Over the course of its many editions, the Festival d’Aix has invited the greatest voices of each era onto its stages… and launched the careers of numerous young talents! Let’s take a look back, with pictures, at the early years of Teresa Berganza, Gabriel Bacquier, Natalie Dessay, Stéphane Degout, Sabine Devieilhe and Julie Fuchs.
— Teresa Berganza, one of the greatest mezzo-sopranos of her generation, debuted at the Festival d’Aix in 1957 in the role of Dorabella (Così fan tutte, conducted by Hans Rosbaud), which she performed alongside the equally iconic soprano Teresa Stich-Randall. A frequent figure at the Festival, she also regularly performed in concerts and recitals. In 2005, she shared her knowledge and experience with young singers at the Académie du Festival d'Aix.
— In 1960, the young bass-baritone Gabriel Bacquier made his debut at the Festival in the role of Don Giovanni, which introduced him to audiences and permanently linked his career to the history of the Aix-en-Provence event.
— Soprano Natalie Dessay made her triumphant debut at the Festival in 1994, playing the Queen of the Night for the first time, in Robert Carsen’s production of The Magic Flute under the musical direction of William Christie.
— In 1999, the 24-year-old baritone Stéphane Degout made a splash as Papageno in The Magic Flute. This production, staged by Stéphane Braunschweig and conducted by David Stern, was the very first production of the Académie du Festival d'Aix; the institution that would subsequently enable many singers to make their on-stage debut at the Festival.
— Coloratura soprano Sabine Devieilhe, another regular of the Aix-en-Provence summer event, also made her debut in an Académie du Festival d’Aix production, included in the 2012 programme: Mozart’s La finta giardiniera, in which she played Serpetta. The following year, she was named Revelation Opera Singer at the Victoires de la Musique Classique.
— In 2011, Julie Fuchs, a lively soprano who had participated in the Académie du Festival d’Aix in 2009, stood out in the lead role of Handel’s Acis and Galatea, in a production staged by Saburo Teshigawara and conducted by Leonardo García Alarcón.
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