Born in Australia to French and Italian parents, soprano Gisele Blanchard has sung throughout France and Italy. She has made her debut at the Rome Opera with Sophie in Werther conducted by Alain Lombard, which she later reprised at the Teatro Vittorio Emmanuel in Messina conducted by Laurent Campellone. Gisele debuted in the role of Melisande in Ariane et Barbe-bleu at the Teatro Regio of Torino, conducted by Emmanuel Villaume. She then sang the role of Gabrielle in la Vie Parisienne at the Nice Opera.
Gisele was invited in 2004 by the Nice Opera for the role of Blanche Aline in Le Roi Pausole by Honneger, and then she sang for Toulon in Ariane Auf Naxos. The same year she followed with performances with the Orchestra of Cannes the Bachianas Brasileira n.5 by Villa-Lobos, the Prestigious Elegance Ferrari concert and at the Vonnas Festival she performed the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni.
In 2003, we heard Gisele in Floridante Haendel at Clermont Ferrand, Rossini’s Cambiale Matrimoniale Fanny and Martinu’s Alexandre Bis at the Rennes Opera, Magic Flute and finished the festivities with great success in Der Fledermaus, Adele. Returning from her triumph in Australia where she sang Nedda in Pagliacci, under the direction of Maestro Nicholas Braithwaite she then sang as a guest Elvira in L’Italiana in Algeria at the Nice Opera house, Frasquita in Carmen with the Marseille’s Opera and then in Seoul, Korea beside Jose Cura and Elena Zaremba.
During 1999 to 2002 she performed Frasquita in Carmen conducted by Marcello Viotti who was head of the Müncher Rundfunkorchester, she then performed les Enfants de Bethleem in Munich. At the Opera Renne, Bettina in Don Procopio (Bizet), Blonde in Die Entführung, Serpina in La Serva Padrona, Suor Genoveffa in Suor Angelica, and had a great success with the press and the public as Zerlina in Don Giovanni at the Nice Opera House.
Between 1996 to 2003, Gisele became Soloist of the Nice Opera and participated in numerous productions such as: the 5th Maid in Elektra beside Dame Gwyneth Jones, Armide the Pleasure and the Shepherdess (staged by Pier Luigi Pizzi) conducted by Marc Minkowski, La Traviata at the Antibes festival and Bastien und Bastienne. In Boris Godounov, the role of Xenia with Ruggero Raimondi, La Nozze di Figaro conducted by Yves Abel, La Favorita conducted by Antonello Allemandi, Thaïs beside Giuseppe Sabatini, in Don Carlo the roles of Tebaldo & the Celestial Voice beside José VanDam staged by Luc Bondy, Norina in Don Pasquale staged by Stuard Madler, Nedda in Pagliacci, Lucy in The Telephone by Menotti, Marzellina in Fidelio beside Kurt Rydle and Gretel in Hansël und Gretel.
From 1992 to 1994, she interpreted in Australia: Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, Frasquita in Carmen, Euridyce in Orpheus in the Underworld and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte. In 1995 Ms. Blanchard sang Zerlina in Don Giovanni at the Granet d’Aix Muséum, toured in France with Ninetta in La Finta Semplice and Olympia in the Tales of Hoffmann.
Ms. Blanchard is also a fine concert singer, who has performed with numerous conductors: Klaus Weise, Richard Armstrong, Renato Palumbo, Marcello Panni, Patrick Davin, Yves Abel, Aldo Ceccato, Gian-Carlo Menotti, Friedrich Haider, Friedrich Pleyer, Keri-Lynn Wilson, Arie Van Beek, Richard Bonynge and John Nelson. She has a vast repertoire from Early to Contemporary music: Haendel’s Messiah, Rossini’s and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Haydn’s Creation, St Mathew’s passion Bach, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Gounod’s Redemption and Gallia, Carmina Burana, Beethoven’s Egmont, Poulenc’s La Dame de Monte-Carlo and Gloria, Carl Bach’s Magnificat, Mahler’s 4th Symphony, Boulez Mallarmé, Debussy’s The Martyr of St Sebastien, A. Lloyd Weber’s Requiem, Villas-Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras n°5, Gabriel Pierné’s Les Enfants à Bethleem and a World’s Creation by Pierre Ruscher L’âme et l’époux.
After graduating with a First Class Honors in Music from The Adelaide University (Australia), Gisele Blanchard won many International competitions.