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The Greek soprano, Daphné Touchais, began studying music from a very early age. At the age of 15 she moved to France and studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris (CNR). Later she was a member of the young artist program “Les Jeunes Voix du Rhin”. A prize-winner in the 2004 Macon Voice Competition, she was awarded the 1st Prize in the International Baroque Competition of Chimay, 2005 (Belgium) presided by William Christie. She also obtained her Bachelor degree in Arts History (1998-1999) and her Master in Archeology (2000-2001) from Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne; and License as Tour Guide from Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (2016).
Trained and professionally active as an opera singer (soprano) for most of her career, Daphné Touchais has worked with numerous ensembles and opera houses, mainly in Europe but in the USA as well. She is quite versatile; her repertoire ranging from early to contemporary music. Her career has already led her all over Europe: from the Netherlands, where she made her debut as Papagena in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte under Ton Koopman and Belinda in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at the Concertgebouw, to Germany (Cupidon in Offenbach’s Orphée aux Enfers in Köln), Ireland (title role in Donizetti’s Rita and 1st Nymph in Rusalka at Wexford Festival), the UK (recording of Ariane et Barbe-Bleue by Dukas with the BBC Symphony Orchestra), Belgium (Iphis in George Frideric Handel's Jeptha) and Switzerland (Zdenka in Arabella in St Gallen).
In France, Daphné Touchais has sung at the Châtelet (Mrs Segstrom in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music), at the Opéra Comique (Isabelle in Grétry’s L’Amant Jaloux and Fiorella in Les Brigands by Offenbach), at the Cité de la Musique (Eurydice in Orpheus by Georg Philipp Telemann), in Lyon (La Musica in Monteverdi’s Orfeo), in Toulouse (Tebaldo in Don Carlo), in Bordeaux (Oscar in Un Ballo in Maschera, Valetto in L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Celia in W.A. Mozart's Lucio Silla, Agnès in Die Schule der Frauen by R. Liebermann), in Ambronay Festival (Charite in Cadmus et Hermione by Lully), in Sully Festival (Mrs Silberklang in W.A. Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor, Tonina in Salieri’s Prima la Musica poi le Parole), and has worked with conductors such as Ton Koopman, David Stern, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Jérémie Rohrer, Christophe Rousset, Paolo Olmi and François-Xavier Roth.
Her concert engagements have included Haydn’s Orfeo ed Euridice (Genio) with the Orchestre de Radio France, W.A. Mozart's Coronation Mass and Dvorak’s D-Major Mass with the Orchestre National de France, Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine under Gabriel Garrido, Francis Poulenc’s Gloria in Oviedo, Spain, and the cantata Herminie by Berlioz for BBC Radio.
Daphné Touchais has participated in three recordings: Ariane et Barbe Bleue by Paul Dukas (Mélisande) with the BBC Symphony Orchestra for Telarc, La Dafne by Marco da Gagliano (Amore) with the ensemble Fuoco e Cenere for Arion and Zanaida Johann Christian Bach (Cisseo) with Opera Fuoco for Zig-Zag Territoires.
Bilingual (French & English) licensed tour guide and opera singer, Daphné Touchais recently relocated in San Francisco, to work with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. Her domain is Art at large: she has been professionally active for years, both as a soprano and as a tour guide for major museums and monuments in Paris. She has developed a concept combining singing and guiding, in order to apprehend a monument or stylistic elements in it via music, using one's sensitivity rather than just intellect. |
