It was her debut as Violetta in La Traviata at the Rouen Opera House in 2012 that revealed the young soprano to the French public and attracted the attention of the music press.
Critics praises « an exceptional singer with a real gift for interpretation », « pianissimi reminiscent of Montserrat Caballe » and announces « a discovery. A promising talent for the great operatic heroines ». « Fascinating. » (see Press Review Page)
Much acclaimed for her « tremendous stage presence » and her « capacity to express emotions using shadows, colours, pianissimi and musical nuances », she rapidly went on to play roles like the Countess (le Nozze di Figaro), Juliet (Roméo et Juliette), Mimi (La Bohème), Marguerite (Faust), Micaëla (Carmen), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) or Verdi’s Requiem that she has performed on numerous occasions.
Her acting skills, her musicality and her solid technique make Fabienne Conrad an artist capable of playing particularly demanding roles. Thus she opened the 2014-2015 season with the performance of the four soprano roles in The tales of Hoffmann : Olympia, Giulietta, Antonia and Stella. A quadruple role that opened up the doors of the German theatres to her : « exceptional voice technique, musicanship and real acting skills create the alchemy characteristic of top artists ».
The next season, she was then offered numerous new leading roles : Gounod’s Mireille, Massenet’s Manon, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Eliza in My Fair Lady… and interpreted again both Violetta and Mimi.
At the Leipzig Opera House, she will be soon Princess Marie de Gonzague in Gounod’s Cinq-Mars – the first restaging of this work, in partnership with the Palazetto Bru Zane.
She will be the guest of Alain Duault in a series of recitals with Béatrice Uria-Monzon, in partnership with Radio Classique. We can also expect to hear her again in Verdi’s Requiem, as Violetta in La Traviata, as Mimi in La Bohème and the four sopranos in the Tales of Hoffmann.
She sings at the Madrid Royal Opera House (Teatro Real), at the Lithanian National Opera House, and the Opera Houses of Leipzig, Rouen, Massy Metz, Reims, Saint-Etienne, Lübeck, the Paris Salle Pleyel, for Festivals like Les Flâneries musicales de Reims…
She has been very successful in Russia during big tours, (concerts with orchestra), where her command of the pianissimi has been highly acclaimed. She has been regularly invited there to sing great Italian and French arias from the romantic repertoire. She has sung under the conductors A Skulskyi, A Smirnov, with Theodor Currentzis’s musical ensemble Musicaeterna, With R. Mariskin…
She was also selected to perform at the international commemoration ceremonies for the Great War, in the presence of Heads of States from all over the world, and in several Galas with the Orchestra of the « Garde républicaine » (the French Presidence Official Orchestra).
Particularly appreciated for her performances of Verdi’s Requiem, which she has interpreted a number of times in France and Germany, she commands and has already sung a vast oratorio repertoire, including Mozart, Pergolesi, Leo, Haendel, Rossini, Brahms, Dvořák, Poulenc, Massenet, Fauré, Franck, contemporary works… (see Repertoire Page) She has also sung concerts of french melodies (Fauré, Massenet, Duparc, Bachelet, Hahn, Poulenc…) with the “Camerata de Bourgogne”.
She has sung with conductors such as Myung Wyung Chung, Jesus Lopez Cobos, Eliahu Inbal, Luciano Acocella, Ryusuke Nyumajiri, Alexandr Skluskyi, Cyril Diederich, Jonas Alber, Yannis Pouspourikas, Didier Benetti, François Boulanger, with Theodor Currentzis’ Musicaeterna orchestra… and has worked with directors such as Robert Carsen, Frédéric Roels, Paul-Emile Fourny, Claire Servais, François de Carpentries, Florian Lutz, Vincent Boussard…
Initially a graduate of Paris’ prestigious Sciences Po (Institute of Political Studies) and winner of the first prize in Music and Piano at the Conservatoire, Conrad first came to notice on the stage of Sciences Po, where she played Maria in West Side Story, with no previous singing experience. She then turned to opera singing, and after winning the Madrid competition for female opera singers, sang her very first role in Poulenc’s Dialogue des Carmélites at the Madrid Royal Opera House (Teatro Real).
She has also shown her interest in the links between the opera and the cinema by creating a video clip of « Piangero » from Haendel’s Giulio Cesare (a Parfum de films production).
