Karen Vourc'h & Susan Manoff
Biography Karen Vourc'h & Susan Manoff
Karen Vourc'h
is an eclectic artist appreciated for the beauty of her voice and the sensitivity of her interpretations.
In 2009, she won the top Award del Duca, from the Academie des Beaux-Arts and the Revelation Classique award from les Victoires de la Musique. She also won several international awards including Toulouse, New Voices, Verviers and Montserrat Caballe.
She is invited among the most prestigious scenes in the world : Opera House of Amsterdam, Geneva, Hambourg, Paris ( Opera Comique ), Lausanne, Anvers/Gand, Lyon, Köln, Marseille, Nizza, Philarmony of Paris, Helsinki, Porto, Köln, Stockholm, Saint-Petersbourg, Lisboa , Singapour, Royal Albert Hall ( Londres ), Santa Cecilia ( Rome ), NHK ( Tokyo ), Palau de Arte ( Barcelona ), Palais des Beaux-arts ( Bruxelles ), Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, Théatre du Jeu de Paume ( Aix en Provence ),
She sings under the direction of Louis Langrée, Sir John Eliott Gardiner, Alain Altinoglu, Daniel Harding, Stephane Denève, Jérémie Rohrer, Charles Dutoit, Kent Nagano, Pascal Rophé, Laurence Equilbey, Michel Plasson, Kasuchi Ono and works with famous stage directors as Robert Carsen, Stéphane Braunschweig, Ludovic Lagarde, Benjamin Lazar, Krystof Warlikowski.
Her many engagements in France and abroad include la Comtesse ( Nozze di Figaro ) in Lausanne ; Sister Blanche de la Force ( Dialogue des Carmélites ) in Nizza and Roma ; Elle ( La Voix Humaine ) à la Philharmonie de Paris, Angers, Nantes, Riga, Firenze, Lyon and Köln ; Melisande ( Pelléas et Melisande ), unamimously praised in Paris, Londres, Köln, Stockholm, Hambourg, Tokyo, Saint-Petersbourg ; Pamina ( Zauberflöte ) in Avignon, Reims, Besançon ; Donna Elvira ( Don Giovanni ) in Tours ; Musetta ( Bohème ) in Tours and Avignon ; Vincenette ( Mireille ) in Chorégies d’ Orange festival ; L’Infante ( Der Zwerg de Zemlisnki ) in Lyon ; Marzelline ( Fidelio ) in Lyon ; Aninta ( Saint of Bleeker Street de Menotti ) in Marseille ; Manon in Saint-Etienne; Micaela ( Carmen ) in Limoges ; Violetta ( Traviata ) et Fiordiligi ( Cosi fan tutte ) in Besançon ; Fortuna ( Poppea e Nerone de Monteverdi/Boesmans ) in Montpellier .
For concerts, she sings la Chute de la Maison Usher and Martyre de Saint-Sébastien from Debussy in Köln, Lisbonne et Bruxelles, le Roi David from Honegger in Dublin, Athalie de Mendelsohn in Paris , la 4eme Symphonie de Malher, des Madrigaux from Monteverdi with Cris de Paris ensemble.
She is very popular with contemporary composers and frequently plays roles from the contemporary repertoire : Kaija Saariaho ( la Passion de Simone, Emilie, Quatre Instants ), Pascal Dusapin ( Romeo et Juliette, Wenn du dem Wind, Canto, Wolken ), Guillaume Connesson ( Medea, Elégie de l’amour obscur ), Peter Eötvös ( Le Balcon ) Philippe Fenelon ( JJR ), Mathis Nitschke ( Happy! Happy !), Chaya Cernowim ( Infinite Now - Opernwelt Prize 2017 ).
She particularly loves Chamber Music and sings frequently in recitals with Trio Wanderer, pianists as Vanessa Wagner, Pascal Amoyel, Anne Queffelec, Anne Le Bozec, Susan Manoff. She recently collaborated with jazz musicians Guillaume de Chassy and Thomas Savy, as well as the cellist Louis Rodde, for a unique program between F.Schubert et D.Ellington.
Among her futur projects are the world creation of the opera Nos Vies éternelles of P.Bartholomée in Metz opera house, le Martyre de Saint Sébastien of Debussy in Warsaw, her first Wagner with a FlowerMaid in Parsifal in Toulouse, Stabat Mater of Poulenc in Nantes, Altenberglieder of A.Berg, in Bremen.
Her discography includes the opera of Noé de Bizet, with Théâtre Impérial de Compiègne, a solo recital focussing on Grieg/ Sibelius/ Debussy with S.Manoff playing the piano ( Aparté ), Monteverdi/Rossi cantates with Cris de Paris ( Aparté ), Greek songs from Ravel avec L’Orchestre de Lyon conducted by Leonard Slatkin ( Naxos ), Pelleas et Melisande ( Gardiner/ Braunschweig ) live recorded by Mezzo in the Opéra Comique ; Quatre Instants and Emilie Suite de K.Saariaho with the Strasbourg Philharmonic orchestra directed by Marco Letonja ( Ondine ). The Schubert/Ellington recital has just been recorded with B-Records label and will be out in Spring 2019.
She studied at the Opéra Studio in Zurich and joined the Post graduate course of CNSMDP in Paris. She followed the courses from Christa Ludwig, M.Walker, E.Golgevit et Chantal Mathias .
Karen Vourc’h graduated from Mc Gill University (Canada) in Physics and completed her education with a postgraduated diploma in theoretical physics at ENS/Paris-Ulm.
