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The Canadian and French soprano Samantha Louis-Jean, received her vocal training at the maîtrise de Radio-France, the University of the Montreal then with Marie Daveluy and Yolande Parent. She is a winner of the Froville International Baroque Competition, the Prix d’Europe Competition, the Lyndon-Woodside oratorio Society of new York Competition and the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation. She is a grant recipient of the Conseil des arts et des Lettres du Québec, the Canada Council of the arts and the Jeunesses musicales du Canada.
Samantha Louis-Jean made her professional debut singing Euridice in Monteverdi's L’Orfeo with the Montreal Baroque Festival and Lauretta in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Since then, she performed with the Portland Trinity Consort (J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248)), the Orford Festival (W.A. Mozart's Requiem), the Ensemble Caprice (J.S. Bach's Magnificat (BWV 243)), the Ensemble Masques or Les Violons du Roy, at prestigious events such as the Lamèque international Baroque Festival, Clavecin en Concert, and the Quebec Opera Festival.
Samantha Louis-Jean' operatic roles include Zerlina in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni, Barbarina in W.A. Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Belinda in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, Euridice in L’Orfeo, Poppea in L’incoronazione di Poppea, the Dew Fairy in Engelbert Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, Altisidore and une Japonaise in Boismortier's Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse)and Colette in Rousseau's Le Devin du Village. In 2014, her performance as Vagaus in Antonio Vivaldi's Juditha Triumphans (Ensemble Caprice) was praised by critics. The production received the opus Prize for Concert of the Year – medieval, Renaissance, baroque and classical music.
In 2015, Samantha Louis-Jean was selected for the Handel Residency at the Aix-en-Provence Festival conducted by Emmanuelle Haïm. In 2015-2016, she performed at the montpellier opera, the Festival des Lumières de Sorèze and the nuits musicales d’Uzès in all-Handel concerts with Ensemble Les Ombres. She later performed the role of Elvira in Rossini's L’Italiana in Algeri conducted by Jean-Claude Malgoire at the Tourcoing Lyric atelier and the Champs-Élysées Theatre. in Fall 2016, she went on tour with the Jeunesses musicales Canada performing works by handel and Scarlatti with ensemble Les Songes. She then portrayed the role of Angelica in A. Vivaldi's Orlando Furioso at the Tourcoing Lyric atelier and the Champs-Élysées Theater (April 2017).
Her next engagements include La Statue in Rameau’s Pygmalion with Les Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset (Innsbruck Festival), Zerlina in Don Giovanni (Vichy opera), the four female roles in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann in a specifically modified version at the Dijon opera conducted by Nicolas Chesneau and directed by Mikaël Serre, as well as Céphise in Rameau’s Pygmalion and Vénus in Mondoville’s L’Amour et Psyché with Le Concert d'Astrée conducted by Emmanuelle Haïm and Robyn Orlin as stage director (Dijon opéra, Lille opera, Luxemburg Grand Théâtre, Théâtre de Caen). |
