Magali Léger – soprano
Magali Léger began her lyrical studies with Christiane Eda-Pierre. She was subsequently admitted to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, where she also worked with Chrisitiane Patard. On 1999, she was awarded first prize at the institute.
On 1999, she was invited to the Opéra de Nantes to play Philine in Ambroise Thomas’s Mignon. The following year, she played Curly’s wife in the European production of Carlysle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men. Meanwhile, she also performed for the first time under Marc Minkowski in the Belle Hélène at the Théatre du Châtelet, and Eurydice in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, staged by Laurent Pelly at the Opéra de Lyon. Next she sang inWilliam Chrisite’s production of Cesti’s Il Titio at the Opéra de Rhin, the Nozze di Figaro (Barberine) at the Aix-en-Provence festival in 2001, and then Norina in Don Pasquale, again at the Opéra de Lyon, directed by Maurizio Benini, on 2002. On 2003 she would be heard in Schonberg’s Jacob’s Ladder, directed by Eliahu Inbal with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio France.
Magali Léger is equally successful in her engagement with the baroque repertory, working with, amongst others, Emmanuelle Haim and the Concert d’Astrée at the Lincoln Centre in New York, as she is with contemporary creation; her role as Glaucée, for instance, in Raoul Ruiz’s production of Michèle Reverdy’s Médée, or Laurent Petitgirard’s Elephant Man, staged by Daniel Mesguich. Stunning collaborations with prestigious heads of orchestras and directors would follow, occurring as much at the heart of festivals as on French or international stages.
Hence she played Blondchen in L’Enlevement au Sérail, staged by Jerome Deschamps and Macha Makeieff, and directed by Marc Minkowski, at the festival at Aix-en-Provence, at Baden-Baden, at the Opéra de Rouen, and at the Grand Théatre du Luxembourg; Coraline in Adam’s Le Toréador at the Opéra Comique in Paris; Sophie in Werther at the Teatro Comunale de Bologne, Adina in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore; Minka in Le Roi Malgré Lui by Chabrier, directed by Evelino Pido and staged by Laurent Pelly at the Opéra de Lyon; Ilia in Mozart’s Idomeneo at the festival in Beaune, directed by Jérémie Rhorer; and Nadia in La Veuve Joyeuse, staged by Macha Makeieff at the Opéra de Lyon. More recently, in Vienna, she sang Crobyle in Massenet’s Thaïs, directed by Michel Plasson, and played La Princesse Laoula in Chabrier’s Etoile at the Grand Théatre de Luxembourg.
The Opéra de Lyon welcomed her once more as Clara in George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, staged by José Montalvo and Dominique Hervieu, and directed by William Eddins. In concert, at the Cité de la Musique, she sings with The English Concert and KennethWeiss on March 2008, and with the ensemble Les Palladins in April, directed by Jérome Corréas. Her first solo recording, of Gabriel Fauré’s Bonne Chanson, is released at the same time, the fruit of collaboration with pianist Michael Levinas.
Last season, she perfomed the role of Leïla in Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Thérèse (Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tirésias) at the Feldkirch Festival, Austria.
More recently, she has sung Léonore (Gretry’s Amant Jaloux) at the Opéra Royal de Versailles and at the Opéra Comique and Gabrielle in La Vie Parisienne in Toulouse, Musetta (La Bohème) in Saint-Etienne.
Among her projects, Clara (Porgy and Bess) in Lyon Edimbourg, Levinas’s Métamorphe in Lille…
A first disc recorded with her ensemble RosaSolis, dedicated to Haendel’s Motets and sonates, has been released since March 2009.
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Weblink: www.magalileger.fr
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