Soloists

Marie Lys - Theodora

First prize winner of the Competition for Baroque Opera 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.

Season 2025/2026 sees Marie Lys make her debut in the roles of Gilda (Rigoletto) and Angelica (Orlando) at Opéra de Lausanne, Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) at Opera Antwerpen and Opera Ghent, and Laodice in Scarlatti’s Mitridate Eupatore in a Spanish tour. She will perform Lully at the Philharmonie de Paris with Christophe Rousset, and Bach at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées with Camille Delaforge.

A fine interpreter of baroque music, 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 Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare) in a tour of Northern Italy and Tenerife with conductor Ottavio Dantone, in a new production staged by Chiara Muti. She also was Bellezza (Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno) with Fabio Biondi/Europa Galante in Granada. In the French baroque repertoire, she sang La Folie (Platée by Rameau) at the Opéra Royal de Versailles, as well as Lully operas such as Proserpine (title role) and Sangaride (Atys) with Christophe Rousset.

Marie’s repertoire has been extending towards the classical period, with the roles of Alzima (Cublai Khan by Salieri) conducted by Christophe Rousset at Theater An der Wien, Aspasia (Mozart’s Mitridate) under Philippe Jaroussky at the Montpellier Opera, Zerlina (Don Giovanni) with Emmanuelle Haïm in Lille, Despina (Così fan tutte) with Diego Fasolis in Lausanne, Mozart’s Great C-minor Mass with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France conducted by Leonardo García Alarcón at the Maison de la Radio de Paris, Mozart’s Requiem and Exsultate, jubilate with Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne under John Nelson, of which a live recording is available at ICA Classics.

Marie also enjoys singing later repertoire, and she 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) and Yniold (Pelléas et Mélisande) at the Grand Théâtre de Genève.

She also performs a lot of oratorio and 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), Auditoriumde 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 Corto to celebrate the Queen of Sweden’s birthday.

Marie Lys’ discography extends from Lully to César Franck, including Mozart and Salieri. In 2023, her first solo album Amate Stelle, a collection of unpublished baroque arias written for Anna Maria Strada, recorded with her Ensemble Abchordis, was published by Glossa.

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.

She won twice the Concours de chant du Pour-cent culturel Migros, and 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.