With a music career that encompassed three decades, Madeleine Mesplé (born on March 7th, 1931) was one of the most prominent French opera singers of her generation. Throughout her career, she performed at the world’s top venues, including the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. During her childhood, Mesplé enrolled at conservatory to study piano and singing, eventually graduating with honors. She made her official debut in 1953 as the main character in Delibes’ Lakmé, a role she would play more than 145 times. During the 1960s, entered her Italian phase, participating in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Bellini’s La sonnambula, and Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia. Mesplé also appeared frequently on French TV shows and was chosen by Pierre Boulez to perform Schoenberg’s Jacob’s Ladder. She spent the 1970s exploring Jacques Offenbach’s repertoire, most notably La Vie parisienne and La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein. Mesplé decided to retire in 1985, focusing on her teaching career at École Normale de Musique de Paris. She was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in the mid-1990s, which inspired her book La Voix du Corps and led to a close collaboration with L’Association France Parkinson. After struggling with the illness for several years, Mesplé passed away on May 30th, 2020 at the age of 89.
