Gaëlle Arquez

French mezzo-soprano Gaëlle Arquez makes her Royal Opera debut in the 2017/18 Season as Carmen. She reprised the role in the 2018/19 Season. 

Arquez studied piano and musicology before training as a singer at the Paris Conservatoire. She performs regularly for companies including Paris Opéra, Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra-Comique, Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse, Opéra national de Lorraine, Lille Opera, Dijon Opera, Opéra national de Bordeaux, Vienna State Opera, Frankfurt Opera, Theater an der Wien, La Monnaie, Brussels, Komische Oper Berlin, Bavarian State Opera and Ópera Nacional de Chile. Her repertory includes Nerone (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Serse, Medea (Teseo), Zenobia (Radamisto), Phébé (Castor et Pollux), the title role of Gluck’s Armide, Idamante (Idomeneo), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Angelina (La Cenerentola), Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Isolier (Le Comte Ory), Stéphano (Roméo et Juliette), Meg Page (Falstaff), Hélène (La Belle Hélène), Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel) and Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande). She has sung Carmen for Frankfurt Opera and Bregenz Festival. 

Arquez appears regularly in concert, performances including Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées with Louis Langrée. She has given recitals in Paris, London, Rome and Tokyo, among others. She was named Révélation Artiste Lyrique at the Victoires de la Musique in 2011.