Françoise Pollet

Françoise Pollet’s participations in many ceremonies perfectly illustrate her place that now cannot be ignored in the lyrical world.

In 1994, Françoise Pollet was nominated Best lyric opera performer of the year, while ten years earlier she was making her debut at the Lubeck opera, singing the role of La marechale in the Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss. Having worked with a number of distinguished conductors, including Pierre Boulez, Sylvain Cambreling, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Jacques Mercier, Michel Plasson, Georges Prêtre, Semyon Bychkov, Ricardo Chailly, Charles Dutoit, Carlo-Maria Giulini, Marek Janowski, Pinchas Steinberg and other ones too allowed Françoise Pollet to establish herself around the world. Invited to perform at such prestigious opera houses as the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, the Fenice in Venice, the Met in New York or the Opera Bastille in Paris, Françoise Pollet has always wanted to give similar importance to her concert appearances and recitals with piano. She has performed with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra singing the role of Erwartung by Schonberg with David Robertson. In addition, she has performed with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Dutoit. She has given several critically acclaimed performances of Le Visage nuptial with Pierre Boulez at the London BBC Proms. Following the BBC Proms, she has sang at the Edinburgh festival and in Strasbourg, in Lucerne, in Paris with the Ensemble Intercontemporain, with the Orchestre du Capitole in Toulouse with Michel Plasson and with the Orchestre national de Lyon conducted by David Robertson. She has also performed with the NHK Orchestra in Tokyo and Charles Dutoit, with the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France and M. W. Chung, with the WDR of Koln, with the Orchestre philharmonique de Nice… She has been on tour with the Orchestre national des Pays de la Loire, the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Orchestre national d’Ile-de-France and Klaus Weise, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Pierre Boulez…
Having an out of the ordinary temperament, Françoise Pollet never ceases to surprise us with the large musicality of her voice and her eclectic repertoire – Strauss, Verdi, Wagner, Berlioz, Dukas… as well as great contemporary composers such as Boulez, Liebermann, Messiaen, Boesmans, Florentz… That is why she took part in the creation of Reigen by Philippe Boesmans at the Monnaie de Bruxelles in 1993 and she created in 1995 the title role of Freispruch für Medea by Rolf Liebermann at the Hamburg opera.
Among her important discography, her most recent recordings show the wide range of her repertoire : Les Troyens which received a Grammy Award, Berlioz’s Damnation de Faust, Poulenc’s Gloria and Stabat Mater conducted by Charles Dutoit for Decca, Messiaen’s Poems for Mi conducted by Pierre Boulez for DGG, Richard Strauss’s Quatre Derniers Lieder, Alban Berg’s Sept Lieder de Jeunesse and Wagner’s Wesendonck-Lieder conducted by Klaus Weise for Musidisc. Françoise Pollet has also recorded an album of French sacred airs and another one entitled Quand on n’a que l’amour for Musidisc withYutaka Sado, what illustrates her infinite possibilities. She has recently released a recording of Poèmes de l’Amour et de la Mer with Stefan Sanderling. She has been knighted of the Ordre national du Mérite and of the Ordre des Arts et Lettres.