Julie Fuchs

Julie Fuchs (born 24 July 1984) is a French soprano known for her interpretation of light-lyric repertoire.
Childhood and studies.
Born in Meaux, France to a father who was a manager, and a mother who was a swimming teacher, Julie grew up in Avignon. At age 7, she began violin lessons and started studying music theory and history at the Avignon Conservatory. After singing a variety of repertoire (pop, jazz...), she was selected to be part of a European choir, "Voices of Europe" with whom she toured Europe, and sang with Bjørk during the recording of "Which was the Son of" by Arvo Pärt. This experience marked a turning point in her young musical life, as she discovered a desire to explore singing. At age 18, she began private classical voice lessons and acting lessons.
In 2006, she entered the Conservatoire of Paris, considered the top conservatory in France. There, she made her first operatic role debuts as Elle in "L'amour masqué" by Messager and Susanna in Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro". During her time at the conservatory, she met and developed relationship with artists that she is still working with today, such as the founder of the French contemporary classical music group, Le Balcon, and the pianist Alphonse Cémin. In 2010, she graduated with honours.
Career.
As soon as she finished her studies, she made her professional career performing Galatea at the Aix-en-Provence Festival.
In 2013, she joined the opera ensemble at the Zürich Opera where she debuted several roles, including Marzelline in "Fidelio", Morgana in "Alcina", Susanna in "Le nozze di Figaro", and Angelica in "Orlando".
In 2014, Fuchs signed a recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon; she released her first album "Yes!" the following year, which paid homage to French repertoire in the 1930s and 1940s.
Also in 2015, Fuchs made her debut at the Opéra national de Paris in the role of la Folie in "Platée" by Rameau. She also made her debut in the Rossini repertoire as the Comtesse Folleville at the Zürich Opera, and sang in the televised concert in celebration of Bastille Day in Paris, under the Eiffel Tower. At the Salzburg Festival that same year, she made her festival debut singing the soprano part in Mozart's "Great Mass in C Minor".
2016 marked her debut at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich as Musetta in "La bohème". she sang with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms, and she made her debut at the Chorégies d'Orange, the celebrated festival in the South of France. Her year of debuts continued in Vienna, where she was praised by the press for her debut as Marie in Donizetti's "La fille du régiment".
In 2017, she returned to the Opéra national de Paris, creating the role of Esther for the premiere of the opera "Trompe-la-mort" de Lucas Francesconi, and to sing the role of Nannetta in Verdi's "Falstaff". Other highlights included Leïla in Bizet's "Les Pêcheurs de perles" at the Auditorium du Nouveau Siècle in Lille and at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. She also returned to the Aix-en-Provence Festival as Zerlina in "Don Giovanni". She also made her debut at the Teatro Real in Madrid as Giunia in "Lucio Silla".
2018 began with the role of Comtesse Adèle in "Le comte Ory", at the Opéra Royal de Versailles, followed by Morgana in "Alcina" at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, and a role debut as Poppea in "L'incoronazione di Poppea" at Opernhaus Zürich. She ended her year as Eurydice in "Orphée aux enfers" at the Opéra d'Avignon.
In 2019, she returned to Opernhaus Zürich for her role debut as Donna Fiorilla in "Il turco in Italia" by Rossini and made her role debut as Eva in "La mort d'Abel" at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival. In the autumn, she made yet another role debut as Émilie/Fatime in Rameau's "Les Indes galantes" at the Opéra national de Paris in a highly acclaimed new production that included contemporary dancers. Her final role of the year was Norina in a new production "of Don Pasquale" at Opernhaus Zürich. The same year, she was also the center of a media firestorm regarding her firing from the Hamburg State Opera where she was scheduled to sing Pamina in "Die Zauberflöte", due to her pregnancy. The coverage surrounding her brought to light the progress that still needs to be made regarding women's right in the opera world. She also released her second recording for Deutsche Grammophon, "Mademoiselle", a collection of Bel Canto arias, some of which were recorded for the first time.
Other.
She was a "marraine" of "Tous à l'Opéra" alongside Ruggero Raimondi in 2012. At the end of 2017, she sang "Ave Maria" by Franz Schubert at the televised funeral of Johnny Hallyday at the Madeleine Church in Paris.
Julie Fuchs is particularly active on social media under the handle @juliefuchssoprano, and created the initiative #operaisopen, which seeks to prove that opera is open to everyone regardless of income, age or education.