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

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical 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 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

. She has spent much of her career recording and performing

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

music. Gens was born in

Orléans Orléans (,"Orleans"
(US) and Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or 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 Jean Ja ...

, 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. Minkowski was musical director of Mozartwoche in Salzburg, Austria, from 2013 to 2017 and was gene ...

René Jacobs René Jacobs (born 30 October 1946) is a Belgian musician. He came to fame as a countertenor, but later in his career he became known as a conductor of baroque and classical opera. Biography Countertenor Born in Ghent, Jacobs began his musi ...

Christophe Rousset Christophe Rousset (; born 12 April 1961) is a French harpsichordist and conducting, conductor, who specializes in the performance of Baroque music on Authentic performance, period instruments. He is also a musicologist, particularly of opera and ...

Philippe Herreweghe Philippe Maria François Herreweghe, Knight Herreweghe (born 2 May 1947) is a Belgian conductor and choirmaster. Herreweghe founded La Chapelle Royale and Collegium Vocale Gent and is renowned as a conductor, with a repertoire ranging from ...

, 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 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

operas, and as an interpreter of songs by

Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...

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

(see also Beau Soir), Fauré and others. Her numerous recordings include many works by Mozart and

Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: ; September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer of Baroque music, most remembered for his more than 100 songs; a tragic opera, ''Dido and Aeneas''; and his incidental music to a version of Shakespeare's ...

, as well as Joseph Canteloube's ''

Chants d'Auvergne ''Chants d'Auvergne'' (; ), by Joseph Canteloube, is a collection of folk songs from the Auvergne region of France, arranged for soprano voice and orchestra or piano between 1923 and 1930. The 27 songs, collected in five series, are in the local la ...

'' and Berlioz's '' Nuits d'été''.

Recordings

Marc-Antoine Charpentier Marc-Antoine Charpentier (; 1643 – 24 February 1704) was a French Baroque composer during the reign of Louis XIV. One of his most famous works is the main theme from the prelude of his ''Te Deum'' ''H.146, Marche en rondeau''. This theme is st ...

: ''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 Noémi Rime is a French soprano. She regularly appears in opera productions by William Christie's Les Arts Florissants ensemble. Her roles have included Cleone in ''Médée'', Dido in ''Dido and Aeneas'', and Fatime in ''Les Indes galantes''. Sh ...

, 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 a ...

, ''

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 ...

'', 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 de Echenagucia (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 ...

, Henri Duparc,

Ernest Chausson Amédée-Ernest Chausson (; 20 January 1855 – 10 June 1899) was a French Romantic composer. Life Born in Paris into an affluent bourgeois family, Chausson was the sole surviving child of a building contractor who made his fortune assisting Ba ...

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

: ''

Les nuits d'été LES or Les may refer to: People * Les (given name) * Les (surname) * L.E.S. (producer), hip hop producer Space flight * Launch Entry Suit, worn by Space Shuttle crews * Launch escape system, for spacecraft emergencies * Lincoln Experimental ...

- 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. Biography Early years Langrée studied at the Strasbourg Conservatory, but had no formal academic training in conducting. He ...

* ''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 mélodie, songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among th ...

. 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 Walker, ...

(piano) * Galuppi: ''

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 preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...

s'', Il Seminario Musicale,

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 originally ...

: ''

Così fan tutte (''Women are like that, or The School for Lovers''), Köchel catalogue, 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 ...

'',

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 ...

, direction:

* Mozart: ''

Le nozze di Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna ...

'', Concerto Köln, direction: René Jacobs * ''Tragédiennes'' (récital, airs extraits d'œuvres de

Lully Jean-Baptiste Lully ( – 22 March 1687) was a French composer, dancer and instrumentalist of Italian birth, who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas, he spent most of his life working in the court o ...

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 a ...

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. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire at ...

…):

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'H ...

, direction:

. 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 concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, H ...

: '' Agrippina'', 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 * “Charpentier - Médée” with Le Concert spirituel - Hervé Niquet (conductor), Vèronique Gens, Mèdèe,

Cyrille Dubois Cyrille Dubois (born 27 September 1984) is a French tenor performing as an opera and lieder singer. Early life and education Cyrille Dubois spent his childhood in Ouistreham in Normandy, France. As a child he demonstrated an early talent for s ...

, Jason, Thomas Doliè, Crèon, Judith Wanroij, Crèuse, David Witczak, Oronte. 3 CD Alpha, recorded in 2023.
Franz Lehár - La Veuve Joyeuse (The Merry Widow)
(2006)

References

External links

*
An interview with Véronique Gens on MusicalCriticism.com September

A recent discussion by Gens of her emotional investment in her work
* 1966 births Living people Musicians from Orléans 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 Erato Records artists 21st-century French women opera singers 20th-century French women opera singers {{France-opera-singer-stub