Listen to her
Four excerpts, with Sybil Bartrop at the piano.
The Queen of the Night's aria, from Mozart's The Magic Flute.
“L'Âme évaporée”, a song by Debussy.
The Bell Song, from Delibes's Lakmé.
How a voice is found
Technique is what the teacher gives you; the beautiful colour of a voice, that is nature.
For those starting out
Breathing first: it is the secret of singing, and everything else follows from it. Then the right positions, the ones that set the muscles of the face to work. And then comes the discovery of the three magic triangles…
For those who want to progress
What halts progress is almost always ingrained faults. Correcting them means going back to basics, and it takes courage. That is what frees a voice — and sometimes what protects it, because certain faults end up damaging the vocal cords.
Listening before correcting
Every voice has its range, its supports, its defences. Melissa listens first, looks for where the voice is at ease, and starts from there — never from a model to imitate.
Around the voice
Vocal coaching for choirs, amateur and professional. Singing, piano and violin lessons, from the youngest age. Singing and vocal technique workshops. Preparation for auditions and for national and international competitions.
Those she has taught
I sang very out of tune. […] I was afraid of staying stuck at that level. What changed after two months with Melissa is that I began to find my true voice, I made progress. I can feel it myself. When I sing, people tell me it's better, more in tune. I'm finding a range that suits me.
Gigi — adult, after years without singingTranslated from French[…] Since then, thanks to Melissa, I know I can sing in tune, and apparently I even have a “big voice”. So I catch myself singing in the shower, at karaoke, and even in some community music activities, waiting perhaps for the stage one day – I'm already a musician.
Régis — adult, beginnerTranslated from French
Her path
Passing it on
Passing it on has always gone hand in hand with the stage: she taught singing at the Conservatoire russe de Paris Serge Rachmaninoff, and prepared singers for auditions and for national and international competitions.
Milan, the La Scala school
The conservatory with Maestro Ettore Campogagliani, then the La Scala school with Maestra Renata Carioso. She leaves with a First Prize for singing, and goes on to win a First Prize in lyric art in France.
The Opéra de Marseille
Offenbach's La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein, then Mozart's Mass in C as soloist, conducted by Philippe Le Querrec. The press praises the production.
First prize, unanimously
First Prize for singing at the Concours musical de France, awarded unanimously and with the jury's congratulations. Then the First Prize of the French Ministry of Culture competition, in Paris.
Salle Cortot
Recital at the Salle Cortot with Sybil Bartrop, pianist at the Opéra Bastille: Musetta, the Queen of the Night, Juliette's waltz, Fauré, Duparc.
Audition at the salle de la Concorde
At the audition before Gérard Souzay, one of the great French baritones of his time, Jacques Bourgeois and Viorica Cortez, chaired by Jean Darnel, she is given a letter of recommendation for the Juilliard School in New York, and the advice to go and work on interpretation with Herbert von Karajan.
The Paris stages
The Maison de l'Opéra, the Palais de la Beauharnais, the Austrian Cultural Centre, the Cercle républicain, the Théâtre de Dix Heures. Lucia, Violetta, Ophelia, Manon, the Queen of the Night. And Offenbach, at the Théâtre de la Pépinière.
See roles, conductors and directors
Lucia di Lammermoor, I Puritani, Rigoletto, Hamlet, Les Pêcheurs de perles, Lakmé, Manon, Roméo et Juliette, Don Pasquale, La Sonnambula, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, The Magic Flute, Mignon, Der Rosenkavalier, La Traviata; the Brahms and Mozart Requiems, Handel's Messiah, Poulenc's Gloria, Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, Bach's St Matthew Passion. Under Adler, Hartemann, Rivoli, Veltri, Patané, Masson, Gay, Le Querrec and Cambreling. Staged by Margharita Wallmann, Jorge Lavelli, Patrice Chéreau and Jean-Pierre Ponnelle.
Write to Melissa
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