Isabelle Druet is one of the most appreciated mezzo-sopranos of her generation. She passes with equal happiness from opera to recital and crosses the centuries from Monteverdi to Britten with disconcerting ease.
A musician with an atypical background, she first trained in the theater, then made her first steps as a singer in current and traditional music, while studying singing at the CNSMD in Paris. Numerous awards soon followed (“Promising lyrical artist 2007” from ADAMI, winner of the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition 2008, Most Promising lyrical Artist at the “Victoires de la musique classique 2010”, Rising Star 2013) and engagements in the greatest opera houses and with the most renowned ensembles.
Among her many roles on stage, let us mention Carmen at the Opera of Düsseldorf / Duisburg, the Opéra national de Lorrain and the Opéra de Saint-Etienne, the title role of L’Italiana in Algeri at the Opéra-Théâtre de Metz, Dido (Dido and Aeneas) on national tour and in Brussels, Tisbé (La Cenerentola), La Ciesca (Gianni Schicchi) and Annina (La Traviata) at the Opéra national de Paris, Baba la Turque ( The Rake’s Progress) at the Opéra de Nice, at the Grand Théâtre du Luxembourg as well as in Caen, Reims, Rouen, Limoges, Melanto and Fortuna ( Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria) at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and at the Opéra de Dijon, Concepción ( L’Heure Espagnole) at the Lyon Auditorium, the Salle Pleyel and the Barbican Center in London, Orphée (Orphée et Eurydice) at the Opéra de Limoges and the Théâtre de Besançon, La Sagesse, Sidonie et Mélisse (Luly’s Armide) at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Arcabonne (Lully’s Amadis) in Avignon and Massy, the 3rd Lady (Die Zauberflöte) at the Festival d’Aix en Provence, at the Salle Pleyel, the Berlin Philharmonic and on tour in Europe, the title role of La Périchole and Nerissa (Le Marchand de Venise) at the Opéra de Saint-Etienne, or Béatrice ( Beatriceand Benedict) and Cassandre (La Prise de Troie) at the Berlioz Festival in La Côte Saint-André.
Solicited by numerous orchestras and ensembles, she has performed under the direction of conductors such as François-Xavier Roth, Leonard Slatkin, René Jacobs, Raphaël Pichon, Laurence Equilbey… alongside the London Symphony Orchestra, the Gürzenich Orchester, the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the National Orchestra of Lyon, the Orchestre National de Liège, the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Pygmalion ensemble, the Arts Florissants, the Berliner Barocksolisten, the Insula orchestra, to name but a few.
In recital, it is accompanied by the pianists Anne Le Bozec, Johanne Ralambondrainy, Wanessa Wagner, Georges Pludermacher, Camille and Abdel Rahman El Bacha, Stéphane Jamin, the organist Thierry Escaich, the cellist Christian-Pierre La Marca or the Giardini quartet that she gives many concerts on the greatest international stages.
Isabelle Druet’s discography includes many opuses, among which we can mention her multiple recordings with Vincent Dumestre’s Le Poème Harmonique, her recitals with pianists Johanne Ralambondrainy (Jardin Nocturne) and Anne Le Bozec (Shakespeare songs), Ravel’s Shéhérazade and L’Heure espagnole with the Orchestre national de Lyon conducted by Leonard Slatkin, an Alma Mahler / Zemlinsky program with the Orchestre Victor Hugo Franche Comté conducted by Jean-François Verdier or the DVD Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in patria with Emmanuel Haïm’s Concert d’Astrée.