Norah Amsellem

Born in Paris, Norah Amsellem is the winner of several international competitions and participates in the "Young Artist Development Program" of the Metropolitan Opera of New York.

In 1997, she made her debut at the Opéra de Paris Bastille as Micaëla in Carmen, before singing the role at the Metropolitan Opera for the opening of the 1997-98 season, alongside Placido Domingo, conducted by James Levine, and in Japan in June 2000.

She was soon invited by other leading opera houses such as the San Francisco Opera and the Mai Musical Florentine (Liù, Turandot), the Glyndebourne Festival (The Countess, Le Nozze di Figaro), the Scala in Milan for her debut with Riccardo Muti in Armide, and was praised by the international press.

Norah Amsellem also made a highly acclaimed debut in Don Pasquale (Norina) and in Romeo and Juliet (Juliet) at the Bordeaux Opera, in Rigoletto (Gilda) at the Avignon Opera and in the title role of Manon at the Liège Opera.

She has been heard in Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera and in Rigoletto at the Capitole de Toulouse.

Norah Amsellem has performed the role of Liù in Turandot on tour in Japan under the baton of Zubin Mehta, and at La Scala in Milan under the baton of Giuseppe Sinopoli. She was a great success in Rigoletto at the Chorégies d'Orange and last season sang her first Adina in Elisir d'Amore at the Amsterdam Opera alongside Bryn Terfel, as well as Turandot and Manon at Teatro San Carlo in Naples.

During the 2002-2003 season, she performed in Romeo and Juliet at the Nice Opera and the Vienna Staatsoper, Turandot at the San Francisco Opera and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and La Bohème at the Lausanne Opera.

She has just successfully sung Traviata at the Teatro Real in Madrid.

Major upcoming engagements include Traviata at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, San Francisco Opera and Vienna Staatsoper, Turandot in Genoa and Covent Garden, Manon in Las Palmas, La Bohème atSaito Kinen under the direction of Seiji Ozawa and in Naples, Carmen at theChorégies d'Orange, directed by Jérôme Savary, which will be repeated on tour with the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra in Tokyo, Rigoletto in Seattle, Carmen at the Santa Cecilia, I Pagliaci in Amsterdam, Faust at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux.

Norah Amsellem has also appeared in numerous recitals and concerts in New York (first recital at Alice Tully Hall in 1995 and then at Carnegie Hall in January 2000),

San Francisco, Paris (Théâtre du Châtelet, Théâtre des Champs Elysées with the Orchestre National de France in Debussy's L'Enfant prodigue, Salle Gaveau and at the Champs de Mars with Seiji Ozawa in Beethoven's 9th Symphony ), Aix-en-Provence, Bordeaux, Lyon( Mahler's4th Symphony ), Montpellier( Britten'sIlluminations with the Philharmonic Orchestra), Auvers-sur-Oise( Mozart'sRequiem ), Genoa( Poulenc'sGloria ), Florence( Fauré'sRequiem ) under the direction of Georges Prêtre (a project that was repeated in October 2000 at the Musikverein in Vienna), Cleveland, Washington.

In the 2002-2003 season, she performed Mahler's 4th with the Orchestre national d'Ile de France at the Théâtre Mogador in Paris, concerts with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva under the direction of Pinchas Steinberg, and with the Orchestre philharmonique de Nice under the direction of Marco Guidarini. She performed Alfred Bruneau's Le Rêve with the Orchestre national de France. She has also performed in recital at the Opéra National du Rhin.

His concert projects include Poulenc's Gloria with the Santa Cecilia Orchestra, Rossini's Stabat Mater with the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, and Frank Martin's Golgotha with the Vienna Musikverein.

Norah Amsellem took part in the EMI recording of the Cantatas of Rome Prix de l'Académie Charles Cros and was praised by the musical press

Opéra International, December 2000 : " Norah Amsellem, for her part, dominates the very demanding score of Myrrha with a sovereign ease and an ideal musical sense ".
Diapason, November 2000 : " Norah Amsellem, perfect in tone and musicality ".