It is the Quebec soprano that the French opera scenes are competing for. Now based in Paris, Florie Valiquette will return to Quebec this week with Les Violons du Roy and Nicolas Ellis to sing Fauré in a program concocted in collaboration with the Palazzetto Bru Zane.
Going to sing at the Palace of Versailles has become almost as common for Florie Valiquette as going grocery shopping for all of us. She now dreams of herself as Queen of the night The Magic Fluteshe who sang Pamina in a French version, recorded in Versailles, in January 2020, under the direction of Hervé Niquet.
This dazzling career across the Atlantic began very quickly after leaving the Atelier de l’Opéra de Montréal. “I left Quebec in 2016. After the Atelier lyrique, I was offered a position as resident artist at the Opera studio of the Zurich Opera, in Switzerland. The director heard me in Aix-en-Provence in 2015. It was a great gateway to Europe,” Florie Valiquette tells Duty.
“Then I was offered a year in the Zurich troupe, where I sang in several productions with great conductors and directors. Then I auditioned and landed several contracts in France, for example in The postillion of Lonjumeau at the Comic Opera. The Magic Flute in French was my first contract with Laurent Brunner, the director of the Royal Opera at Versailles. This meeting went well, and Laurent Brunner offered me many chances on stage and on record, even with my first solo record. »
Evolution
The record remains important for the visibility of an artist in the eyes of Florie Valiquette, for whom the recordings were also “a lifeline during the pandemic”. “Doing so much recording, sometimes at the last minute, kept us busy, kept us busy. »
“I was very lucky,” explains the soprano, who notes that the more flexible policy in terms of opening theaters in France during the pandemic also meant that “people were more fond of going to concerts when it reopened.”
Florie Valiquette’s career is managed by a French agency specializing in singers. Intimate knowledge of an artist’s vocal profile and aspirations is very important for anyone who wants to support them in their development and to prevent vocal overexposure: “The voice changes, the interests change. I am exploring a more “lyrical-coloratura” repertoire, and agents must support us and accompany us in this. »
Precisely, the Royal Opera of Versailles was very keen to give Florie Valiquette a chance in this new direction, by entrusting her with her first Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), and hiring him for the role of Konstanze in The kidnapping from the seraglio in some months. Europe is also opening up more widely to the singer, who made her debut at the Glyndebourne Festival in 2023, in the production of Dialogues of the Carmelites by Poulenc directed by Barrie Kosky.
With the Palazzetto Bru Zane, Florie Valiquette sang notably in the recent revival of the original version of Parisian life d’Offenbach, a project launched two years ago. “I also recorded the Phryne by Saint-Saëns; I admire the approach towards these rare works which deserve to be rediscovered,” declares the singer.
In Quebec, Thursday, and in Montreal, Friday, Florie Valiquette will be the soloist, with David Jalbert, in a concert associating the Suite for piano and orchestra by Théodore Dubois, extracts from The good song by Fauré and an orchestration of String Quartet by Ravel. Les Violons du Roy will be directed by Nicolas Ellis.