{{short description|French soprano}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}} {{Infobox person | name = Isabelle Cals | image = | caption = | image_upright = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1993}} | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | education = Opéra de Paris studio | occupation = Operatic mezzo-soprano and soprano | organizations = | website = {{URL|https://www.isabellecals.com/}} }} '''Isabelle Cals''' (born 1993) is a French operatic soprano and mezzo-soprano who made an international career in opera and concert. Her roles include Bizet's Carmen and Wagner's Kundry.
== Life and career == Born in south-western France, Cals achieved a master's degree in Chinese, and a degree in international relations.<ref name="NOSPR" /> She worked as expert for Asia in a lawyer's office and then for three years for Deloitte.<ref name="Banel" /> She turned to singing at age 24,<ref name="Banel" /> first as a mezzo-soprano, studying at the Centre de formation lyrique of the Opéra de Paris.<ref name="Alberro" /> Her roles include the title roles of Debussy's ''Pelléas et Mélisande'' and Offenbach's ''La belle Hélène'', and Concepcion in Ravel's ''L'heure espagnole''.<ref name="NOSPR" />
Although in demand as a mezzo-soprano, performing roles such as the title role of Bizet's ''Carmen'', she decided to expand her tessitura into the soprano register, and especially study towards a better technique. Her first role as a soprano was Donna Elvira in Mozart's ''Don Giovanni'' in 2006.<ref name="Banel" /> She performed Wagner's ''Wesendonck-Lieder'' with the Landesjugendorchester Berlin, ''Les nuits d'été'' and ''La mort de Cléopâtre'' by Berlioz, Ravel's ''Shéhérazade'', conducted by François-Xavier Roth. She sang Messiaen’s ''Harawi'' at the Festival Messiaen, and ''Four Last Songs'' by Richard Strauss at the Festival du Septembre Musical de l'Orne.<ref name="NOSPR" /> She sang the part of Marguerite in Honegger's Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher, conducted by Alain Altinoglu, on stage in Montpellier in 2006,<ref name="Michel Tibbaut" /> and appeared in a half-scenic production of the oratorio with chorus and orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia conducted by Antonio Pappano in 2008.<ref name="DF" /> She performed the soprano solo of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in 2019 at the Opéra de Marseille.<ref name="Alberro" />
Operatic soprano roles include the title roles of Lully's ''Armide'' and ''Béatrice et Bénédict'' by Berlioz, Giulietta in Offenbach's ''Les contes d'Hoffmann'', Marguerite in ''La damnation de Faust'', the Foreign Princess in Dvorák's ''Rusalka'', Alice Ford in Verdi's ''Falstaff'', Tatiana in Tchaikovsky's ''Eugene Onegin'', Madame Lidoine in Poulenc's ''Dialogues des Carmélites'', and the Governess in Britten's ''The Turn of the Screw''.<ref name="NOSPR" />
In 2023 she appeared as Kundry in Wagner's ''Parsifal'' in the project of the Stadttheater Minden, directed by Eric Vigié, with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie conducted by Frank Beermann, alongside Jussi Myllys in the title role, Tijl Faveyts as Gurnemanz and Roman Trekel as Amfortas. <ref name="NWD" /> A reviewer noted that she portrayed the different aspects of her character with haunting stage presence and a lyrical-dramatic voice and at times a delicate dark timbre.<ref name="Klein" />
=== Personal life === Cals is married to the Austrian tenor Nikolai Schukoff. They have a residence in a village in the Lot department in south-western France.<ref name="Alberro" />
== Recordings == Cals recorded music by Hector Berlioz in the complete works with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra, Ascanio in ''Benvenuto Cellini'' and Ascagne in ''Les Troyens'',<ref name="NOSPR" /><ref name="Hyperion Records" /><ref name="Klassik heute 2002" /> a 2000 recording that received many awards including Grammy Awards.<ref name="LSO" /> She recorded the role of Mercedes in ''Carmen'' in 2003, with the Orchestre Capitole de Toulouse conducted by Michel Plasson.<ref name="Klassik heute" /> She appeared as Javotte in a recording of Massenet's Manon with Renée Fleming in the title role, and choir and orchestra of the Opéra National de Paris conducted by Jesús López Cobos.<ref name="Klassik heute 2004" />
== References == <references>
<ref name="Alberro">{{cite news | last = Alberro | first = Bruno | url = https://www.ventoux-opera.com/2019/09/13/marseille-rencontre-avec-isabelle-cals-soprano/ | title = Isabelle Cals | website = Ventoux Opera | date = 2019 | language = fr | access-date = 18 September 2023 }}</ref>
<ref name="Banel">{{cite magazine | last = Banel | first = Philippe | url = http://www.tutti-magazine.fr/news/page/Isabelle-Cals-Soprano-Rusalka-Opera-Tours-Fruhlingsfeier-Salome-Richard-Strauss-fr/ | title = Interview d'Isabelle Cals, soprano | magazine = Tutti | date = 18 May 2017 | language = fr | access-date = 25 September 2023 }}</ref>
<ref name="Klein">{{cite magazine | last = Klein | first = Patrik | url = https://klassik-begeistert.de/richard-wagner-parsifal-stadttheater-minden-8-september-premiere/ | title = Wagners Parsifal in Minden eröffnet die Saison 2023/24 im neu gestalteten Stadttheater | website = klassik-begeistert.de | date = 8 September 2023 | language = de | access-date = 25 September 2023 }}</ref>
<ref name="Michel Tibbaut">{{cite magazine | last = Tibbaut | first = Michel | url = https://www.resmusica.com/2008/03/13/proces-de-jeanne-darc-proces-toujours-bien-actuel-du-fanatisme/ | title = Procès de Jeanne d'Arc, procès toujours bien actuel du fanatisme | magazine = Res musica | date = 13 March 2008 | language = fr | access-date = 18 September 2023 }}</ref>
<ref name="DF">{{cite news | url = https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/jeanne-darc-au-bucher-100.html | title = Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher | website = Deutschlandfunk | date = 16 November 2008 | language = de | access-date = 25 September 2023 }}</ref>
<ref name="Hyperion Records">{{cite web | url = https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/a.asp?a=A14177 | title = Hector Berlioz (1803–1869) / Odyssey | website = Hyperion Records | access-date = 18 September 2023 }}</ref>
<ref name="Klassik heute">{{cite web | url = http://www.klassik-heute.de/4daction/www_medien_einzeln?id=14698&Inter1855 | title = Bizet: Carmen | website = klassik-heute.de | date = 18 June 2003 | language = de | access-date = 25 September 2023 }}</ref>
<ref name="Klassik heute 2002">{{cite web | url = http://www.klassik-heute.com/4daction/www_medien_einzeln?id=14249&Text&671 | title = Berlioz: Les Troyens | website = klassik-heute.de | date = 3 June 2002 | language = de | access-date = 25 September 2023 }}</ref>
<ref name="Klassik heute 2004">{{cite web | url = http://www.klassik-heute.de/4daction/www_medien_einzeln?id=14989&Inter1855 | title = Massenet: Manon | website = klassik-heute.de | date = 20 January 2004 | language = de | access-date = 25 September 2023 }}</ref>
<ref name="LSO">{{cite web | url = https://lsolive.lso.co.uk/collections/isabelle-cals/products/berlioz-les-troyens-the-trojans#tab3 | title = Berlioz: Les Troyens | website = London Symphony Orchestra | date = 2000 | access-date = 25 September 2023 }}</ref>
<ref name="NOSPR">{{cite web | url = https://nospr.org.pl/en/kalendarz/artysci/isabelle-cals | title = Isabelle Cals | website = Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra | access-date = 18 September 2023 }}</ref>
<ref name="NWD">{{cite web | url = https://www.nwd-philharmonie.de/endloser-applaus-bei-derparsifal-premiere/ | title = Endloser Applaus bei der Parsifal-Premiere | website = Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie | date = 2023 | language = de | access-date = 25 September 2023 }}</ref>
</references>
== External links == * {{official|https://www.isabellecals.com/}} {{in lang|fr|en}} * {{AllMusic|id=mn0001685804}} * {{discogs artist}} * {{IMDb name|nm1645441/}} * [https://www.operabase.com/artists/isabelle-cals-7481/en Isabelle Cals] Operabase * [https://www.resmusica.com/mot-clef/isabelle-cals/ Isabelle Cals] Res musica * [http://www.hofinger-agentur.de/kuenstler/isabelle-cals/ Isabelle Cals] (management, in German) Hofinger-Agentur
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cals, Isabelle}} Category:Living people Category:French operatic sopranos Category:21st-century French women opera singers Category:1993 births