Isabelle Kabatu
Isabelle Kabatu is a Belgian operatic soprano of African origin.
Life
Born in Montignies-sur-Sambre, Kabatu studied singing and music at the Royal Conservatories of Belgium in Mons, Brussels and Ghent and then improved her skills with Jessye Norman.[1][2][3]
She was laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in May 1992. The soprano was ranked 12th out of 12 finalists[4] and two years later, in 1994, she won first prize in the International Viotti Competition, an important international singing competition held in Varollo in Italy. That same year, she started as Violetta in the title role of La Traviata in Lisbon.
Kabatu furthered her training at the Conservatory of Nice with Jean-Pierre Blivet in 1995 and 1996 in a production of the Houston Grand Opera, she performed Bess in a world tour of Porgy and Bess, in La Scala of Milan, the Opéra Bastille of Paris, and the Bunkamura of Tokyo.
At the Glimmerglass Festival in New York in 1997, she had a great success in Madama Butterfly. She then went on to perform Aida, Tosca, Un Ballo in Maschera, Manon Lescaut, La Forza del Destino, La Fanciulla del West, Sly... on the great opera stages, Milan La Scala, Vienna State Opera, Barcelona's Liceo, Dresden's Semperoper, San Francisco's Houston, Verona's Arena...
In 1999, she married the director and painter Stefano Giuliani in Ixelles and founded with him, in 2000, a lyrical workshop, "Da Tempesta Company", to help young artists musicians, singers, scenographers, decorators and visual artists.[5] Since its creation, this workshop has produced about ten operas, most often with orchestra, by Monteverdi,[6] Mozart, Rossini, Bizet, Offenbach.
Kabatu won the Prix des arts de la scène (Hainaut) in 2003[7] She sang Aida in Rome in 2005 and met there the tenor Placido Domingo with whom she often collaborated.[5]
In 2008 she sang Chimène in the new production of Massenet's Le Cid at the Zurich Opera House alongside José Cura, supervised by Michel Plasson and Nicolas Joel and in 2009 she performed Madame Lidoine in F. Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites at the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse.[8] In September 2012 she played the role of Leonor in the world premiere of C.Franck's Stradella at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège.[9]
Recordings
- Dolly in E. Wolf-Ferrari's Sly ovvero La leggenda del dormiente risvegliato, Munich, Koch International, 2001 (2 CDs, recorded in 2000), alongside José Carreras.
- Aïda, conductor Fabio Mastrangelo.
- Stradella, by César Franck, conductor Paolo Arrivabeni, direction Jaco Van Dormael, DVD label : Dynamic.
- Carmen, Festival of Avenche.
- G.Donizetti's Maria Stuarda, Nightingale, 2004 (2 CDs),
- Vénus in Wagner's Tannhäuser conducted by Franz Welser-Möst, Zurich, 2004 (2 DVDs EMI, 180 minutes).[10]
- Bess in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Munich, Sony Music Entertainment, 2009 (3 CDs and a leaflet, recorded in Graz, Helmut-List-Halle, Austria), conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt.[11]
References
- ^ Les Inrockuptibles, issues 85-92, Editions Indépendantes, 1996 (p. 70)
- ^ Belgian opera houses and singers, Richard T. Soper, Reprint Co., 1999 (p. 225)
- ^ Le rêve d'Élisabeth : cinquante ans de Concours Reine Élisabeth par Thierry Bouckaert, Editions Complexe, 2001 (p. 210)
- ^ "lauréats/jury - Isabelle KABATU 12th prize, Chant 1992". www.concours-reine-elisabeth.be.
- ^ a b "lesoir.be, interview, Saturday 22 May 2010". archives.lesoir.be.
- ^ "lesoir.be - OPÉRA Le baroque montois Mer trop houleuse pour Monteverdi - by Michel Friche Saturday 16 September 2000". archives.lesoir.be.
- ^ "Les Prix du Hainaut 2003 sont décernés". www.hainaut.be.
- ^ Note : A performance broadcast on France Musique as part of Le concert du soir, Thursday 21 January 2010.
- ^ "Opéra: Stradella - bulle, miroirs, rideau de pluie".
- ^ "Wagner: Tannhäuser, Zürich". www.jkaufmann.info.
- ^ BnF 42088443q
External links
- Isabelle Kabatu on Operissimo
- Isabelle Kabatu on Bases spectacle
- Official website
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