1. Natalie Dessay gained wide recognition after her portrayal of Olympia in The Tales of Hoffmann in 1992, and then performing at leading stages, such as the Paris Opera, Vienna State Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera.
28 Facts About Natalie Dessay
1. 2.
Natalie Dessay dropped the silent "h" in her first name in honour of Natalie Wood when she was in grade school and subsequently simplified the spelling of her surname.
3.
Natalie Dessay sang her first Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute at the 1994 Aix-en-Provence Festival in Robert Carsen's staging to critical acclaim.
4.
Natalie Dessay went on performing the role in productions at the Opera National de Lyon, Salzburg Festival, Opera Bastille, Vienna State Opera.
5.
Natalie Dessay collaborated with William Christie in several projects: Carsen's new production of Handel's Alcina, which premiered at the Palais Garnier and later staged at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Andrei Serban's new production of Rameau's Les Indes galantes, which opened the new Paris Opera season.
6.
Natalie Dessay was Olympia in Robert Carsen's new production of The Tales of Hoffmann, premiering on 22 March 2000, at the Opera Bastille.
7.
Natalie Dessay starred in Hamlet at the Theatre du Capitole and later at the Theatre du Chatelet.
8.
Natalie Dessay started 2001 by opening La sonnambula at La Scala.
9.
Natalie Dessay withdrew from the stage and underwent surgery to remove a vocal cord nodule in July 2002.
10.
Natalie Dessay returned to the stage in March 2003 in Ariadne auf Naxos at the Met, and later in the year performed in the premiere of Laurent Pelly's new production of the opera at the Palais Garnier.
11.
Natalie Dessay was so attracted to New Mexico in general and Santa Fe in particular that the Santa Fe Opera quickly rearranged its schedule to feature her in a new production of La sonnambula during the 2004 season.
12.
Natalie Dessay underwent surgery to remove a polyp on the other vocal cord and began vocal training subsequently.
13.
Natalie Dessay returned on stage in a benefit concert at the Opera de Montreal on 8 May 2005, and later in the month, took part in Haydn's The Creation at the Festival de Saint-Denis.
14.
The year 2007 saw Natalie Dessay starring in the premiere of Laurent Pelly's production of La fille du regiment at Covent Garden, and its reprise at the Vienna State Opera.
15.
Natalie Dessay returned in the same season to sing Lucia again and subsequently reprised in Pelly's production of La fille du regiment.
16.
Natalie Dessay later returned to the production twice, in London and in Paris.
17.
Natalie Dessay went on performing Lucia at the San Francisco Opera and a joint concert with tenor Jonas Kaufmann as part of the Festival de Radio France et Montpellier.
18.
On 2 March 2009, Natalie Dessay premiered in Zimmerman's new production of La sonnambula opposite Juan Diego Florez at the New York Metropolitan Opera.
19.
In 2010, Natalie Dessay performed in La sonnambula at the Opera Bastille.
20.
Natalie Dessay performed in a joint concert with Juan Diego Florez at the Choregies d'Orange, before going on Teatro Regio di Torino's Japan tour of La traviata.
21.
Natalie Dessay then returned to the Met for Lucia, and performed in Pelleas et Melisande in concert form at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees and the Barbican Centre, before heading to Moscow for a concert version of Lucia with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra.
22.
Natalie Dessay portrayed Violetta at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in a new production of La traviata, which later reprised at the Vienna State Opera with her in the same role.
23.
In January 2012, Natalie Dessay starred in the premiere of Coline Serreau's production of Massenet's Manon in the title role at the Opera Bastille.
24.
Natalie Dessay was originally going to portray all main heroines in The Tales of Hoffmann at the Salle Pleyel, yet she withdrew for unspecified reasons and was replaced by Sonya Yoncheva.
25.
In June 2013, Natalie Dessay announced that the title role of Massenet's Manon at the Theatre du Capitole in Toulouse on 15 October 2013 would be her final operatic performance.
26.
Natalie Dessay described her retirement as "opera is quitting her", as she had done all the roles suitable for her light soprano voice and had no intention to be further associated with them.
27.
Natalie Dessay made her theatre debut in May 2015 in a French adaption of Howard Barker's monologue Und, staged by Jacques Vincey, at the Theatre Olympia in Tours.
28.
Natalie Dessay emphasizes the acting aspect in opera and describes herself as a "singing actress".