Marie-Eve Munger
Born in Saguenay, Quebec, coloratura soprano Marie-Eve Munger earned her master’s degree at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University in Montréal. After winning the first prize at the Marmande International Competition in 2007, she was quickly engaged to sing major roles at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra de Tours, and Opéra-Théâtre de Metz. In America, she made her debut with Gotham Chamber Opera and Minnesota Opera. She has since gained international recognition for her “graceful, virtuosic” (The New York Times), stage presence – “she stole the show” (Washington Post), and “crystalline high notes and virtuosity … intelligence, musicality, and poetic sensitivity” (Opera News).
Appointed an associate artist of the Opéra-Comique in Paris since 2017, she will sing Princess Elsbeth in Offenbach’s Fantasio, and also will present recital and cabaret programs this season. During 2016–2017, she will also make her debut at the Liceu in Barcelona in Elektra, will sing Lakmé with the Bayerischen Rundfunks Symphony Orchestra in Munich, and will return to the Aix-en-Provence Festival as the Fairy in the world premiere of Pinocchio by Philippe Boesmans and Joël Pommerat. Other upcoming projects also include debuts at La Monnaie in Brussels, Opéra de Dijon, Opéra de Lille, Opéra de Rennes, Opéra de Montréal, and Opéra de Marseille.
Marie-Eve made recent debuts at the Teatro alla Scala and at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in Patrice Chéreau’s production of Elektra at the BBC Proms, conducted by Semyon Bychkov; at the Paris Opéra-Comique in Le Pré aux Clercs with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; at the Bayerischen Rundfunks Orchestra for L’enfant et les sortilèges, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen; as Juliette for Opera Carolina, Virginia Opera, and Toledo Opera; as the title role in My Fair Lady at Opéra de Lausanne with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kent Nagano; for the world premiere of Régis Campo’s Paradis Perdu (specially commissioned for her); and at Wexford Festival Opera in Don Bucefalo.
Other opera appearances include Ilia in Idomeneo for Florentine Opera; Ophélie in Hamlet for Minnesota Opera, Opéra-Théâtre de Metz and Göteborg Opera; Lakmé at the Opéra de St-Étienne; Gilda in Rigoletto with Opera Saratoga, Nannetta in Falstaff with Opéra-Théâtre de Metz, Maria in Villa-Lobos’ Magdalena at the Théâtre du Châtelet; and Costanza in Mozart’s Il sogno di Scipione with Gotham Chamber Opera.
On the concert platform, Ms. Munger has performed with the Innsbruck Symphony Orchestra, the Washington Chorus at the Kennedy Center, the Netherlands Radio Orchestra and Choir, Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen, Regina Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, and Orchestre du Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean. At home in contemporary music, she created the role of the Colorature in the opera The Second Woman by Frédéric Verrières at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris, a production that enjoyed great popular success and received the Grand Prix de la Critique. She has also performed in world premieres by composers Mauro Lanza, Julian Wachner, Régis Campo, and Gérard Pesson.
Winner of the Choquette-Symcox Prize, she thanks the Jeunesses Musicales du Canada for its support.
