“Héloïse Bernard’s light, sweet soprano made her a beguiling Iris with real personality.”
Opera, Feb. 2020
“Soprano Héloïse Bernard and mezzo Lauren Young both added a glorious operatic feel, their diction crystal clear, blending well together in perfect balance with the musicians […] There were many highlights: Bernard’s pure sweet soprano devastating in the serious and sparsely scored Vidit suum.”
Héloïse Bernard, French-American singer based in Glasgow, graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2018. Before embracing a musical career, Héloïse studied French Language and Literature at Université Paris 7 and Drama at the Ecole Nationale de Créteil.
It’s in the Early and Baroque repertoire that Héloïse stands out: she has been Dido in Dido and Aeneas with the Young Baroque Ensemble in Tallinn, Estonia ; Amore, in L'incoronazione di Poppea by Monteverdi with the ensemble OrQuesta. She sang Iris, for the recent recording of Eccles' Semele, with the Academy of Ancient music, directed by Julian Perkins.
A Live Music Now artist, she collaborates closely with lutenist Kristiina Watt, in their ensemble [Cordes en Ciel][1], with whom they nourrish a particular interest for 17th and 18th century Airs de cour. Soprano solo with the Linarol Consort of viols, she also sings with the Spinacino Consort. [1]: https://www.cordesenciel.com
Her operatic roles have included Missia in The Merry Widow, by Lehàr, Eurydice in Orphée aux Enfers, by Offenbach, both at the Festival d'Opera Bouffe d’Etriché, in France. She has sung Mélisande in Auri Jurna's creation of Pelleas/Mélisande at the Theatre Von Glehni in Tallinn and at the International Student Drama Festival in Tartu, Susanna in Mozart's Figaro with the Opera de Castelló conducted by Josep Gil, Lucy, in The Telephone, by Menotti with daïmon Opera. As an actor, she played the roles of Chorus, Boy and Catherine in Leo Graham's staging of Henry V, by Shakespeare.
A keen chamber musican, Héloïse sings in a duo with pianist José Javier Ucendo. They were awarded the third prize in the Lied Duo competition in Tallinn in April 2016 and were invited to take part in the Oxford Lieder Festival masterclasses for « promising young duos ».
Héloïse enjoys singing new works and collaborating with composers. Electra Perivolaris has dedicated to her the song cycle Les Heures Grecques, on poems by Guillaume Decourt.