First prize winner of the Internationale Gesangswettbewerb für Barockoper Pietro Antonio Cesti 2018 and of the Concours International de Belcanto Vincenzo Bellini 2017, soprano Marie Lys made an impression in 2022 when she jumped in for Cecilia Bartoli in the title role of ‘Alcina’ – staged by Damiano Michieletto – at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. She recently made her debut in Verdi’s Requiem under Riccardo Muti at the Royal Festival Hall in London.
After a Bachelor in Music at the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne with a Prize for the best recital, Marie studied at the Royal College of Music in London where she graduated with First Class Honours in 2014, before joining their International Opera School, graduating in 2016 with an Artist Diploma in Opera.
As a fine interpreter of baroque music, Marie Lys sang ‘Semele’ (title role) with George Petrou at the International Haendel Festival in Göttingen and at the Maria Callas Municipal Theater in Athens, Ginevra / Dalinda (‘Ariodante’) and Adelaide (‘Lotario’) under Laurence Cummings at the Handel Festivals in Göttingen and in London, and Irene (Vivaldi’s ‘Il Tamerlano’) in an Italian tour with Ottavio Dantone/Accademia Bizantina. She also was Dorinda (‘Orlando’) in a new production by Rafael R. Villalobos at the Festival Castell de Peralada, and Bellezza (‘Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno’) with Fabio Biondi/Europa Galante in Granada.
The soprano also enjoys performing later repertoire and sang ‘Betly’ (title role, Donizetti) with Fabio Biondi at the Chopin Festival in Warsaw, as well as the roles of Cunegonde (Bernstein’s ‘Candide’), Sophie (‘Werther’), Adele (‘Die Fledermaus’), and Lisa (‘La Sonnambula’) at the Lausanne Opera, Clorinda (‘Cenerentola’), Yniold (‘Pelléas et Mélisande’) and Servilia (‘La Clemenza di Tito’) at the Grand Théâtre de Genève.
Marie Lys also performs a lot in oratorio and solo recitals, which gave her the opportunity to sing in venues such as Tokyo International Forum and Yomiuri Otemachi Hall (Tokyo), Kings Place (London), Auditorio Nacional de Música (Madrid), Sociedad Filarmónica (Bilbao), Centro Cultural de Belém (Lisbon), Casa da Música (Porto), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Auditorium de Radio France (Paris), Château de Versailles, and the Royal Chapel of the Drottningholm Castle, where she gave a concert of Bach Cantatas for soprano with conductor Francesco Corti to celebrate the Queen of Sweden’s birthday. More recently the soprano’s repertoire has been extending towards the music of W. A. Mozart, singing the roles of Aspasia (‘Mitridate’) at the Montpellier Opera, Zerlina (‘Don Giovanni’) under Emmanuelle Haïm in Lille, Despina (‘Così fan tutte’) with Diego Fasolis in Lausanne, the ‘Great C-minor Mass’ with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France conducted by Leonardo García Alarcón at the Maison de la Radio de Paris as well as the ‘Requiem’ and ‘Exsultate Jubilate’ with Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne under John Nelson, of which a live recording is available at ICA Classics.
In 2023, her first solo album ‘Amate Stelle’, a collection of unpublished baroque arias written for Anna Maria Strada and accompanied by Swiss Ensemble Abchordis, was published by Glossa. 2024/2025 season sees Marie Lys return to Opéra de Lille to sing Galatea in Porpora’s ‘Polifemo’ in a Bruno Ravella production conducted by Emmanuelle Haïm. She will then be Cleopatra in Handel’s ‘Giulio Cesare’ in a new production staged by Chiara Muti and conducted by Ottavio Dantone for a tour in northern Italy. In spring she will make her role debut as Aspasia (Mozart’s ‘Mitridate’) in Montpellier under the baton of Philippe Jaroussky. She will also give many concerts, including Handel’s ‘Messiah’ at the Château de Versailles for Christmas, a Viennese music recital for New Year’s Eve in Versailles and Gstaad, various baroque music recitals, and operas in concert version, such as Vivaldi’s ‘Il Giustino’ with Ottavio Dantone in a Spanish tour, and the title role in ‘Proserpine’ by Lully with Christophe Rousset in Versailles and in Vienna.
Marie Lys won twice the Concours de chant du Pour-cent culturel Migros, she received the support of the Leenaards, Irène Dénéréaz, Colette Mosetti and Friedl Wald Foundations, and of both the Drake Calleja and Josephine Baker Trusts. She is a Samling Artist.