Donatienne Michel-Dansac
Donatienne Michel-Dansac began her music studies in the violin and piano classes of the C.N.R. in Nantes, at the age of 7. She was 14 when she received her degree in music theory.
She joined the Nantes Opera children’s choir at 11 and took part to various stage productions, often as a soloist, in the course of the next eight seasons. In 1985, she is selected as the jury’s unanimous first choice for the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, where she will earn her Singing degree in 1990. She has taken part to several sessions at the Royaumont Foundation, including in 1990 with Rachel Yakar and in 1994 and 1995 with Lorraine Nubar.
In 1988, she interpreted Luciano Berio’s Laborintus II with the Ensemble Intercontemporain conducted by Pierre Boulez. Since then, she has been the guest of numerous ensembles and festivals, in France and abroad. Her close collaboration with the Ircam since 1993 has allowed her to premiere several works by Philippe Manoury (en écho), Pascal Dusapin (Roméo et Juliette), Luca Francesconi (Etymo), Mauro Lanza, Hans Tutschku, and Georges Aperghis (Machinations), a.o.
In January of 2003, she took part to the Ircam performance and recording of Philippe Leroux’s Voi(e)/R(e)x. In the fall of 2001, she performed Aperghis’ complete 14 Récitations for solo voice at Konzerthaus in Vienna, something that had never been done before.
Donatienne Michel-Dansac has no interest in specializing in one single musical era, so she performs French, Italian and German Early Music (with Les Arts Florissants…), Romantic and Classical music in recitals with Vincent Leterme (Radio-France, Midi-musicaux du Châtelet, Opéra Bastille, Cité de la Musique, the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, etc.).
In 2002, she premiered with the S:ic Ensemble Entre chien et loup, a work composed and staged by Aperghis at the Nancy Opera. The production also went on tour. In 2003, she performed György Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre with the Orchestre de Paris, conducted by Sylvain Cambreling, and Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Weltparlament. In 2004, she performed Luciano Berio’s Laborintus II with the EIC, and next May she will present again Aperghis’ show for solo voice Tourbillons et calmes plats, with texts by Olivier Cadiot and staged by the composer, at the CCAM in Nancy. In 2004, she performed a new stage work by Aperghis, Avis de tempête at the Opéra de Lille.
