Natalie Dessay

Acting

Natalie Dessay

Born

1965-04-19 (61)

Place of birth

Lyon, Rhône, France

Known for

Acting

Credits

44 titles

Natalie Dessay is of the most prominent operatic singers to have come out of France. While active in the opera field, her voice was especially gifted for belcanto singing, and more recently she has moved on to undertake a new career in theatre. Although she halted her appearances on opera stages around 2013 and has been focusing on acting since, she continues to perform on recitals.

Known for

Film credits

2020s · 5 titles

2010s · 17 titles

Dilili in Paris poster
6.6

With the help of her delivery-boy friend, Dilili, a young Kanak, investigates a spate of mysterious kidnappings of young girls that is plaguing Belle Epoque Paris. In the course of her investigation she encounters a series of extraordinary characters, each of whom provides her with clues that will help her in her quest.

Dilili in Paris

2018

The Metropolitan Opera: Lucia di Lammermoor poster
NR

The tragic tale of "the bride of Lammermoor" has always been a favorite of opera-goers and sopranos alike. Yet with the riveting singing actress Natalie Dessay in the title role, Lucia's plight and descent into madness take on another dimension. Joseph Calleja is an ardent Edgardo, the man she loves but is not allowed to marry. Instead, her brother Enrico forces her into a union with the rich Arturo to save the family fortunes. It proves too much to bear for Lucia.

The Metropolitan Opera: Lucia di Lammermoor

2011

No artwork available
1.0

Live performance 10 February 2011 at the Palais Garnier. Emmanuelle Haïm conducting Le Concert d'Astrée and les Choeurs de l'Opéra national de Paris. Directed for stage by Laurent Pelly.

Jules César

2011

CANAL+'s 30th anniversary poster
6.0

Primetime special to celebrate 30 years of CANAL+.

CANAL+'s 30th anniversary

2014

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Giulio Cesare in Egitto

2012

Les Parapluies de Cherbourg poster
8.7

Geneviève lives with her mother who runs an umbrella shop in Cherbourg. She falls in love with Guy, who is called up for military service in Algeria and leaves the city. The lovers separate, promising each other eternal love. But Geneviève soon discovers that she is pregnant and ends up giving in to her mother's pressure by marrying Roland, a rich jeweler who has long coveted her. When Guy returns to Cherbourg, he discovers Geneviève's marriage and finds his seriously ill aunt who is faithfully cared for by Madeleine, who has been in love with him for years.

Les Parapluies de Cherbourg

2015

Amours divins ! poster
NR

The most famous Scenes and Arias from French operas

Amours divins !

2016

The Metropolitan Opera: La Traviata poster
NR

Willy Decker’s stunning production of Verdi’s unforgettable drama stars the riveting singing actress Natalie Dessay as Violetta. Exhausted by her restless life as a courtesan, Violetta knows she will die soon. But then she meets the young and idealistic Alfredo (Matthew Polenzani), who offers her true love—with tragic consequences. Dmitri Hvorostovsky is Giorgio Germont, Alfredo’s stern father, and Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi is on the podium.

The Metropolitan Opera: La Traviata

2012

La voix des steppes poster
NR

A little boy Anatole lives in 1960s in the steppe in Kazakhstan with his parents-archaeologists. One day he witnesses the accidental death of his brother, this drama traumatizes the boy so much that he loses his ability to speak. Once he meets an old Kazakh who will teach him to hear again the world around him and will teach him how to speak again. The whole life of Anatole depends from now on from his ability to hear. His ear connects him to the world. 50 years later, the steppe calls him again.

La voix des steppes

2014

Becoming Traviata poster
6.5

How can emotion come to light on the opera set? Does it come from singing, acting or music? How can someone become the incarnation of Verdi's masterpiece? Following world famous French soprano Natalie Dessay from the first repetitions until the premiere under the direction of Jean-François Sivadier, we meet a very special woman, a piece of art, a myth: LA TRAVIATA.

Becoming Traviata

2012

The Metropolitan Opera: Iphigénie en Tauride poster
NR

Gluck’s gripping adaptation of the ancient Greek myth is vividly brought to life by a stellar cast in Stephen Wadsworth’s atmospheric production. Oreste is driven by the Furies to atone for killing his mother Clytemnestre. When he and his companion Pylade are shipwrecked on the island of Tauride, the king Thoas demands they be sacrificed. At the center of the drama is Iphigénie, Oreste’s long-lost sister. Forced to live among her enemies, she holds the lives of the captives in her hands—unaware that one of them is her brother. (Iphigénie en Tauride is performed in an adaptation of the 1779 Paris version edited by Gerhard Croll, by arrangement with Bärenreiter.)

The Metropolitan Opera: Iphigénie en Tauride

2011

La Traviata - Festival d'Aix-en-Provence poster
8.0

Natalie Dessay made her first European appearances as Violetta in La traviata in a new production by the French director Jean-François Sivadier at the 2011 Aix-en-Provence Festival. This DVD captures her intense performance in the company of American tenor Charles Castronovo as Alfredo and French baritone Ludovic Tézier as his father, Giorgio Germont.

La Traviata - Festival d'Aix-en-Provence

2011

Fauteuils d'orchestre (Renaud Capuçon) poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Fauteuils d'orchestre (Renaud Capuçon)

2017

The Metropolitan Opera: Giulio Cesare poster
NR

David McVicar’s inventive hit production of Handel’s most popular opera sets the story of Caesar’s conquest of Egypt—and of its queen, Cleopatra—in the era of British 19th-century imperialism while also including elements of Baroque theater and Bollywood movies. David Daniels in the title role and Natalie Dessay as Cleopatra lead the cast. Christophe Dumaux is Ptolemy, Cleopatra’s brother, and Alice Coote and Patricia Bardon star as Sesto and Cornelia, son and widow of Caesar’s opponent Pompey. Early music specialist Harry Bicket conducts and plays harpsichord continuo.

The Metropolitan Opera: Giulio Cesare

2013

La Sonnambula poster
NR

For the first time at the Paris Opera, Natalie Dessay sings one of the most beautiful roles of Italian romanticism. She embodies the modest and charming Amina, this sleepwalker who, escaping from her bedroom, becomes another person as she wanders through the night. This opera by Bellini is a score seemingly written in a daydream, where melody is apparently suspended in time and the heroine's very soul rises to the surface, and where instruments take on transparent tones. At the same time, Bellini portrays the cruelest of worlds – our own – where it is more than difficult for fragility and gentleness to shine past the darker rashness and unfriendliness of the characters.

La Sonnambula

2010

Italian Opera Arias poster
NR

Companion DVD to the Natalie Dessay Italian Opera Arias CD set.

Italian Opera Arias

2010

Roberto Alagna chante à Versailles poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Roberto Alagna chante à Versailles

2016

2000s · 11 titles

Joyeux Noel poster
7.3

France, 1914, during World War I. On Christmas Eve, an extraordinary event takes place in the bloody no man's land that the French and the Scots dispute with the Germans…

Joyeux Noel

2005

La Fille du Régiment - Metropolitan Opera poster
8.0

Madcap physical comedy and impeccable coloratura come together for Natalie Dessay’s indelible portrayal of the feisty tomboy raised by a regiment of French soldiers. Juan Diego Flórez is the young Swiss villager who conquers her heart—and a slew of high Cs. Also featuring uproarious performances by Felicity Palmer and Alessandro Corbelli, as well as a cameo by Tony Award winner Marian Seldes, this laugh-out-loud production was a runaway hit that left audiences exhilarated.

La Fille du Régiment - Metropolitan Opera

2008

La Sonnambula - Metropolitan Opera poster
8.0

Just as a young woman is about to marry her sweetheart, she is discovered—by the entire village, to say nothing of her fiancé—asleep in the bedroom of a stranger. It takes the young man two acts to figure out that sleepwalking is to blame, and everything ends happily. Natalie Dessay as Amina and Juan Diego Flórez as Elvino deliver bel canto magic and vocal fireworks in Mary Zimmerman’s 2009 production. The Tony award-winning director transfers Bellini’s bucolic tale to a rehearsal room in contemporary New York, where an opera company rehearses La Sonnambula—and where the singers are truly in love with each other.

La Sonnambula - Metropolitan Opera

2009

Le Rossignol poster
NR

Getting into his grandfather's pottery workship at night, a little boy finds an unusually large vase. Fascinated, the child feels the still-warm material, which - whether by a miracle ot the hand of a magician, who knows? - at once changes into a magnificent piece of Chinese porcelain. Presently, from behind the great blue-enamelled trees, there appears a fisherman in his sampan... That's how the story of "The Nightingale", told all in music, begins, as the waking dream of a child in the land of Chinese art - and of mobile phones and webcams.

Le Rossignol

2005

The Metropolitan Opera: Ariadne auf Naxos poster
NR

Elijah Moshinsky’s witty production deftly walks the line between the lighthearted humor and the profound philosophical underpinnings of Strauss and Hofmannsthal’s opera, masterfully conducted here by Met Music Director James Levine. Deborah Voigt stars as Ariadne, the mythical heroine abandoned on the island of Naxos by her lover, and Richard Margison is Bacchus, the young god who eventually takes her away to a new life. The spectacular Natalie Dessay as Zerbinetta leads the troupe of comedians who unsuccessfully try to cheer Ariadne up. Susanne Mentzer is delightful as the young Composer of the opera-within-the-opera, and Wolfgang Brendel sings the Music Master.

The Metropolitan Opera: Ariadne auf Naxos

2003

Natalie Dessay & Rolando Villazón - Massenet: Manon poster
6.0

Natalie Dessay and Rolando Villazón bring Jules Massenet's classic opera to the stage in this dazzling production. In 18th-century France, Manon (Dessay) faces life as a nun, despite catching the eye of many men. When she meets the handsome but penniless des Grieux (Villazón), she falls deeply in love. The pair elopes, but their future together is threatened by outside forces.

Natalie Dessay & Rolando Villazón - Massenet: Manon

2007

Donizetti: La Fille du Régiment poster
8.0

In January 2007, superstar soprano Natalie Dessay, joined on stage by acclaimed tenor Juan Diego Florez dazzled British audiences in Laurent Pelly's new production of Donizetti's "LA FILLE DU REGIMENT". The perfectly staged & cast production became the operatic event of the year, receiving rave press reviews & rapturous audience ovations.

Donizetti: La Fille du Régiment

2007

Pelléas et Mélisande poster
NR

Pelleas et Melisande The story takes place in the imaginary kingdom of Allemonde, governed by the aged King Arkel.

Pelléas et Mélisande

2009

Hamlet poster
NR

Hamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.

Hamlet

2004

Britten: Peter Grimes poster
8.0

Anthony Dean Griffey creates a haunting portrait of the outcast fisherman who struggles under the burden of presumed guilt. This chilling production by Tony Award-winning director John Doyle also features the superb Patricia Racette as the sympathetic Ellen Orford and the Met chorus in a truly hair-raising performance as the oppressively judgmental fishing village.

Britten: Peter Grimes

2008

Lucie de Lammermoor poster
NR

Gaetano Donizetti's tragic masterwork Lucie de Lammermoor (French version) is performed at the Lyon Opera House in 2002. Natalie Dessay sings the title role of the opera staged by Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser, and conducted by Evelino Pido.

Lucie de Lammermoor

2002

Series credits