Julie Fuchs

Soprano Julie Fuchs ranks among the foremost interpreters of the lyrique-léger operatic repertory while also performing German and Italian works and creating new roles; she further maintains an active recital career alongside pianist Alphonse Cemin. Born July 24, 1984, in Meaux near Paris, she spent her childhood in Avignon, where her father served as a business manager and her mother worked as a swimming teacher. Violin was her first instrument, begun at age seven, after which she entered the Avignon Conservatory for studies in music history, theory, and voice. Although she concentrated initially on pop and jazz—genres that continued to interest her—she shifted decisively toward classical singing after participating in the Voices of Europe children’s choir, where she performed Arvo Pärt’s Which was the son of with Icelandic vocalist Björk. Private voice and acting lessons followed, leading to her 2006 admission to the Conservatoire Nationale Supérieur in Paris. While still an undergraduate she appeared in operas by Mozart and André Messager, and shortly after graduation she sang the title role in Lully’s Acis et Galatée at the Festival Aix-en-Provence. In 2012 she received the first of several French government awards for Best Opera Newcomer; the next year the Zurich Opera offered her a company contract. Subsequent engagements included Marcelline in Beethoven’s Fidelio, the Comtesse de Folleville in Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims, and Susanna in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. During 2015 she performed at France’s Bastille Day celebration, sang Mozart’s Mass in C minor, K. 427 at the Salzburg Festival, and reprised the Comtesse de Folleville at the Paris Opera. After earlier recordings on Aparte and ATMA Classique, Deutsche Grammophon signed her that year and issued the album Yes!, devoted to French songs of the 1930s together with light-opera and musical-theater selections. Stage appearances continued with Musetta in Puccini’s La bohème at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich in 2016 and, the following year, the Paris Opera premiere of Lucas Francesconi’s Trompe-la-mort. In 2018 she portrayed the Countess Adèle in Rossini’s Le comte Ory at the Opéra-Comique and Poppea in a new Zurich Opera production of Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, while also participating in a recording of Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles with the Orchestre Nationale de Lille. Her 2019 dismissal from a Hamburg Staatsoper staging of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte on account of pregnancy generated widespread controversy. She returned to Opernhaus Zürich in 2020 for Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, made her Paris Opera debut as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte the next year, and appeared as Fiorilla in Rossini’s Il Turco in Italia at Naples’ Opera San Carlo. Also in 2021 she was featured on conductor Marc Minkowski’s recording of Mozart’s Mitridate, re di Ponto, K. 87.