Patricia Petibon

Receiving her musical education at the Conservatoire National Supérieure de Musique with Rachel Yakar and discovered by William Christie, soprano Patricia Petibon has earned a stellar reputation as one of the most versatile interpreters of her fach with a repertoire extending from French Baroque to contemporary music. Ever since her first steps on stage in 1996 with Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie, she has been on a constant expedition through musical history, covering the literature from Mozart to Offenbach, Donizetti and Verdi, all the way to Poulenc and Berg, always performing on the foremost stages around the world.

The artist remains faithful to the Baroque repertoire, underlining this with performances by Rameau's Les indes galantes (Phani & Zima) with William Christie at the Paris Opéra and Ariodante (Dalinda) under the baton of Marc Minkowski, the reopening of the Théâtre du Châtelet with Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice under John Eliot Gardiner, as well as Ariodante (Ginevra) at the Grand Théâtre de Genève and Alcina (Morgana) at La Scala. The artist received with special acclaim as Giunia (Lucio Silla) at the Theater an der Wien, led by Nikolaus Harnoncourt with whom she enjoyed a very close collaboration.

Highlights of recent years include her role debut as Lulu in Geneva, at the Salzburg Festival and at the Liceu in Barcelona (also released on DVD at DGG). In addition, Patricia Petibon performed Mitridate on stage in Vienna and Munich. With her role debut as Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), she enjoyed great success at the Opéra Bastille in Paris. Most recently, she was celebrated for her Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro) at the Festival in Aix-en-Provence and her role debut as Gilda in a new production of Rigoletto in Munich. In 2013, she sang Giunia (Lucio Silla) in Barcelona and celebrated a great personal triumph as Blanche in a new production of Les Dialogues des Carmélites at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris - as previously in Vienna. Both the world premiere of Philippe Boesman's Au Monde at La Monnaie in Brussels and the revival at the Opéra Comique in Paris was met with great success.

Patricia Petibon continued with Ginevra in Handel's Ariodante at the Festival of Aix-en-Provence, made an acclaimed return to the Vienna State Opera with Massenet's Manon and the title role of Handel's Alcina at the Aix-en-Provence festival for which she was highly praised by both audience and the press. Another highlight in her career was a new production of Mozart's Mitridate at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées where she was on stage as Asteria.

In autumn 2016, she was celebrated in the title-role of Massenet’s Manon in a new production at the Grand Théâtre de Genève and in May 2017 as Mélisande in a new production of Debussy's Pélleas et Mélisande at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées. Highlights of the 2017/2018 season included Mozart's Lucio Silla at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Blanche at Les Dialogues des Carmélites at La Monnaie in Brussels, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris and Euridice in Orfeo et Euridice at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris.

In the season 2018/2019, Patricia Petibon appeared for the first time as Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata at the Malmö Opera. Another highlight was the title role of Massenet’s Manon at the Opéra Comique in Paris. In autumn 2019 she was highly acclaimed for all three female roles in Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann at the Monnaie in Brussels. In spring 2021 she made a magnificent role debut with Poulenc's La Voix Humaine and Thierry Escaich's Point d'Orgue directed by Olivier Py at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées.

In addition to numerous recitals, Patricia Petibon can be heard in 2022 with her new programme 'La Traversée' with La Cetra and Andrea Marcon at the Paris Philharmonie, at the Festival in Epau, at the Music Festival in Dresden and in Lisbon. With the French baroque ensemble Amarillis she presents the programme 'Flammes de Magiciennes' in Froville, Bordeaux, Ghent and Massy. She also performs Ravel's 'Shéhérazade' with Les Siècles and François-Xavier Roth and with the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg and Jérémie Rohrer, and presents French operetta with the Orchestre National de France conducted by Enrique Mazzola. Future opera projects for the 2022-2023 season include a new production of Poulenc's La Voix Humaine directed by Katie Mitchell at the Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg, and Pelléas et Mélisande conducted by Iván Fischer.

Patricia Petibon entertains close musical ties to Alain Altinoglu, Giovanni Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico, Bertrand de Billy, Ivor Bolton, Frédéric Chaslin, Myung Whun Chung, Héloïse Gaillard und Amarillis, Emmanuelle Haïm and Le Concert d‘Astrée, Daniel Harding, Bernard Haitink, Kristjan Järvi, Louis Langré, Andrea Marcon and La Cetra, as well as Venice Baroque, Josep Pons, François-Xavier Roth and Les Siècles, Christophe Rousset, Jérémie Rohrer, Paavo Järvi and many more.

Being equally at home on the great recital stages, she performs frequently in Paris, Lyon, Lille, Strasbourg, Vienna’s Musikverein and Konzerthaus, at the Salzburg Festival, in Graz, Geneva, Dortmund, Hamburg, London’s Wigmore Hall, Edinburgh, Aix-en-Provence, Luxembourg, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Madrid, Granada and Bilbao.

Patricia Petibon’s recordings include titles like 'Les Fantaisies de Patricia Petibon' with a widespread excerpt of her vast repertoire, 'French Touch', an album featuring French Arias, a solo album with French Baroque Arias, Orlando Paladino with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and La passione di Gesù with Fabio Biondi. Other notable recordings include duets from Handel operas with Emmanuelle Haïm, Werther and Die Entführung aus dem Serail. She was an exclusive artist for Deutsche Grammophon from 2008 - 2016. During this time, she recorded arias by Gluck, Mozart and Haydn with Concerto Köln and Daniel Harding, the CD Rosso including Italian Baroque arias with La Cetra and Andrea Marcon and Melancolia with the Orquesta Nacional de España under Josep Pons, featuring Spanish repertoire. In 2012, she recorded her solo album 'Nouveau Monde', including Baroque arias and songs with La Cetra and Andrea Marcon. This was followed by 'La Belle Excentrique' in 2014, a recording of Mélodies Françaises, which has received numerous awards. Patricia Petibon has signed a new recording contract with Sony Music Masterworks. Her first album under the label of Sony Classical with the title 'L’amour, la mort, la mer' will be released in February 2020.