Anne-Catherine Gillet

Anne-Catherine Gillet was born in Belgium. At a very young age, she was spotted by the direction of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, who offered her a position amongst their resident singers, enabling her to take on her earliest operatic roles. Her career soon unfolded in prestigious Opera houses, the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse invited her for many important roles, Sir John Eliot Gardiner chose her to sing Laoula in Chabrier's L'Étoile at the Opernhaus Zürich and the Opéra Comique in Paris, she then made her debut at the Paris National Opera.

During her first years, she sang: Sophie (Werther) in Liège, Toulon, Lyon and the Opéra Bastille, Musetta (La Bohème) in Liège, Brussels, Geneva and Bordeaux, Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) in Toulouse, Sœur Constance (Dialogues des Carmélites) and Zdenka (Arabella) in Toulouse and Liège. She then went on to expand her repertoire with notable appearances as Despina (Così fan Tutte), at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, in Tourcoing, Toulouse and at the Palais Garnier in Paris, or Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), in Nice, Toulouse and Liège. She enjoyed outstanding success as Micaëla at the Opéra Comique, in Marseille and Beijing. She also took one the great Baroque roles: Poppea, under the direction of Christophe Rousset in Toulouse and Ottavio Dantone in Como and Brescia, Aricie in Toulouse and at the Paris Opera with Emmanuelle Haïm.

Anne-Catherine Gillet cultivates a special affection for the French 19th century repertoire, debuting in the roles of Cendrillon by Massenet at La Monnaie, Juliette in Tours, Manon in Lausanne and Leïla (Les Pêcheurs de perles) in Liège and at the Angers-Nantes Opera. The 20th century repertoire offers her major roles, such as Mélisande in Liège, the title roles in L'Héritière and Colombe by Jean-Michel Damase in Marseille, The Governess (The Turn of the Screw) in Frankfurt and Blanche (Dialogues des Carmélites), for which she is hailed as one of her generation's finest interpreter.

She worked with renowed conductors such as Alain Altinoglu, Marco Armiliato, P. Arrivabeni, Jesús López Cobos, Patrick Davin, John Eliot Gardiner, Laurent Gendre, Emmanuelle Haïm, Philippe Jordan, Jiří Kout, Jacques Lacombe, Louis Langrée, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Marc Minkowski, Kent Nagano, Günter Neuhold, Kazushi Ōno, Jean-Yves Ossonce, Antonio Pappano, Evelino Pido, Michel Plasson, Georges Prêtre, Carlo Rizzi, Marc Soustrot, Alberto Zedda…

Her discography includes L’Aiglon by Ibert and Honegger conducted by Kent Nagano and released by Decca in 2016, a CD released in october 2011 with works of Barber-Berlioz-Britten (AEON/ ref. AECD 1113) and Les Béatitudes by César Franck with the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, Haendel Rodrigo by Naïve, Rameau Les Paladins by Château de Versailles Spectacles, La Princesse de Trébizonde by Opera Rara, La Vie Parisienne and La Fille de Madame Angot by Bru-Zane label, she appears in DVDs of Carmen (J. E. Gardiner - FraMusica 2009) and Werther at the Opéra Bastille (M. Plasson - Decca 2010).

Recent highlights include Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel) at the Palais Garnier, Oscar (Un Ballo in maschera) at the Chorégies d'Orange, Ilia (Idomeneo) in Frankurt, Gilda (Rigoletto) at La Monnaie and at the Bolshoi, Manon in Lausanne and Monte-Carlo, Juliette in Monte-Carlo, Leila (Les Pêcheurs de perles) in Liège and in Toulouse, Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) in Liège, Nice and Marseille, Adina (L'Elisir d'amore) in Brussels, Blanche (Dialogues des Carmélites) in Brussels, Bordeaux, Norina (Don Pasquale) in Brussels, Tours and Québec, Hero (Béatrice et Benedict) at La Monnaie and at the Glyndebourne Festival, Minerva (Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in patria) at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and in Dijon, Caroline (Die Fledermaus) in Marseille, Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) in Lausanne, Gabrielle (La Vie parisienne) in Bordeaux, Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande) in Oviedo and Strasbourg, Angèle (Le Domino noir) in Liège and at the Opéra Comique, Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro) and Missia (Die lustige Witwe) in Marseille, Suzanne (Madame Favart by Offenbach) at the Opéra Comique, Jacqueline (Fortunio) at the Opéra Comique and at the Opéra de Nancy, Servilia (La Clemenza di Tito) in Barcelona, Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) in Toulouse, Elle in La Voix Humaine by Poulenc and Point d’orgue by Thierry Escaich in Bordeaux, Micaëla (Carmen) in Luxembourg, in Liège… She made her debuts as Marguerite in Faust by Gounod at the Opéra royal de Wallonie in Liège and sang again the part recently in Köln under the baton of François-Xavier Roth and at the Opéra de Québec.

In concert, she sang , the title role of L'Aiglon with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher in Liège, Monte-Carlo, Toulouse and Paris, Monsieur Beaucaire by Messager at Radio France (Paris), La Dame de Monte-Carlo in Monaco, Kassya by Delibes at the Radio-France Festival in Montpellier, La Fille de Madame Angot at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Phryné by Saint-Saëns at the Opéra Comique, La Princesse de Trébizonde by Offenbach in London, Les Béatitudes by César Franck with the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, Les Paladins in Versailles with La Chapelle harmonique, La Vie Parisienne with the Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, but also in recital at the Opéra Comique and the Instant lyrique in Paris.

Among her projects this season, let us mention: Les Sentinelles, world creation by Clara Olivarès, in Bordeaux, Limoges and at the Opéra Comique, La Belle Hélène in Tours, Carmen at the théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels…

January 2025

^{This biography should not be edited without permission from Intermezzo.}