Virginie Verrez

Prince Raphaël mezzo-soprano

Anne-Catherine Gillet was born in Belgium. At a very young age she was spotted by the directors of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, who offered her a position amongst their resident singers. Her career soon unfolded in prestigious opera houses: the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse invited her for many important roles, Sir John Eliot Gardiner chose her to sing Laoula in Chabrier's L'Étoile at the Opernhaus Zürich and the Opéra Comique in Paris, and she subsequently made her debut at the Paris National Opera.

Anne-Catherine cultivates a special affection for French 19th-century repertoire, debuting in the roles of Cendrillon at La Monnaie, Juliette in Tours, Manon in Lausanne, and Leïla (Les Pêcheurs de perles) in Liège and at the Angers-Nantes Opera. 20th-century roles have included Mélisande in Liège, the title roles in L'Héritière and Colombe by Jean-Michel Damase in Marseille, The Governess (The Turn of the Screw) in Frankfurt, and Blanche (Dialogues des Carmélites), of which she is hailed as one of her generation's finest interpreters.

Recent highlights include Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel) at the Palais Garnier; Oscar (Un Ballo in maschera) at the Chorégies d'Orange; Ilia (Idomeneo) in Frankurt; Gilda (Rigoletto) at La Monnaie and the Bolshoi; Manon in Lausanne and Monte Carlo; Juliette in Monte Carlo; the title role in L'Aiglon with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra; Leïla in Liège; Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) in Liège, Nice and Marseille; Blanche, Adina (L'Elisir d'amore) and Norina (Don Pasquale) in Brussels; Hero (Béatrice et Benedict) at La Monnaie and the Glyndebourne Festival; Minerva (Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in patria) at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées; and Caroline (Die Fledermaus) in Marseille.

French mezzo-soprano Virginie Verrez is a graduate of New York’s Juilliard School. She won the 2016 Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition and was a winner of the 2015 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She was a member of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program from 2015–17. In the 2022/23 season Virginie’s roles include Suzuki (Madama Butterfly) for the Opéra national de Bordeaux, and Iphigénie (Iphigénie en Tauride) for the Opéra national de Lorraine. Future seasons will see her make her debut at Teatro alla Scala, Milan.

Recent concert engagements include Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette and Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding; La damoiselle élue with the Orchestre National de France and Bertrand de Billy; Beethoven‘s Mass in C with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and Karina Canellakis; Erika in Barber's Vanessa with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and David Zinman; Haydn’s Nelson Mass with the Orchestre National de Lyon and Omer Meir Wellber; Shéhérazade with the Minnesota Orchestra; a Mozart Gala with Le Concert d’Astrée featuring performances in Paris and Bahrain; and Duruflé’s Requiem with the Netherlands Radio Choir. Recent operatic highlights include Stéphano (Roméo et Juliette) and Enrichetta (I puritani) for the Metropolitan Opera; the title role in Carmen for Welsh National Opera; and Erika (Vanessa) at the Glyndebourne Festival.

Virginie is a former member of the ensemble of the Wiener Staatsoper, where her roles included Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Lola (Cavalleria Rusticana), Idamante (Idomeneo), Tisbe (La Cenerentola) and Meg Page (Falstaff).