...

* ''Nuit d'étoiles'': mélodies de Fauré,

Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (; 7 January 189930 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among the best-kno ...

. Avec

Roger Vignoles Roger Vignoles (born 12 July 1945), is a British pianist and accompanist. He regularly performs with the world's leading singers, including Kiri Te Kanawa, Thomas Allen, Anne Sofie von Otter, Thomas Hampson, Gitta-Maria Sjöberg, Sarah Walk ...

(piano) *

Galuppi Baldassare Galuppi (18 October 17063 January 1785) was an Italian composer, born on the island of Burano in the Venetian Republic. He belonged to a generation of composers, including Johann Adolph Hasse, Giovanni Battista Sammartini, and C.&nb ...

: ''

Motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margar ...

s'',

Il Seminario Musicale Il Seminario Musicale is a baroque music ensemble founded in 1985 by the French countertenor Gérard Lesne, who is also its artistic director. Since 1990, the group has been resident of the Fondation de l' abbaye de Royaumont, thirty kilometres ...

Gérard Lesne Gérard Lesne (; born 15 July 1956) is a French countertenor. He is also the founder and artistic director of the baroque music ensemble, Il Seminario Musicale. Life and career Gérard Lesne was born in Montmorency, Val-d'Oise. He was originall ...

: ''

Così fan tutte (''All Women Do It, or The School for Lovers''), K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte w ...

'',

Concerto Köln Concerto Köln is an ensemble specialising in music of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The group formed in 1985, one of many groups associated with the surging interest in period instruments in that decade. Its members consisted mainly o ...

, direction: René Jacobs * Mozart: '' Le nozze di Figaro'', Concerto Köln, direction: René Jacobs * ''Tragédiennes'' (récital, airs extraits d'œuvres de

Lully Jean-Baptiste Lully ( , , ; born Giovanni Battista Lulli, ; – 22 March 1687) was an Italian-born French composer, guitarist, violinist, and dancer who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas, he ...

, Rameau,

Gluck Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period (music), classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the ...

…):

Les Talens Lyriques The French musical ensemble Les Talens Lyriques was created in 1991 in Paris, France, by the harpsichordist and orchestral conductor Christophe Rousset. This instrumental and vocal formation derives its name from the subtitle of ''Les fêtes d'Hé ...

, direction: Christophe Rousset. Virgin Classics * ''Tragédiennes 2'' (récital, airs extraits d'œuvres de Gluck à Berlioz):

, direction: Christophe Rousset. Virgin Classics *

Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training i ...

: ''

Agrippina Agrippina is an ancient Roman cognomen and a feminine given name. People with either the cognomen or the given name include: Cognomen Relatives of the Roman general Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa: * Vipsania Agrippina (36 BC–20 AD), first wife of th ...

'', direction : J. C. Malgoire, la Grande Ecurie et la Chambre du Roy, enregistrement réalisé au Théâtre Municipal de Tourcoing, mars 2003 * ''Tragédiennes 3'', airs d'opéras de Gluck à Verdi. Avec Les Talens Lyriques & Christophe Rousset. Virgin Classics, 2011 * ''Visions'' Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Hervé Niquet Alpha 2017
Franz Lehár - La Veuve Joyeuse (The Merry Widow)
(2006)

References

External links

Véronique Gens Discography

An interview with Véronique Gens on MusicalCriticism.com September

A recent discussion by Gens of her emotional investment in her work
* French operatic sopranos French performers of early music Women performers of early music Grammy Award winners EMI Classics and Virgin Classics artists Conservatoire de Paris alumni 1966 births Living people Musicians from Orléans 21st-century French women opera singers Erato Records artists 20th-century French women opera singers {{France-opera-singer-stub