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The Belgian soprano, Liesbeth Devos, studied theatre, diction and oboe at the music academy in her native town Beveren-Waas. She studied singing with Lieve Suys and at the Royal Flemish Conservatory in Antwerp with Stephanie Friede, where she also attended the lied courses of Lucienne Van Deyck and Jozef De Beenhouwer and the opera course of Guy Joosten. She later graduated with great distinction at the Chapelle musicale Reine Elisabeth were her teachers included José van Dam and Susanna Eken.
In April 2004 Liesbeth Devos sang the role of Miss Wordsworth in Albert Herring, an Operastudio Flanders production. In April 2005 she sang the role of Meleagro in La Corona by Gluck produced by the Antwerp Conservatory. In 2006 she performed in Dido and Æneas at the Flanders Festival in Bruxelles. In 2007 she sang Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro, a production of Aix-en-Provence.
Liesbeth Devos made her debut in 2006 at La Monnaie as Despina in Così fan Tutte, a production in collaboration with the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth. In 2007 La Monnaie invited her to perform the role of Ilse in the world premiere of Frühlings Erwachen by Benoit Mernier and the role of Papagena in Die Zauberflöte. That same year she sang her first St John Passion (BWV 245) with The Academy of Ancient Music under the baton of Richard Egarr.
In the Flemish Opera Liesbeth Devos made her debut in 2007 as Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro. In 2008 she was invited again to sing La Ragazza in Luc van Hove's world creation La Strada and Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia. In 2009 she sang at this opera house Voce dal cielo in Don Carlos, first niece in Peter Grimes and the main role, Helena, in the world-creation Rage of Life, composed by Kats-Chernin. In the summer of 2008 she celebrated her debut in La Fenice (Venice) in Death in Venice with maestro Bartoletti.
Besides her operatic career, Liesbeth Devos is highly in demand as a concert singer. She has sung with The Academy of Ancient Music and the Belgian Baroque orchestra Il Fondamento. She sang Les Illuminations by Benjamin Britten with the Royal Flemish Philharmonic Orchestra conducted bij Michael Schonwandt. She sang Petite Messe Solennelle by Rossini and Die Schöpfung by Haydn with the Flemish Radio Choir. She went on tour with The Academy of Ancient Music through China to sing the solo soprano part in Haydn's Nelson Mass.
Future projects include among others Purcell concerts with B'Rock, St Matthew’s Passion (BWV 244) with Octopus Choir, Les Illuminations with Amsterdams Sinfonietta, Stabat Mater of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi in Boston (USA) and her debut at the Opera de Liège (Belgium) with L'inimico delle donne by Galuppi both conducted by Rinaldo Alessandrini.
In 2004 Liesbeth Devos formed a Lied-duo with her pianist Lucas Blondeel. They have performed extensively in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain. They won the first prize at the Kurt-Leimer competition in Zürich and were finalist at the Liedwettbewerb des Bayrischen Rundfunks in Bayreuth. This season they bring a Haydn/Mozart program with concerts all over Belgium.
Liesbeth Devos was awarded many scholarships offered by Belgacom, Inspiratum, Robus Foundation, Oranjebeurs, Nany Philippart and Piet Stautkring. She was offered a special prize, Pelemans Prijs, for her engagement in Belgian music. |
