L’auberge du Cheval blanc

Director of the Tours opera and regional symphony orchestra from 1999 to 2016, Jean-Yves Ossonce was invited to conduct numerous operas in a wide repertoire with orchestras in Europe, on the other side of the Atlantic, in South Korea and in China. He has recorded, among other things, works by Magnard, Massenet and Ropartz. His work was awarded in 2008 and 2014 by the Syndicat de la Critique Musicale et Dramatique with the prize for best lyric performance in the region. In recognition of his career, he received the 2016 Grand Prix de la Presse Musicale Internationale. He is a knight of the Legion of Honour.

At the Opéra de Lausanne: Così fan tutte (2006), Monsieur de Pourceaugnac (2007), Madama Butterfly (2009), L’Aiglon (2013), and Faust (2016).

Gilles Rico holds a doctorate in medieval philosophy from Oxford University. He learned opera production by assisting Patrice Caurier, Moshe Leiser, Joël Pommerat, Tom Cairns, Dmitri Tcherniakov, Jérôme Deschamps, Andreas Homoki, David McVicar and Katie Mitchell.

Last season, he directed the world premiere of Maria Republica by François Paris at the Angers-Nantes Opéra, for which he was awarded the 2016 French Critics Awards. He also directed Un dîner avec Jacques, a show about Offenbach produced by the Opéra Comique and the Musée d’Orsay, Tistou les pouces verts by Henri Sauguet at the Opéra de Rouen and Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Philharmonie in Paris. He wrote the libretto of La Princesse légère by Violetta Cruz commissioned by the Opéra Comique in Paris.

Current projects: Maria Republica at the Teatro Real, the premiere of Lohengrin by Sciarrino at the Angers-Nantes Opéra and the world premiere of Les rois mages, for which he will write the libretto and that he will also direct, in Madrid then Buenos Aires.

After studying political science and piano, Fabienne Conrad made her debut in the title role of La Traviata. Since then, she has sung on many European stages roles such as the Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro), Juliette (Romeo and Juliet), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Mimì (La bohème), Micaëla (Carmen), Princess Marie de Gonzague (Cinq-Mars), as well as the title roles of Lucia di Lammermoor, Manon, Mirelle and Madama Butterfly. She has also collaborated with Jesús López Cobos, Cyril Diederich, Myung-Wung Chun, Robert Carsen and Vincent Boussard. Fabienne Conrad has been invited by Alain Duault for a series of recitals ” Maria Callas, une passion, un destin “, in partnership with Radio Classique, and has also sung during the show ” Musiques en fête ” live on France 3 and France Musique. In the pipeline: the roles of Liù (Turandot), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) or the title role of Tosca.

Julien Dran discovered singing thanks to his parents, who were opera singers themselves. He studied at the Conservatoire de Bordeaux and the CNIPAL national opera centre in Marseille, after which he was quickly working in more important roles such as Le comte Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Fenton (Falstaff), and Tebaldo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi). In 2013, he won the Julián Gayarre International Singing Competition in Pamplona, chaired by Teresa Berganza. He has performed in France and other countries in Les pêcheurs de perles, in the title-role in Fra Diavolo (Auber), as Lindoro (L’Italiana in Algeri), and as Bénédict (Béatrice et Bénédict). His plans include taking on parts in Robert le Diable at La Monnaie, Il duca di Mantova (Rigoletto) in Massy, and the title-role in Faust by Gounod. He will sing the part of the viceroy of Naples in the world premiere of The Satin Slipper (Paul Claudel) at the Opéra Bastille in 2021.

At the Opéra de Lausanne : Paris in La belle Hélène (2019)

Patrick Rocca is an actor and lyrical singer. He has appeared several times in front of the cameras of Georges Lautner and Bertrand Tavernier, as well as in several films and television series, including Baron Noir, Candice Renoir, Crimes parfaits and most recently in Garder ton nom directed by Vincent Duquesne. As a singer, he was Javert in Les Misérables then Albin in La cage aux folles at the Théâtre Mogador. He plays Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus), Jupiter (Orpheus in Hell), Agamemnon (La belle Hélène) and General Boum (The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein).

At the Opéra de Lausanne: Calchas in La belle Hélène (2008), Ribeira’s Don Andrès in La Périchole (2009), Baron Popoff in La veuve joyeuse (2014) and Baron Gondremarck in La vie parisienne (2016).

Julien Dran discovered singing thanks to his parents, who were opera singers themselves. He studied at the Conservatoire de Bordeaux and the CNIPAL national opera centre in Marseille, after which he was quickly working in more important roles such as Le comte Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Fenton (Falstaff), and Tebaldo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi). In 2013, he won the Julián Gayarre International Singing Competition in Pamplona, chaired by Teresa Berganza. He has performed in France and other countries in Les pêcheurs de perles, in the title-role in Fra Diavolo (Auber), as Lindoro (L’Italiana in Algeri), and as Bénédict (Béatrice et Bénédict). His plans include taking on parts in Robert le Diable at La Monnaie, Il duca di Mantova (Rigoletto) in Massy, and the title-role in Faust by Gounod. He will sing the part of the viceroy of Naples in the world premiere of The Satin Slipper (Paul Claudel) at the Opéra Bastille in 2021.

At the Opéra de Lausanne : Paris in La belle Hélène (2019)

After graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in the Italian Language in 2014, Laurène Paternò joined Lausanne’s University of Music in Stephan MacLeod’s class; in 2017, she also enrolled in the Master’s degree course there as a solo performer. As part of her course, she participated in a musical creation performed in Rio de Janeiro during the opening week of the 2016 Olympic Games. She won the 1st place prize at the Concours du Kattenburg.  She sang in the roles of Sister Blanche of the Agony of Christ in Dialogues of the Carmelites and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, the latter conducted by Leonardo Garcìa Alarcón. Both operas were produced by the University of Music of Lausanne. In 2019, she sings in the roles of Sofiya and Yelena in Laïka, le chien de l’espace of Russell Hepplewhite, an opera for kids at the Nouvel Opéra of Fribourg. She performed in concert, accompanied by the group Gli Angeli Genève, l’Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and l’Orchestre de Chambre Fribourgeois, in a sacred and operatic repertoire.

In an Opéra de Lausanne production in Bhutan, at the inauguration of the Royal Textile Academy of Bhutan in 2018, she sang Serpina in La serva padrona, and in 2019 Mélusine in Les Chevaliers de la Table ronde of Hervé. She was to play the role of Giannetta in L’elisir d’amore in 2020.

For the first time ever at the Opéra de Lausanne. Jean Miannay began singing opera at the Conservatoire de Nantes in Natasha Siehoff’s class. After two years, he went on to study musicology in Lille and joined Françoise Semellaz’ class. During those years, Jean performed roles such as Tamino in Mozart’s La flûte enchantée, Pelléas in Pelléas et Mélisande by Debussy, Basilio in Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart.

In 2017, he took part in the International Opera Festival of Belle-Île en Mer, and joined Brigitte Balleys’ class at the Haute Ecole de Musique in Lausanne, where he is currently enrolled. He is a Colette Mosetti foundation award-winner in 2018. He sang the role of the Prince in Pauline Viardot’s Cinderella at the Opéra de Lausanne. Winner of the 26th Clermont-Ferrand International Singing Competition in 2019 for the role of Beppe, he also won the Grand Prix du Concours Raymond Duffaut at the Opéra du Grand Avignon.

Yuki Tsurusaki, a French soprano, discovered music at the age of six when she started playing the piano. After studying in Lyon, she joined the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne in the class of Hiroko Kawamichi, where she obtained her Master’s degree.

She is the winner of the Mosetti scholarship in 2014, as well as the Virginia Zeani competition in Turin, the Leopold Bellan competition in Paris and the Lavaur competition in Toulouse. She recently won the first prize in the Vienne en Voix competition in Vivonne.

She has apperead in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges at the Salle Métropole in Lausanne, Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw and Menotti’s The Telephone as Lucy.

At the Opéra de Lausanne, she performed the role of La Gazelle in Les Zoocrates by Thierry Besançon, as well as in Fledermaus directed by Adriano Sinivia and conducted by Frank Beermann. She has also sung the roles of Micaëla and Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen, having prepared the roles with Béatrice Uria-Monzon and Antoine Palloc.

She sang in Tokyo in 2017 and in 2018 and made her debut on the American stage at Carnegie Hall with the New York City Opera. In the same year and for two consecutive years, she was invited to perform at the Festival of Young Artists in Siberia with the Khakassie Philharmonic

This season, she will be heard at the Opéra de Lausanne in Benatzky’s L’Auberge du Cheval Blanc under the baton of Jean-Yves Ossonce, as well as in Handel’s Rinaldo alongside Philippe Jaroussky and under the direction of Andrea Marcon.

The Opéra de Lausanne Choir is young, made up of students of singing from Lausanne’s University of Music and the Geneva HEM, and professional singers. Its members are selected by audition and periodically reheard. For each opera, they are distributed depending on their voice and/or aptitudes. Thanks mainly to their talent on stage, supported by an infectious enthusiasm, they are highly appreciated by all the theatre directors invited. For a few years the choir has benefitted from preparation by several experienced choir masters from different backgrounds, chosen depending on the works being sung and their specific interest.

Jacques Blanc studied the piano at the Conservatoire National de Marseille, and orchestra conducting with Jésus Etcheverry. He began as a singing master then became choir master at the Nantes and Strasbourg Operas. He supported Jeffrey Tate and George Prêtre, before becoming a conductor himself in Bordeaux, Montpellier, Limoges, Nice and Nantes. Between 1986 and 1988 he was director of vocal studies at the CNIPAL national opera centre in Marseille. From 1999 to 2010, he became the permanent chorus master and director of vocal studies of the Opéra National de Bordeaux, and contributed to performances such as Turandot, Carmen and La Bohème. He now devotes himself to conducting and the study of repertoire with young singers to guide them in their careers. He recently conducted La Traviata while on tour with the Opéra en Plein Air. At the Opéra de Lausanne: Die Zauberflöte (1991) assisting Armin Jordan; Phi-Phi (2014) and La belle de Cadix (2016) as conductor; Manon (2014), Die lustige Witwe (2014), My Fair Lady (2015), Les mamelles de Tirésias (2016), La vie parisienne (2016), La Bohème, Hamlet and Lucia di Lammermoor (2017), Die Fledermaus (2018) as chorus master.

Director of the Tours opera and regional symphony orchestra from 1999 to 2016, Jean-Yves Ossonce was invited to conduct numerous operas in a wide repertoire with orchestras in Europe, on the other side of the Atlantic, in South Korea and in China. He has recorded, among other things, works by Magnard, Massenet and Ropartz. His work was awarded in 2008 and 2014 by the Syndicat de la Critique Musicale et Dramatique with the prize for best lyric performance in the region. In recognition of his career, he received the 2016 Grand Prix de la Presse Musicale Internationale. He is a knight of the Legion of Honour.

At the Opéra de Lausanne: Così fan tutte (2006), Monsieur de Pourceaugnac (2007), Madama Butterfly (2009), L’Aiglon (2013), and Faust (2016).

Karolina Luisoni studied fashion at the Cracow College of Art and Fashion Design (SAPU), Poland. She pursued her education in the field of costumes and textiles at the University of Huddersfield, England. In 2013, her final project “Doctor Faustus” received a special award from Sir Patrick Stewart and an award from the Northern Society of Costumes and Textiles. In 2015 she won an international costume competition organised by Luc Besson, for his movie, “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets”. 

In 2019 her costume “Mephistopheles” has been exhibited in the Historical State Museum in Moscow as a part of the “INNOVATIVE COSTUME OF THE 21st CENTURY: NEXT GENERATION” exposition. From 2015 she has been working at the costume department of the Lausanne Opera where she has been designing and supervising costume making for the new productions. In 2017, she was the costume assistant for the production of Don Giovanni and designed the costumes for Cendrillon in 2018.

A graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Techniques du Théâtre de Lyon, Bruno de Lavenère has designed sets for opera, dance and theatre. In 2014, the Professional Union of theatre, music and dance critics awarded him the prize for best creator of stage objects in the opera category for his stage design of Doctor Atomic in Strasbourg. He has worked with Richard Brunel, Frédéric Roels, Lucinda Childs, Jean-Louis Grinda, Renée Auphan, Gilles Rico, Julien Ostini, Jean-Romain Vesperini, Waut Koeken and Max Emanuel Cencic.

His most recent creations include Il Trovatore in Lille and in Luxembourg, Don Giovanni, Così fan Tutte and Norma in Rouen, Quai Ouest, Farnace, La vie Parisienne and Cav/Pag in Strasbourg, The Sleeping Beauty in Basel, La belle Hélène at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Maria Republica andLittle Nemo in Nantes, as well as Mozart et Salieri in Lyon. For the 2017-18 season, he has worked on productions of Philémon et Baucis in Tours, Norma in Mascate, Siegfried and Faust in Saint-Étienne, Carmen in Hong Kong, La Bohème at the Bolshoï in Moscow and Nabucco in Saint-Petersburg.

At the Opéra de Lausanne: Siroe (2016), La vie parisienne (2016), La donna del lago (2018).

First a student at the École nationale de l’Opéra de Paris, Jean-Philippe Guilois then enrolled at the École Rudra Béjart, with which he took part in several shows and international tours. His first professional experience was with Cisco Aznar and the Compagnie Buissonnière in Parce que je t’aime, presented at the Théâtre de Vidy. While he continued finding work as a dancer, he was introduced to the world of opera as a stage manager, then was the assistant director for La bohème, Nabucco and Carmen at the Festival Avenches Opéra.

He currently works on creating choreographies and plays, and directing. He was a stage manager, assistant director and choreographer for many productions put on by Opéra de Lausanne, including My Fair Lady (2015), La vie parisienne (2016) and Don Giovanni (2017).