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The French lyric coloratura soprano of Martiniquan origin, Christiane Eda-Pierre, was born to a mother professor of music education and a father draftsman, surveyor and Courier journalist of the Caribbean. Her mother taught Chritiane piano at a very young age and gave her all the academic theories. In 1954, she was sent to France to study at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris, where she was a pupil of J. Decrais and Charles Panzéra. Three years later, she won unanimously the first prize of singing and lyric art. She graduated with honors in 1957. The same year, she made her professional debut in Nice, as Leïla in Les pecheurs de perles.
Christiane Eda-Pierre made her debut at the Opéra-Comique in 1958, as Lakmé, at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 1959, as Papagena in The Magic Flute, and at the Palais Garnier in 1960, as Lucia di Lammermoor. In 1960, she joined the Opéra Comique where she will remain twelve years; then, from 1973 to 1983, she sang at the Opera Garnier. From 1980 to 1986 she was engaged at the Théâtre Royal in Brussels.
Christiane Eda-Pierre sang in a wide variety of roles, from Baroque to contemporary works. She sang the standard lyric coloratura roles of the French and Italian repertories. She also won great acclaim in Mozart roles, especially Konstanze in The Abduction from the Seraglio, as well as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, Donna Anna and Elvira in Don Giovanni, The Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute. She was much appreciated in French Baroque opera, particularly the works of Jean-Philippe Rameau, including Les Indes galantes, Zoroastre, Les Boréades, and Dardanus. She was also very active on French Radio where she sang in little performed works, such as Rossini 's Le siège de Corinthe, Bellini's Il pirata, Georges Bizet 's La jolie fille de Perth, as well as Berlioz's Béatrice et Bénédict and Benvenuto Cellini. She created many contemporary works, such as Capdeville's Les amants captifs (1973), Chaynes's Pour un monde noir (1979), and Erszebet (1983). In 1983 she also created the role of the Angel in Olivier Messiaen 's Saint François d'Assise, at the Opéra.
Christiane Eda-Pierre also appeared to great acclaim internationally, including Lisbon, London, Wexford, Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna, Salzburg, Moscow, Chicago, and New York. She made her Metropolitan Opera in 1980 as Konstanze, and went on to sing other roles there: Antonia in Les contes d'Hoffmann and Gilda in Rigoletto.
Christiane Eda-Pierre became a teacher at the Paris Conservatory in 1977, while continuing her career in opera and in concert.
The possessor of a beautiful, rich and agile voice, which enabled her to succeed in a wide variety of roles, Christiane Eda-Pierre can be heard on several recordings, most of them won and the most prestigious prize. Her three most famous recordings, on the Philips label, are Konstanze in Abduction from the Seraglio and Teresa in Benvenuto Cellini, both under Sir Colin Davis, and an album of arias from the French opéra-comiques of Grétry and Philidor, under Sir Neville Marriner. For the Bizet centenary in 1975 she participated in BBC studio recordings of La Jolie Fille de Perth and Le Docteur Miracle. |
