Press
Récital avec Michaël Levinas . Festival Messiaen 24 juillet 2023
https://www.olyrix.com/articles/production/6989/anne-sophie-duprels-soprano-michael-levinas-piano-concert-festival-messiaen-au-pays-de-la-meije-24-juillet-2023-article-critique-compte-rendu-eglise-de-la-grave-espenbaum-cycle-melodies-paul-celan-ravel-kaddisch-mahler-lieder-eines-fahrenden-gesellen
La soprano se tient non loin, debout derrière son pupitre dont elle retire chaque page chantée, tout en poursuivant son chant, les jetant à terre ou les posant sur une tablette située à proximité. Sa voix duveteuse au médium riche et au vibrato tranquille, garde une texture vocale homogène sur l’ensemble des registres et des niveaux de projection, y compris dans les piani les plus extrêmes, permis par la proximité du public dans cette petite église de La Grave. Elle chante avec la foi du nouveau converti, habitée par son terrible propos, passant du cri au murmure, notamment dans son Lied a cappella que le compositeur écoute, bouche bée. Elle convoque même une voix gutturale, faisant claquer les consonnes, convoquant le silence voire le son d’une inspiration, animée d’une émotion que porte la musique. Elle maintient cette tension chez Ravel, qu’elle interprète les bras en croix, le menton relevé, puis dans un Lied de Mahler extrait des Chants d'un compagnon errant.
https://www.diapasonmag.fr/critiques/le-festival-messiaen-celebre-en-beaute-son-premier-quart-de-siecle-39335.html#francois-frederic-guy-39336%23item=1#item=1
En duo avec Anne Sophie Duprels, Michaël Levinas offre son bouleversant Espenbaum, cycle de huit mélodies sur des poèmes de Paul Celan. Remplaçant au pied levé Marion Grange, la soprano incarne magnifiquement, diction et projection sans défaut, cette voix tour à tour âpre et caressante. Qui tremble, parle, chante, crie, ose enlaidir son timbre et se mêler à un piano à la polyphonie sinueuse pour pleurer le « rien », le « personne », le « silence », véritable « au-delà du son » d’un chant d’après la Shoah.
MARGOT LA ROUGE (Delius) title role and LE VILLI (Puccini) Anna, Opera Holland Park 2022
https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/margot-la-rouge-le-villi-review-opera-holland-park-london
Taking the lead soprano roles in both pieces, Anne Sophie Duprels brings palpable magnetism to her taxing double assignment.
https://www.mailplus.co.uk/edition/tv/204876
But the triumph of the evening - and it really was - is the two-act version of Puccini’s first opera, Le Villi, based on the same story as the ballet Giselle.
The mature Puccini was a control freak, taking an interest in every part of the libretto as well as, of course, the music. Here he just took an off-the-shelf job but somehow made something of a pretty limited story of a betrayed woman (Duprels again) who dies of a broken heart leaving her repentant lover (Peter Auty giving his all and, like Duprels, in magnificent voice) to come back to get a rather different reception than he expected.
Duprels packs Anna’s arias of foreboding and, later, of despair with a tender, sinuous yearning and sorrow that looks forward to Puccini’s mature blockbusters.
They all orbited around Duprels, the reigning queen of these troubled, underperformed late 19th-century heroines – Mascagni’s Isabeau, Leoncavallo’s Zazà, Charpentier’s Louise. There’s a streak of acid in her voice; a tarnished edge that she uses to temper the prevailing sweetness, though she can certainly soar when she chooses. In Margot, she gradually thaws; in Le Villi she begins as a heartbroken bride and ends as an avenging spectre. Duprels is convincing all the way.
Anne Sophie Duprels impresses alongside a strong supporting cast
In the title role, Anne Sophie Duprels sounds aptly worldly yet mysterious.
Again, her singing is beautifully detailed
Anne Sophie Duprels sings with intensity but also communicates the enigmatic quality that separates Margot from her fellow filles de joie.
At first, Duprels’ conveys Anna’s purity and vulnerability, even when singing with radiant luxuriousness, as in the Act 1 aria in which she envies the flowers the untroubled certainty of their existence, but she skilfully develops a musical portrait of terrific dramatic power, culminating in a stunning final duet with Roberto.
Duprels sang again, this time as Anna, one among many heroines of tortured purity she has portrayed at this address over the years. The soprano’s vulnerability in the first half of this opera was matched only by her spectral menace in the supernatural second half, and she was in lustrous voice throughout.
https://playstosee.com/double-bill-margot-la-rouge-le-villi/
The music is effective rather than memorable, but with several moments of lyrical expansiveness including harmonies characteristic of the composer. It is very well delivered by the performers with Anne Sophie Duprels, a regular here at Holland Park, in the title role. She marks the journey well from sullen withdrawal to passionate violence;
Anne Sophie Duprels returns in the second half to lead the cast once again and marks the journey from shrinking violet to vengeful ghost with real verve.
https://arcana.fm/2022/07/27/ohp-margot-villi/
Casting-wise the stage is dominated, as it needs to be, by Anne Sophie Duprels’s assumption of the title-role – emotionally guarded in its earlier sullenness, before ascending to heights of rapture once her identity becomes known.
Vocally, Anne Sophie Duprels has the measure of Anna as she traverses the gamut of emotions from diffidence, through heartbreak to revenge, with a continuity of expression not to be taken for granted.
https://www.planethugill.com/2022/07/operatic-rarities-in-striking-double.html
The strength of the casting was in the way each principal, Anne Sophie Duprels as Anna, Peter Auty as Roberto and Stephen Gadd as Guglielmo, Anna's father, were able to do justice to Puccini's glorious vocal lines and make the relatively slight material coalesce into something strikingly dramatic.
At the heart of both operas lay the outstanding singing of Anne Sophie Duprels: heartfelt, incisive, and variegated.
https://artmuselondon.com/2022/08/03/thrilling-staging-of-puccinis-le-villi-at-opera-holland-park/
Here Anne Sophie Duprel’s expressive, heart-rending soprano really came to the fore and Peter Auty impressed
Meanwhile, Duprels makes a warm-hued, graceful but steely Margot.
Duprels packs Anna’s tunes in apprehension and, later, desperation with a tender, winding yearning and grief that eagerly awaits Puccini’s mature blockbusters.
Roberto (Peter Auty in tremendous voice) returning to claim his long-lost love Anna (the excellent Duprels again), who has died broken-hearted. In Martin Lloyd-Evans’s clear and effective staging, she rises from the grave, and he is pursued by the spirits of the title, the Willis, who dance him to death as Anna wraps him in her shroud.
https://rapidtelecast.com/rarities-get-a-welcome-outing-at-opera-holland-park-review/
Anne Sophie Duprels gamely doubled the two heroines.
Soprano Duprels and tenor Auty's duet is another highlight.
MADAMA BUTTERFLY ( Puccini) title role, Angers Nantes Opera Opera de Rennes 2022
Opera magazine ( Patrice henriot)
Il faut avoir vu Anne-Sophie Duprels dans le rôle de Cio Cio San pour comprendre comment l’artiste authentique se laisse envahir par le personnage aux multiples facettes et l’accueille jusqu’à l’unifier en son rôle. Le langage du corps joue autant que la voix : la délicatesse avec laquelle elle calligraphie pour signer le dérisoire contrat de mariage, la prière « aimez-moi comme un enfant », l’inquiétude relative aux papillons épinglés dans les albums d’entomologie signent un premier acte sans nulle mièvrerie, digne dans sa fragilité. La suite n’est qu’insupportable attente, tension dont l’issue logique sera la mort. Cette attente, Anne-Sophie Duprels ne l’incarne pas dans le seul « Un bel di vedremo… », elle la colore et la module selon la marche inéluctable des deux derniers actes : tension perceptible dans sa veille, exclamation sur la découverte du navire « Ah ! (la dièse) ! Abraham Lincoln ! » guet sur le promontoire surplombé d’un ciel noir, jeu quasi intérieur, jamais mélodramatique pour « Va, gioca ! », découverte de son aveuglement lorsqu’elle rencontre, fascinée, Kate Pinkerton, et un suicide (« con onor muore… ») le dos tourné à la salle dans un éclat de lumière aveuglante.
De sa voix tout à la fois fragile et engagée, en tension, la soprano Anne-Sophie Duprels teinte de son côté le chant de Cio-Cio-San d’une texture douloureuse portant et servant tout à la fois le drame narratif et la délicate beauté de la partition de Puccini.
Anne-Sophie Duprels, dans le rôle-titre , rassemble miraculeusement les sons comme les souvenirs et envies d’États-Unis de Cio-Cio San. Elle restitue un déchirant journal intime chanté de ses pensées les plus immédiates, et se fait le relais de magnifiques nuances dans une complète aura. Tout se réfère à l’espace qui l’entoure, et c’est en jonchant une clairière d’humeurs qu’elle parvient à nous donner la pleine idée d’une jeune fille abandonnée, mais sûre de ses sentiments. La soprano n’en fait pas une rêveuse déconnectée, mais une reine de son propre univers.
Anne-Sophie Duprels incarne intensément le personnage de Butterfly. Sa voix ample est vibrante mais jamais de façon excessive dans les graves, ce qui donne beaucoup de clarté dans la diction, avec une compréhension du mot et de la phrase. Les attaques sont nettes, les aigus ineffables et les registres liés. Avec grâce, subtilité et raffinement, ses moindres gestes occupent l’espace respectant les codes de conduite de la Geisha qu’elle reste. L’interprétation aux multiples facettes est juste, jamais redondante ou forcée même lorsqu’elle est en duo avec son amant.
https://www.unidivers.fr/madame-butterfly-opera-rennes/
Anne-Sophie Duprels, en Butterfly, saura nous tirer des larmes tant elle sait donner corps aux profondes émotions de son personnage, elle atteint plusieurs fois au sublime et nous déchire l’âme par ses plaintes et sa souffrance.
ttps://concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=15049
Anne‑Sophie Duprels donne à son incarnation du rôle‑titre une vérité dramatique ardente dès ses premières interventions, refusant toute fragilité ou naïveté. Cette conception donne à son personnage une force de caractère peu commune, notamment lors de ses joutes avec le Consul ou Goro, bien éloigné de l’apathie ou de la folie parfois suggérées au fur et à mesure de l’avancée du mélodrame. Bien projetée, la voix en pleine puissance s’embarrasse d’un léger vibrato, heureusement plus discret dans les parties apaisées.
Anne-Sophie Duprels se glisse avec aisance dans le rôle de Madame Butterfly qui l'accompagne depuis ses débuts. Elle lui offre la brillante palette de ses graves soyeux, de ses médiums percussifs et d'aigus éblouissants lorsqu'ils assument leur brillant. Gracieuse, mutine, vibrionnante de jeunesse et d'innocence, elle est déchirante en femme brisée par l'inconséquence masculine.
Anne-Sophie Duprels, toutes les fibres du rôle
La soprano française connaît le rôle comme si elle l’avait inventé elle-même, et, si la voix n’est sans doute plus toujours de taille à en rendre les incroyables beautés, l’incarnation est puissamment convaincante. Victime certes, sa Butterfly n’est pourtant pas un caractère simple, univoque, n’appelant que la compassion protectrice du spectateur.
D’un geste, d’un regard, d’un emballement ou d’un soupir, Anne-Sophie Duprels en traduit la passionnante complexité : la conscience de se vendre à un Occidental, son refus obstiné de croire que Pinkerton l’a abandonnée, son ironie presque méchante envers le riche prince Japonais qui lui propose le mariage et pourrait la sauver de la misère et de l’opprobre. Et, quand vient le moment du suicide, la femme trahie et la mère sacrifiée se tue certes par amour pour Pinkerton mais plus encore pour son fils. Impossible en effet de laisser l’enfant imaginer que, vivante, elle aurait supporté de l’avoir ainsi confié à sa « nouvelle famille » américaine.
EDMEA ( Catalani) title role , Wexford festival Opera 2021
But the night belongs to Duprels. Her memorable table-climbing Edmea in that wild yellow dress, and her soaring voice, make an indelible imprint on all the senses.
https://operawire.com/wexford-festival-opera-2021-review-edmea/
In the title role was French soprano Anne Sophie Duprels, who four years ago produced a superb performance in the role of Katiusha in the festival’s production of Alfano’s “Il Risurrezione.” She is an excellent singing actress, evidence of which was clearly on display in her interpretation of Edmea. Her transition from the external into her internal world allowed her to adopt two distinct portrayals of her character, both of which were convincingly molded to fit the different situations. In what was a nice touch, she beckoned to the other characters to join her when she descended into her subconscious, making it clear that this was her creation, her world.
She possesses a wonderfully versatile voice that allows her to maneuver easily and smoothly between registers, take leaps in her stride, deliver complex lines full of subtle accents and pleasing embellishments, and coat her singing with intense emotion. However, it is her ability to use these skills to develop her character which really impressed, and enabled her to produce a wonderfully expressive and dramatic singing performance.
Soprano Anne-Sophie Duprels brilliantly captured Edmea’s madness, with mercurial shifts of mood from the tragic and the intense to the flighty and fey. Her voice opened up as the opera progressed, revealing itself in all its glory in its upper reaches. Her Act 3 aria and subsequent duet were sung with great sensitivity.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/artsandculture/arid-40726680.html
French soprano Anne Sophie Duprels and Italian tenor Luciano Ganci were excellent in the main roles.
http://operajournal.blogspot.com/2021/10/catalani-edmea-wexford-2021.html
. Edmea too has all the vocal challenges of a typical Italian opera of this period, which means that it has conventional arias, love duets and a drinking scene in a tavern, but it also presents challenges for the emotional and vocal ranges. Anne Sophie Duprels was well cast to achieve that and bring something of the aforementioned human and spiritual character of Edmea. She was also impressive in her transformation to the dreamy Edmea of Act II who has lost her mind.
https://www.giornaledellamusica.it/recensioni/il-brutto-sogno-di-edmea
Sulla scena, lo assecondano efficacemente i due solidi protagonisti, Anne Sophie Duprels come Edmea e Luciano Ganci come Oberto, entrambi ammirevoli per tenuta vocale nei duettoni e nelle generose romanze
http://www.omm.de/veranstaltungen/festspiele2021/WEXFORD-2021-edmea.html
Musikalisch hat die Oper einiges zu bieten und ist in Wexford gut besetzt. Da ist zunächst Anne Sophie Duprels in der Titelpartie zu nennen. Mit leuchtendem Sopran und variabler Stimmführung lotet sie die unterschiedlichen Gemütszustände Edmeas bewegend aus und überzeugt auch darstellerisch. Mädchenhaft unschuldig wirkt sie in ihrer ersten Arie, wenn sie das Unglück, das ihr bevorsteht, noch nicht erahnt und verfällt anschließend mit großer Dramatik dem Wahnsinn, wenn sie zur Ehe mit Ulmo gezwungen wird. Im zweiten Akt wirkt Duprels nahezu geistig entrückt, bis sie erneut in Oberto ihren Geliebten wiedererkennt. Mit großer Bandbreite gestaltet sie dann die Szene im dritten Akt, in der sie allmählich ihren Verstand zurückgewinnt.Die beiden Duette mit Duprels im ersten Akt, wenn Edmea und Oberto voneinander Abschied nehmen, und im dritten Akt, wenn die beiden wieder zueinander finden, werden in der Interpretation von Ganci und Duprels zu weiteren musikalischen Höhepunkten des Abends.
RISURREZIONE ( Alfano) Katiusha Teatro Maggio Musicale Fiorentino 2020
Capitolo cantanti. L'opera e in sostanza un one-woman-show, perché il tenore serve solo per i duetti e il baritono non canta che nell'ultimo atto. E qui fortunatamente una primadonna all'altezza c'è. Si chiama Anne Sophie Duprels e già aveva impressionato riesumando la folle Isabeau di Mascagni a Londra. La voce non è particolarmente bella e manca un po' di corpo in basso, irrobustendosi poi in bellissimi centri e salendo ad acuti sicuri. Ma è l'interprete a essere notevolissima: fraseggi sempre appropriati, grande presenza scenica, carisma e soprattutto una concezione moderna e antiretorica del personaggio. Insomma, «ecco un’artista!» (cit.).
http://www.anthonyogus.co.uk/alfanos-risurrezione-in-florence/
Anne Sophie Duprels, as Katiusha, the erstwhile peasant girl, seduced and then discarded with the wretched consequences of prostitution, imprisonment and exile, was outstanding both vocally and dramatically. Through physical gesture as well as demeanour and appearance, the transition from flighty innocence to coarse disintegration and eventual vulnerability was admirably conveyed; and it was enhanced by the richness of her soprano in the earlier lyrical passages waning to a harsher, caustic tone and then quieter pathos.
Oggi la brava Anne Sophie Duprels, che è una artista moderna, ben se ne guarda da cedere alla tentazione di un protagonismo tutto esteriore, come ci si aspetterebbe da una eroina del melodramma verista, ma con asciutta drammaticità consegna un personaggio a tutto tondo e regge pure il peso vocale di una parte assai impegnativa, che richiede una vocalità dal percorso frastagliato, dove ai lirici patetismi e al rimpianto si affiancano accensioni drammatiche infuocate che richiedono solidità vocale e assoluto controllo del mezzo, che il soprano francese tutto sommato possiede, nonostante un timbro a tratti freddo e aspro, così da rendere piena giustizia espressiva all’arioso “Dio pietoso”, la pagina più nota dell’opera.
Il cast presenta alcuni elementi di notevole interesse, a partire dalla protagonista, Anne Sophie Duprels: il timbro leggermente metallico può non entusiasmare e in basso la voce fatica alcune volte a emergere oltre la massa orchestrale, ma gli acuti sono delle lame d’acciaio, sicuri e penetranti. Sorprendono inoltre il fraseggio bruciante e le ottime capacità attoriali, due elementi che consentono al soprano francese di costruire un personaggio credibilissimo ed estremamente emozionante, tanto che il suo grido del terzo atto “Ah! Perché non sono morta?” rimane uno dei momenti più belli dello spettacolo.(…)
Il folto pubblico della pomeridiana dimostra di seguire l’opera con un interesse e curiosità, decretando alla fine un discreto successo a tutti, con punte di vero entusiasmo per Kim e la Duprels.
https://www.stamptoscana.it/maggio-la-risurrezione-di-unopera-ingiustamente-dimenticata/
E anche di Anne Sophie Duprels, protagonista dell’opera nei panni di Katiusha, che ha convinto il pubblico della prima anche per le capacità interpretative.
ma anche per questo brilla particolarmente, per le doti di attrice, oltre che per la bella voce potente ed estesa, il soprano francese Anne Sophie Duprels, festeggiatissimo dal pubblico a fine recita e che si spera di riavere sul palco del Maggio in altre produzioni.
La quale è personaggio di forte spessore e richiede interprete di rango, dotata di forte personalità e Anne Sophie Duprels, opportunamente chiamata a Firenze a rivestire quello stesso ruolo impersonato a Wexford, ripaga la scelta con una convincente prestazione, premiata da un vero e proprio boato di consensi al suo apparire al termine della recita.(…)
Un misto, volendo molto semplificare, di Butterfly, Manon Lescaut e Lady Macbeth di Mtsensk (ma senza la morte del personaggio principale, qui risparmiato in nome del sacrificio del vero amore della vita, stile Magda della Rondine o Tatiana dell'Onegin), affrontato dalla Duprels con gusto e con un'estrema cura del fraseggio. La solidità dei mezzi la fa venire a capo di una parte molto lunga, varia e impegnativa, anche dal punto di vista interpretativo, che esige accenti patetici e drammatici che si alternano per i quattro atti dell'opera.
L'aiutano pure la bravura nella recitazione e l'ottima pronuncia italiana, anche se la dizione potrebbe essere migliore nelle consonanti, così da conferire maggior mordente ad alcune frasi. Il fatto di non possedere un temperamento debordante si rivela forse un vantaggio per la resa complessiva, evitandole di cadere in esagerazioni divistiche fuori tempo massimo: basti ascoltare con quanta musicalità risolve le molte discese in un registro grave che in natura non avrebbe ricchissimo senza mai forzare o aprire il suono.
Anne Sophie Duprels è Katiusha, la protagonista assoluta; di lei, più che la cantante, colpisce l’interprete, la sua ammirevole capacità di incarnare i tre volti che il personaggio assume durante la sua evoluzione. Riesce ad essere credibilmente adolescente innamorata, poi creatura abbrutita dal rifiuto, prostrata dalla sofferenza e anima apparentemente perduta, e poi ancora donna resa matura e quasi santificata dal travaglio dell’espiazione. Ha tuttavia un bello strumento lirico, gestito con varietà di colori e sicurezza di emissione. La voce, inizialmente un po’ ovattata, assesta poi la proiezione e ha buona resa, sia negli acuti solidi, che nei momenti di dolcezza con suoni in piano e pianissimo limpidi e sicuri. La caratterizzazione nel complesso è notevole, anche se l’articolazione e la dizione rendono piuttosto problematico cogliere il testo.(…)
Il pubblico, giunto alla terza recita, non riempie completamente il teatro, ma è piuttosto attento e caloroso; mostra di gradire sia la proposta che gli interpreti, gratificando con scroscianti applausi e ovazioni la protagonista Anne Sophie Duprels
Anne Sophie Duprels, la protagonista, ha gettato il cuore oltre l’ostacolo. La parte di Caterina è lunga, spossante, intensa, il personaggio si mostra in tutte le età, in tutte le condizioni fisiche e psicologiche, i suoi accenti variano dall’ingenuo adolescenziale al tragico. Una parte dunque da grandissima prima donna, come dimostra la galleria d’interpreti del dopoguerra, dove figura l’affascinante Carla Gavazzi, oltre alle citate Magda Olivero e Virginia Zeani, di tempi recenti con Olivia Stapp e Denia Mazzola, e di una volta con la favolosa Giuseppina Cobelli e le ancor più antiche Elvira Magliulo, Mary Garden, Eugenia Burzio, Ersilde Cervi Caroli.
Diremo subito che dalla protagonista di “Risurrezione” vorremmo una maggior aderenza con la parola e forse anche un temperamento più duttile di quanto mostrato da Anne Sophie Duprels la quale ha nondimeno affrontato il cimento con professionalità crescendo d’intensità nel corso dello spettacolo e collocando note pulite, ben sostenute e sonore ove la parte lo richiede.
Un pubblico attento, generoso e partecipe, quantunque non troppo numeroso, ha applaudito lungamente decretando il successo della serata e dimostrando di gradire l’opera, con vertici di particolare calore per Lanzillotta e Duprels.
https://www.operaactual.com/critica/el-maggio-musicale-reivindica-a-alfano/
Sin poseer una voz de mérito excepcional, Anne Sophie Duprels interpretó con una total participación vocal y escénica el personaje de Katiusha, complejo y dramático, perfectamente perfilado por la música de Alfano.
BALLO IN MASCHERA ( Amelia) 2019 Opera Holland Park
The casting is almost ideal. Matteo Lippi’s Gustavo and Anne Sophie Duprels’s Amelia play off each other perfectly, his graceful tenor complemented by her soaringly beautiful soprano line.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/06/saved-by-the-chorus/
Musically it’s exemplary. Lippi glints golden ease and entitlement against Duprels’ worked, burnished copper.
Gaitanou’s direction of the singers is so exact that it becomes impossible to separate them from their characters, hence Matteo Lippi sang the doomed King Gustavo with a sensational Italianate idiom – every bit as good as today’s tenor superstars and better than some – while house favourite Anne Sophie Duprels drew on all her experience of playing tortured souls to deliver a vocally lucent Amelia. The pair's dramatic duet “Teco io sto” practically caught fire.
Lippi’s handsomely-sung Gustavo has more than a whiff of the Duke of Mantua about him. Charismatic and easy with privilege, he simply cannot grasp the consequences of his actions, and dances blithely into his violent end without any real comprehension. His dramatic and vocal ease – what glorious gleam and sheen there is to the top of this voice – is balanced by the tightly-coiled neurosis of Duprels’ Amelia. At once fragile and ferociously strong, she summons devastating beauty and desperation for her Act III plea “Morro, ma prima in grazia”, ravishingly accompanied by the solo cello.
http://www.operatoday.com/content/2019/06/a_superb_un_bal.php
Lippi and Anne Sophie Duprels - a favourite at Opera Holland Park following her fine recent performances in Isabeau and Zazà - made for an impressive central pair of doomed lovers. Duprels employed a dynamic and expressive range of colour in ‘Ma dall’arido stelo divulsa’, when riven with conflicting desires - to submit to or to silence her love for Gustavo - and sang with truly affecting power in ‘Morrò, ma prima in grazia’, when pleading with her murderous husband to be able to see her son for one last time
https://www.musicomh.com/classical/reviews-classical/un-ballo-in-maschera-opera-holland-park-london
In fact, all three central performances stand out as Matteo Lippi’s brilliantly expansive tenor and Anne Sophie Duprels’ beautifully hued soprano bring great distinction to the roles of Gustavo and Amelia respectively.
Amelia is sung by Anne Sophie Duprels, a great favourite at OHP, most recently in last year's Isabeau. Here she is at her finest – delicate, sympathetic and sincere. Like Brief Encounter's Laura – and like Fleabag's priest, making self-denial newly fashionable – she puts her pledge ahead of her desires.
https://classicalsource.com/db_control/db_concert_review.php?id=16556
Anne Sophie Duprels’s Amelia is a really complex assumption and she sings with great poise as well as flexibility. She’s a stage natural, too, bringing pathos, fatalism and abandon as Verdi requires,
http://www.planethugill.com/2019/06/a-finely-balanced-cast-in-opera-holland.html
Anne Sophie Duprels is an OHP regular, singing a wide variety of roles. She is not a conventional Verdi soprano, bu who is nowadays? However brings commitment and style to whatever she does. This was a beautifully convincing and incrediby detailed portrayal of a woman under stress (something Duprels does superbly well, witness her Janacek performances at OHP), yet still capable and still acting on her own. Duprels voice has a fragile quality which meant that Verdi's line sometimes took on a tremulous feel which lent anxiety to the character, but there is strength underneath which meant we had power in the key moments.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jun/11/un-ballo-in-maschera-review-opera-holland-park
The production is beautifully acted and sung. Lippi, warm and generous of tone, finely captures Gustavo’s charm, humour and fecklessness. Duprels sings with a formidable intensity that compensates for the occasional moment of shrillness in her upper registers.
As Gustavo, nobly repressing his love for his best friend’s wife Amelia, Matteo Lippi is commanding, confidently handling the most demanding vocal challenges. The romantic trio is rounded out by solid performances by George von Bergen as Anckarström and Anne Sophie Duprels as Amelia, especially in the anguished Morrò, Ma Prima in Grazia, where she is sympathetically accompanied by a cello soloist from the City of London Sinfonia.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/review-un-ballo-in-maschera-at-opera-holland-park-w8-0wgwk9fpc
ISABEAU 2018 Opera Holland Park
The Guardian
The French soprano Anne Sophie Duprels carried the title role with emotional honesty and vocal security, as she did here last year in Leoncavallo’s Zaza, her tone never wilting under the powerful orchestral writing.
La Stampa
"Molto buona anche la protagonista Isabeau, Anne Sophie Duprels (già ascoltata nel «Sigurd» di Reyer, quindi una specialista in blockbuster dimenticati), un soprano lirico dal timbro pieno e dalla grande intensità, anche scenica. "
Classical source
http://classicalsource.com/db_control/db_concert_review.php?id=15611
Vocally and dramatically the cast is a strong one. As Isabeau, Anne Sophie Duprels readily commands the stage while also conveying much of the integrity in the face of populist ridicule as makes her a far from conventionally put-upon heroine.
Seen and heard International
Duprels’ soprano is a beautiful instrument and she can convey both fragility and ardency – and did. It is quite fitting that she should be the first-listed, her voice shining brightly;
Opera Today
http://www.operatoday.com/content/2018/07/mascagnis_isabe.php
Anne Sophie Duprels is fast becoming not so much a princess but a queen of Investec Opera Holland Park, after her acclaimed performances in Mascagni’s in 2016 Iris and last year’s production of Leoncavallo’s Zazà . Duprels’ Isabeau was elevated and chaste - she seemed to share Mélisande’s disconcerting blend of ethereal, fairy-tale other-worldliness and tangible physical sensuality. Vocally, she switched from heavenly to highly charged - and from lyricism and declamation - in an instant. Her voice shone lustrously but there were also rapturous pianissimos - one sustained stratospheric whisper towards the close seemed to suspend time - and there was variety of both colour and dynamics. A truly regal performance.
Planet Hugill
http://www.planethugill.com/2018/07/richly-romantic-mascagni-rarity-isabeau.html
Anne-Sophie Duprels brought drama and commitment to her portrayal of Isabeau, giving the character the sort of concentrated intensity which made her defiance of her father believable. This powerful presence provided a real core to the drama and still flowered lyrically in the glorious Act Three duet. ….With such a pair of principals, you almost believed the drama and certainly, they made the closing scenes pretty powerful.
The Telegraph
a first rate tenor can work wonders with the role of Folco, and here David Butt Philip does just that. His ringing tone and noble stage presence, along with the lovely singing of Anne Sophie Duprels as Isabeau, focus the performance
WhatsOnStage
https://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/reviews/isabeau-opera-holland-park_47116.html
…the ever-splendid City of London Sinfonia under the idiomatically adroit baton of Francesco Cilluffo, and two stellar leading performances.
Anne-Sophie Duprels shines like silver in the title role, be she dignified, vilified or horrified. Whether clad in gleaming white or riding sort-of naked on a chrome puppet horse, the soprano's intensity blazes unbroken with vocal brilliance and conviction. She alone is worth at least half the price of admission.
Daily Mail
Pure tosh, of course, but redeemed by some excellent singing and characterful music. Duprels is, as always, terrific;
BUTTERFLY 2018 Opera North
The Stage
https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/2018/madama-butterfly-review-grand-theatre-leeds/
Anne Sophie Duprels’ Madama Butterfly is a shimmering glory, her voice soaring and dramatically heartbreaking.
Yorkshire magazine
https://www.on-magazine.co.uk/arts/yorkshire-theatre/madama-butterfly-review-leeds-grand/
Butterfly is every soprano’s coveted role, and Duprels grabs it with both hands. Her singing is superb, and her agony of mind and body as distressingly clear as her appalling treatment merits. Indeed, her treatment of one of opera’s most beautiful arias, ‘One Fine Day’, is extraordinary. My spine tingled and my tears fell, just as they should.
The spectator
https://www.spectator.co.uk/2018/01/royal-operas-tosca-is-a-sloppy-affair/
There is almost no finer exponent of this repertoire today than her.
Bachtrack
Anne Sophie Duprels conveys all the emotions of a naïve and volatile teenager using the skills born of long experience in the Butterfly role, which include an outstanding acting ability. She was convincing as a kimono-clad fifteen year-old, a ‘doll’ in her new husband’s eyes, in an Act 1 which took a while to gather energy, and exuded confidence playing the girl who tries to embrace American culture with enthusiastic flapping of the Stars and Stripes. Although the love duet with Pinkerton in Act 1 seemed strangely underplayed on opening night, she was at her peak for the aria the audience was waiting for, “Un bel dì vedremo”, sung with striking sensitivity, a slight tremolo adding to the effect. She was beautifully statuesque gazing out to sea during the Humming Chorus.
Seen and heard international
The theme of betrayal has always been the stuff of serious operas and of all of them that place the theme centrally, surely Madame Butterfly is the non plus ultra example. Opera North’s revival is fortunate in retaining, for the third consecutive time, a soprano who is supreme at betrayal. Anne Sophie Duprels was last seen in Leeds as the eponymous Sister Angelica in Puccini’s one-acter where her betrayal credentials were on full gut-wrenching display.
It is ten years since she sang the lead role in the premier of this Tim Albery production which was unanimously greeted ecstatically by critics. In 2007, many seasoned Butterfly aficionados thought that they had, for the first time, witnessed a performer in the role of Cio-Cio-San convince as a teenage girl only recently out of puberty. The opera makes it clear that she is fifteen at the start, having been sold to Lieutenant Pinkerton for 100 yen, something that gives the opera a painful topical resonance with its implication of child trafficking.
‘I am different now to how I was 10 years ago’, says Anne Sophie Duprels, yet she still conveys the innocence of a young girl, subtly combined with the sense of inner strength that Puccini surely intended, aided by a pure and supple voice. Her revival performance is honed to perfection, steadily building through the evening from childish optimism through loving motherhood to world weary acceptance ending in tragic denouement.
Having sung the role in several other productions in the last decade, she has intimated that she perhaps feels most at home in this one. Veteran director Tim Alberry has a reputation for creating productions that, although striking, are not fussily distracting nor over-laden with obscure, pretentious symbolism, a common directorial curse. He recognises the obvious: the narrative must always be the focus.
Leeds list
https://leeds-list.com/culture/review-opera-norths-madama-butterfly/
Anne Sophie Duprels takes her Cio-Cio-San from sweet innocence and hopeless devotion to an almost manic obsession.(…) The cast were exceptional – Anne Sophie Duprels, Ann Taylor and Peter Savidge, who plays the honest respectable Sharpless, have all followed this production through from its initial outing in 2007
The reviews hub
http://www.thereviewshub.com/madama-butterfly-the-grand-leeds/
Puccini’s powerful musical score is well known, including its arias such as the infamous Un bel dì vedremo, which is sung beautifully with conviction and hope by Duprels.
It is certainly an opera of passions along with themes of love, vulnerability, betrayal, infidelity and sacrifice. The opera is performed excellently by the company of Opera North, and particularly Duprels superb portrayal of the title role.
The examiner
http://www.examiner.co.uk/whats-on/tragic-madama-butterfly-triumph-opera-14181117
Albery’s production as a whole, and especially Anne Sophie Duprels’ remarkable and unsparing performance as Cio-Cio-San (Butterfly), certainly do engage with the tragic ambiguities.
However, Butterfly stands or falls by Cio-Cio-San – and Anne Sophie Duprels is as enthralling as ever. However thrilling her singing, there is always another dimension: Un bel di, for example, is both beautifully sung and vividly dramatised. The opera’s ambiguities are never greater than in its heroine, a doll-like 15-year-old, maybe, or a pretentious pseudo-American abruptly dismissive of the Japanese and their ways, or a devoted mother sacrificing herself for love?
Duprels makes them all believable.
The Times
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/opera-review-madama-butterfly-at-the-grand-leeds-gmntl3zfg
On the other hand the show is beautifully acted, especially by Anne Sophie Duprels as Butterfly — as touchingly proud at the tragic end of her life as she is heartbreakingly naive at the start of her affair with Pinkerton. And although her voice is on the smallish side, she sings the part with lyrical ardour. It would be an act of unjustifiable denial to prevent such accomplished actor-singers as Duprels from doing big roles because of their skin colour.
RISURREZIONE (Alfano) Wexford Opera Festival 2017
Opera News February 2018
This act offered some of the most deeply affecting, in-the-moment singing and acting I have seen on an opera stage, with Duprels achieving an astonishing outpouring of anguished sound.
(..) This production ventured into a complex, dangerous emotional territory that opera seldom approaches. And Anne Sophie Duprels gave a performance overflowing with spontaneous magic, reminiscent of the best ofTeresa Stratas’s work.
Opera magazine (janvier 2018)
Mais la vedette de la soirée est la soprano française Anne Sophie Duprels, Katiusha formidable de puissance, de contrôle et d'expressivité , avec un superbe timbre et une palette de nuances très diversifiées .
"The role of Katiusha is a demanding one, requiring both formidable acting and singing skills, and the French soprano, Anne Sophie Duprels, has both. Her performance in the role was a real tour de force. Riding an emotional roller-coaster Duprels displayed her credential as a first-rate singing actress. Vulnerability, naivety desperation, vicious brutality, calm acceptance and beauty were just a few of the characteristics Duprels had to bring to the role, which she successfully delivered with commitment and intelligence, underlining the dramatic range of her art. Her voice displays power, agility and a colorful palette which she employs with a high degree of technical skill. Equally impressive was the sheer level of stamina she possesses; Duprels was on stage for almost the entire opera, and her levels of energy and emotional engagement never wavered. It was an all around riveting performance."
http://www.operatoday.com/content/2017/10/wexford_festiva.php
Much of the success of this production was due to Anne Sophie Duprels’ unwavering commitment in the role of Katiusha. Twice, recently, I have admired Duprels’ unstinting vocal and theatrical integrity ( La Voix humaine; Zazà ) and here she again excelled and astonished. Scarcely absent from the stage, she encompassed the challenging vocal and dramatic range of the role with assurance, spiralling from gauche impressionability to incipient passion, from abysmal desolation to transcendental ecstasy. Alongside the heart-rending cries and virulent ripostes, Duprels floated some exquisite pianos. She balanced radiance with harshness, and fortitude with vulnerability. This was true singing-acting: no wonder Duprels looked exhausted, overcome and elated in equal measure at the close.
French soprano Anne Sophie Duprels sings a blinder throughout, the heft of her voice recalling the darker tone Debussy favoured for Mélisande. Franco Cilluffo gives a loving and detailed reading from the pit
https://www.operaspy.com/blog/2017/11/2/margherita-risurrezione-at-wexford-opera
His lover, Katiusha, was sung by the outstanding French soprano, Anne Sophie Duprels, who’s engaging soprano voice gave the audience the right mixture of light and dark emotion.
The production was sumptuous, with period interiors giving way to the glaring whiteness of Siberia. Director Rosetta Cucchi opted for naturalism, heightened by a discreet sprinkling of fantasy, and Duprels showed again why no one does these abused verismo heroines better: unafraid to show her voice’s rougher edges, then suddenly floating a phrase with melting tenderness.
http://www.giornaledellamusica.it/blog/?b=844
l’orfanella Katiusha, che il soprano Anne Sophie Duprels ha condotto invece passo passo nell’evoluzione dai toni gioiosi e pudichi della prima scena, attraverso la disperazione per la gravidanza indesiderata, fino all’alienazione come prostituta accusata di omicidio e condannata al confino, in una progressiva esplosione di tragicità, che le richiedeva di dar voce fin alle “corde di petto” più profonde. Valente cantante, sì, ma prima ancora grande attrice; e tanto il pubblico altrimenti così composto e rituale di Wexford ne ha riconosciuto il valore e la forza interpretativa che alla sua apparizione in proscenio per gli applausi finali è balzato in piedi compatto, come spinto da una molla troppo a lunga tenuta a freno, per una clamorosa standing ovation che sembrava voler segnare la nascita d’una nuova stella. “That’s opera!”, urlava il mio vicino al colmo dell’eccitazione: uno spettacolo nello spettacolo!
http://operalounge.de/features/musikszene-festivals/eine-entdeckung-und-mehr
Equally fine are the principals in this production, particularly the extraordinary Katiusha of Anne Sophie Duprels. She is an amazing actress (and I emphasize that quality before commenting on her vocal ability), from the Innocent of Act I to the mature woman of Act IV, but she is particularly stunning in the prison scene of Act III. Shocking, drunken, having lost all semblance of humanity, Ms. Duprels depicts this nadir in the arc of Katiusha’s life like a born actress of the first order. She has the kind of voice that rises to a powerful phrase in the manner of verismo too, a voice which can be clearly heard over large and complex orchestration, but it is a voice which can bring nuance to a phrase too as in Act I when she sings to the beauty of the night. Ms. Duprels and Director Cucchi have certainly created the most powerful, dare I say magnificent, production of this year’s Wexford Festival.
Standing Ovations aber gab es bei „Risurrezione“ von Franco Alfano
Die französische Sopranistin Anne Sophie Duprels durchlebt und durchleidet die Rolle der Katiusha mit einer Intensität, die unter die Haut geht.
The role of Katyusha, almost constantly present on the scene, demanded a strong actress and a sensitive phrasing more than a vocal display of bravura, and soprano Anne-Sophie Duprels certainly delivered. As typical of verismo operas, the tessitura lies relatively low, but Duprels negotiated the infrequent high pitches with ease.
Soprano Anne Sophie Duprels’s Katiusha holds the stage and emotes with ease through all her transformations, from youthful innocence to degradation and final acceptance of her fate.
https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/2017/risurrezione-review-wexford-opera-house/
Right at the centre comes an individual performance of exceptional dramatic conviction – that of Anne Sophie Duprels as Katiusha, whose young life is destroyed by her seduction by the prince in the house where she is his aunt’s companion, but who eventually achieves spiritual renewal even amidst the degradation of a Siberian prison camp.
Full marks to Anne Sophie Duprels, a marvellously resourceful singing actress who gives her all to the character of the seduced maiden turned whore
http://www.instantencore.com/buzz/item.aspx?FeedEntryId=586596
The impact of Alfano's 1904 opera Risurrezione at Wexford last night brought the audience to their feet, and the prolonged applause and cheering said it all - the audience had been captured by a mixture of an extremely effective piece and stunning performances all round, especially from the two people pictured above.
Lovingly, meticulously, and energetically conducted by Francesco Ciluffo, in a production ingeniously and beautifully designed by Tiziano Santi and Claudia Pernigotti, Rosetta Cucchi's impeccable direction gave us a clear emotional narrative of great power. This production is said to be going to Monte Carlo so if you can't get to Wexford in the next two weeks the Côte d'Azur is not such a bad alternative in due course! But they had better get Duprels and Schneider - they really made it work.
Risurrezione‚ Wexford Opera
The Times (October 2017)
'Risurrezione relied more than most operas of this period on its protagonist‚ and here we had something close to the ideal in Anne Sophie Duprels‚ who has made a speciality of the rarer Mascagni‚ Leoncavallo and‚ now‚ Alfano. As an artist‚ she is the opposite of Davidsen: a mature singer with a perhaps less than first-class voice‚ but who uses it to maximum advantage‚ pouring huge tone out of her tiny frame and living her role with devastating commitment.'
http://www.omm.de/veranstaltungen/festspiele2017/WEXFORD-2017-risurrezione.html
Anne Sophie Duprels verfügt als Katiusha über einen großen dramatischen Sopran, auch wenn sie an einzelnen Stellen in den Höhen ein wenig schrill klingt. Darstellerisch arbeitet sie die verschiedenen Facetten der jungen Frau überzeugend heraus. Ein musikalischer Höhepunkt ist ihr Gebet im zweiten Akt, wenn sie auf Dimitris Unterstützung hofft
http://www.operamagazine.nl/featured/41866/in-wexford-gebeurt-iets-unieks/
De casting kon niet beter. Sopraan Anne Sophie Duprels zong een geweldige Katiusha. Ze spon de zachte, tedere passages met een prachtig piano uit en beschikte in de hartstochtelijke passages over het nodige volume. Daarnaast beschikte ze ook nog eens over een uitzonderlijk naturel acteertalent. Een zangeres die ik zeker vaker zou willen horen.
http://www.gopera.com/igi/?id=1825
als Katyusha zingt ze de sterren van de hemel. Haar dramatische inleving en een grote stem met veel metaal zorgen voor kippenvelmomenten. Maar in haar gebed "Dio pietoso" - een soort tegenhanger van "Vissi d'arte" - brengt ze de nodige intimiteit.
http://www.crescendo-magazine.be/a-wexford-le-sort-dune-femme-dans-lopera-italien/
Les scènes à la gare te dans la prison étaient suggestives mais c’est Anne-Sophie Duprels comme Katiusha qui a vraiment donné vie à l’opéra. Elle était crédible comme adolescente timide et amoureuse, comme jeune femme désespérée, comme prisonnière cynique, soule et brisée et finalement comme femme sereine et réaliste qui accepte son sort. Avec son soprano solide elle a illustré les différents facettes du personnage d’une façon expressive.
ZAZA (leoncavallo) Opera Holland Park 2017
https://bachtrack.com/fr_FR/review-zaza-leoncavallo-duprels-montero-opera-holland-park-july-2017
The finale is a blazing row between Zazà and Milio which shows both our principals, Anne Sophie Duprels and Joel Montero, at their finest: as they go through the emotional wringer of fury and spurned passion, they’re completely convincing and vocally strong. (….)Duprels is an excellent singing actress, which showed especially in the “woman spurned” part of the role
Duprels gives a performance of such emotional honesty and dramatic integrity that it tears you in two.
http://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/reviews/review-zaz-opera-holland-park_44147.html
Duprels is one of today's great singing actresses who can take us to heaven or drag us to hell - most frequently the latter. She may be an Opera Holland Park regular, but in her case familiarity breeds admiration rather than anything else. The French soprano has a vocal warmth that's especially strong in the upper registers, and she's a charismatic company totem. Her Zazà is first an entitled, Arkadina-style theatre star (albeit in Saint-Étienne rather than among the bright lights), then an impassioned lover, and only finally a dignified woman who takes control of her emotions.
What lifts the evening is the marvellous acting of Holland Park’s resident diva Anne Sophie Duprels. Ideally, one wants a soprano richer deeper and warmer than hers in this lush music, but such is Duprels’s commitment and intelligence that nobody will feel short-changed. Without a trace of sentimentality or exaggeration, she traces both Zazà’s warmth of heart and her defensive peasant spirit, creating a persuasive and moving portrait of a woman who refuses to be either heroine or victim.
http://classicalsource.com/db_control/db_concert_review.php?id=14675
The role of Zazà requires a great singing actress – with stamina, power, beauty of voice as well as a formidable technique. Anne Sophie Duprels ticks all these boxes – some exquisite singing high above the stave and bags of silvery tone when needed; she inhabits the stage, and does not overplay histrionics or mawkishness in the scene where Zazà encounters the young girl Totò
http://www.planethugill.com/2017/07/captivating-leoncavallos-zaza-on-stage.html
The piece requires a captivating performance from the singer of the title role, Leoncavallo's music does not quite do all the work. And Anne Sophie Duprels really did invest the character of Zaza with a depth and complexity which at first engaged and then deepened into a profound sympathy. The basics of the plot are a bit common-place (music-hall singer has affair with man who turns out to be married) and the opera rather relies on the colourful background to create an effect. But Duprels really captured our hearts, making Zaza's plight believable..
Anne Sophie Duprels excels in the title role
http://www.operatoday.com/content/2017/07/leoncavallos_za.php
Anne Sophie Duprels excels in the title role, demonstrating a dramatic range that matches her vocal commitment. Geraldine Farrar, the Met’s biggest star in 1920, and for whom the company staged Zazà, said that the role depended ‘altogether on the true, convincing interpretation of the heroine by the singer ... The singer who can make her audience feel that the emotions she is portraying are real, can make the figure live in voice and action, must always carry the part to success.’ (cited in Frederick H. Martens, The Art of the Prima Donna and Concert Singer). And, Duprels certainly lived up to this high threshold.
http://www.criticscircle.org.uk/?ID=620&PID=5
As Zazà, Anne-Sophie Duprels delivers all-giving emotion that carries you with her through every moment: charm, artistic high-jinx, grit, determination, passion, anguish and more fill her powerful yet always lyrical soprano tone to the brim, shining with seeming ease through everything but the very worst downpour.
As Zazà herself, Anne Sophie Duprels, who has done fine service for OHP previously as Violetta, Magda (Rondine), Lucia, Kat’a and Iris amongst others, is exemplary, owning the stage and finding both power and tenderness in the role. Zazà’s fury is delivered with a cutting, but not painfully piercing, top; against that is the splendid interior sense she conveys when she reassures Totò that no-one will take her father away.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/opera-holland-park-zaza-n885vvwrq
Anne Sophie Duprels is an intense Zaza at Opera Holland Park
Only a singer of Duprels’s intensity could carry this off, and she does so with the visceral vocal and histrionic intensity that marks out her Butterfly at this address and elsewhere in the UK.This autumn she stars in Alfano’s Risurrezione at Wexford, a prospect to be relished if the piece lives up to its reputation.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/event/article-4717524/Zaza-review-rare-treat.html
Anne Sophie Duprels’s Zazà is another exceptional portrayal by this fine soprano of an ageing star, clutching at straws emotionally and not really surprised when the straw beaks off in her hand.
No soprano is more suited to the title role than Anne Sophie Duprels. She captures the fragility and bravado of Zazà, first seen in the dressing room of the provincial music hall surrounded by a supportive team including ex-lover Cascart (Richard Burkhard).
http://www.arbuturian.com/…/music/zaza-at-opera-holland-park
"Zaza’s journey, from careless, almost callous diva to compassionate, touching heroine is sublime. The cast is uniformly excellent, there’s not a dramatically weak link to be seen. But it’s Anne Sophie Duprels’ Zaza who burns brightest. It’s an extraordinary performance, raw and compelling. The scene in Paris between Zaza and her lover’s child, and the full force of her decision not to condemn a child to the same upbringing she herself had, is wonderful. We feel her struggle as she chooses not to let history repeat itself and condemns herself to loneliness in the process. The final image of her illuminated and alone reminds us that, ultimately, we all face the world on our own, however adored we are."
https://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/07/a-fascinating-rediscovery-opera-holland-parks-zaza-reviewed/
Anne Sophie Duprels, meanwhile, plays Zaza with a commitment that’s borderline heroic. Duprels is a wonderful artist, and there’s no question that she’s got the vocal chops for a role like this: a dark, lustrous soprano, raw enough to convey realism under pressure, but capable of drawing you close as well as sending silvery bolts of sound streaking over the full orchestra. But here she’s a vulnerable figure, hanging up her glamour with her stage costume and withering visibly as reality does its worst. In the most wrenching moment of the whole evening, sweetness, fear and desperate hope all played across Duprels’s face as she stood there in her socks watching Milio (Joel Montero) leave her to return (as we’ve already guessed, even if she hasn’t) to his wife and child.
RECITAL PARIS 2016 Nov
Opera Magazine janvier 2017
Recital du 7 novembre 2016
Il est heureux que la saison 2016-2017 de « L’Instant Lyrique » ait inscrit Anne Sophie Duprels dans sa série de recital donnés à L’Elephant Paname, car cette passionnante interprète, aujourd’hui au sommet de son art, est trop peu présente sur la scène Française- à l’exception notable de l’Opera de Tours qui l’avait invitée pour La Voix Humaine et Madama Butterfly , en 2015. Elle mène par ailleurs une carrière internationale très active, surtout au Royaume-uni.
Le recital parisien, donné dans une belle complicité avec Antoine Palloc, accompagnateur très attentif, est construit autour de trois héroïnes romantiques , Marguerite, Mignon et la Sylphide ( ou l’Ondine, ou la Wifi) chaque figure étant illustrée pr les mélodies et des airs d’opéra.
Notons d’abord que , même en récital, Anne Sophie Duprels reste une actrice. Les lieder et mélodies ne sont plus seulement de la musique pure, mais des drames en miniature. On s’en aperçoit dès Gretchen am Spinnrade ( Marguerite au rouet) de Schubert qui ouvre la soirée. L’ampleur de la voix, la chaleur du timbre donnent à cette page une intensité théâtrale qu’elle n’a pas toujours .
Avec ‘L’altra notte » de Mefistofele, la soprano française se dirige vers son univers de prédilection, l’opera Italien post Verdien , où elle peut déployer un souffle très long. Changement de registre avec Faust ( La chanson du roi de thulé, suivie de L’air des Bijoux) : le regard douloureux de la Marguerite de Boito devient soudain mutin, puis joyeux chez Gounod. Anne Sophie Duprels conjugue le poids vocal et l'élégante légèreté des vocalises. Avec une diction parfaite, cela va de soi.
Mignon est représenté par trois mélodies, toutes adaptées du célèbre lied de Goethe. La Mignon de Gounod est délicieuse, Mignons Lied de Lizt , un brin emphatique, et la Romance de Mignon de Duparc, très proche de la déclamation d’opéra. En fait, entre l’opéra français du XIX et de telles mélodies , il n’existe pas vraiment de différence de nature.
La dernière partie est consacrée aux sylphides , Ondines et autres Wilis. Après Die Lorelei de Lizt, et son prélude pianistique tristanesque, place à l’opéra, avec Rusalka de Dvorak ( le chant à la lune). Anne Sophie Duprels s’y montre bouleversante, aussi à l’aise dans ce lyrisme slave que dane le romantisme italien tardif de Lorelei de Catalani ( Amor celeste ebbrezza) ou dans Le Villi de Puccini ( se come voi piccina), où elle retrouve son compositeur de prédilection.
Anne Sophie Duprels lui consacre d’ailleurs ses trois bis: ‘Vissi d’arte » de Tosca; Sole et amore, une canzone que Puccini réintroduira dans la Bohème; et tout naturellement, « Un bel di vedremo » de Butterfly, son ròle fétiche, qu’elle aura chanté plus que tout autre.
Jacques Bonnaure.
FORUM OPERA nov 2016 Recital Paris
Alors que l'Opéra national de Paris affiche actuellement Les Contes d'Hoffmann dont les trois héroïnes – Olympia, la poupée ; Antonia, l'artiste ; Giulietta, la courtisane – s'incarnent en une seule – Stella, la diva –, Anne-Sophie Duprels propose, en son Instant Lyrique, un programme dont les trois figures – Marguerite, Mignon et Sylphide – ne font également qu'une, celle d'un soprano ardemment lyrique et courageux voire téméraire pour, dans un récital avec piano, oser plusieurs airs d'opéras parmi les plus intransigeants du répertoire.
Privée du soutien de l'orchestre dans l'intimité de la salle du dôme – cent places environ –, la voix n'est que plus exposée. Ses irrégularités s'en trouvent exagérées comme scrutées à la loupe. Intonation et oscillation deviennent rides et ridules qu'un miroir grossissant creuse impitoyablement. La voix est nue donc et, dans cette nudité pourtant implacable, la chanteuse est belle, d'une beauté qui n'est pas platement plastique. Le timbre ne serait rien s'il n'était servi par l'expression. Anne-Sophie Duprels entre à l'intérieur de ses personnages jusqu'à épouser leurs émois en une fusion totale et intime. L'effroi de Marguerite selon Boito, ses interrogations rêveuses selon Gounod, l'ivresse sensuelle d'Anna dans Loreley, opéra aujourd’hui oublié d'Alfredo Catalani, se lisent sur le visage tandis que la voix, servie par la clarté de la diction, en français, en allemand, en italien, donne à comprendre le mot et derrière le mot, le sens. Le chant, lorsqu'il est transcendé par l'interprétation, devient reflet de l'âme à condition toutefois de ne pas enfreindre des règles qui veulent ici l'aigu ineffable, là asséné mais toujours assuré, la ligne tracé sans bavure, l'attaque nette, le trille souligné, les registres liés. Anne-Sophie Duprels n'use d'aucun artifice pour contourner les difficultés. Elle fait face, courageuse – on l'a dit –, généreuse aussi lorsqu'à l'issue d'un récital ininterrompu de plus d'une heure, elle enchaîne trois bis encore. Certaines concèdent alors « O mio babbino caro » ; elle, malgré une fatigue que les incertitudes de « Vissi d'arte » rendent perceptible, offre « Un bel di vedremo ». Madama Butterfly fait partie de son quotidien, un peu partout dans le monde, sauf en France, Tours excepté. Pourquoi ?
Tant de générosité souriante – mais aussi vulnérable lorsque la chanteuse s'abstrait de son personnage comme si elle retirait un masque –, trouve dans le Lied un terrain d'expression idéalement adapté à la soirée. L'intimité de la salle évidemment, mais pas seulement. Mignon chez Gounod comme chez Duparc se présente simple d'allure, pour ne pas dire modeste. L’héroïne de Goethe mise en musique par Frantz Liszt prend une forme plus complexe, tantôt agitée, tantôt apaisée avec, en guise de refrain, deux mots « Dahin, dahin ! » (là-bas, la-bas) dont Anne-Sophie Duprels sait trouver et varier la juste couleur. L'écriture révèle un registre grave sans rien de forcé ou d'affecté : naturel. La langue allemande surtout sied à une étoffe qui peut parfois sembler rêche. Gretchen am Spinrade l'avait en début de récital laissé supposer (mais les premiers numéros dans ce genre de concert sont rarement les plus significatifs), Die Lorelei ensuite le confirme, par la manière dont les consonnes sculptent les contours changeants de la narration.
Accompagnateur dévoué, Antoine Palloc n'est jamais aussi éloquent que dans ces pages pensées pour le piano autant que pour la voix. A chaque interprète ses affinités : les silences terrifiés de Boito, les harmonies languides de Puccini nous ont paru davantage le stimuler que les élans délicats de Gounod. Marguerite (au pluriel) angoissées, Mignon (au pluriel aussi) pensives et nostalgiques, Ondines exaltées... Du Lied allemand à l’opéra italien en passant par la mélodie française, la cohérence de la soirée tient aussi à son indéfectible soutien.
SUOR ANGELICA Opera North 2016
Suor Angelica‚ Opera North
Opera Magazine (December 2016)
'Anne-Sophie Duprels brought a versatility and resonance to Angelica that outshone even her several previous appearances in Leeds. The role calls for delicate treatment and above Duprels combined a graceful‚ aristocratic demeanour with an underlying disquiet. Above all‚ she tactfully underlined the intention of Giovacchino Forzano’s libretto that Angelica should appear more devout than her peers. To her normal lightness of tone she added sumptuous glory in her plea to the Madonna; we shared her agony at discovering the death of her son. '
Suor Angelica‚ Opera North
BachTrack.com (October 2016)
'Anne-Sophie Duprels was a childlike Angelica‚ but only at first sight‚ because her voice has seductive intensity‚ and her acting told us of years of frustration and humiliation...Angelica takes poison... and prays to the Holy Virgin to rescue her (“O Madonna‚ Madonna‚ salvami‚ salvami”)‚ an excellent scene in which Duprels displays all her considerable coloratura credentials...'
Suor Angelica‚ Opera North
Seen & Heard International (October 2016)
'French soprano Anne Sophie Duprels is a brilliant actor/singer who possibly provides the outstanding performance of the evening her voice ringing clear and true even when prostrate.'
Suor Angelica‚ Opera North
The Arts Desk (October 2016)
'Anne-Sophie Duprels’s Angelica is a standout‚ becoming more three-dimensional as her back story is revealed.'
Suor Angelica‚ Opera North
The Guardian (October 2016)
'Anne Sophie Duprels is outstanding in the title role‚ despite delivering her big moment‚ Senza Mamma‚ face down on the floor.Among an impressive ensemble cast‚ there is simply nun finer.'
Suor Angelica‚ Opera North
The Observer (October 2016)
'Suor Angelica makes its usual‚ terrible impact – how could it not with the expressive‚ imaginative Anne Sophie Duprels in the title role?...Duprels’s Angelica‚ reduced by the unending tragedy of Giselle Allen (Giorgetta) and her life‚ had candour and tenderness.'
Suor Angelica‚ Opera North
The Spectator (October 2016)
'Anne Sophie Duprels is as compelling as she is in everything I have seen...'
Suor Angelica‚ Opera North
The Telegraph (October 2016)
'But two of the cast stand out...the other is that tremendous operatic actress Anne Sophie Duprels – who inhabits the tormented soul of poor Angelica with an intensity and sincerity that was heart-rending. Both are superb.'
Suor Angelica‚ Opera North
York Press (October 2016)
'No opera depends more heavily on its title role‚ and Anne-Sophie Duprels assumes it with a versatility that outshone even her several previous appearances in Leeds.'
IRIS OHP 2016
Iris‚ Opera Holland Park
Classical Source (June 2016)
'Anne Sophie Duprels is a very convincing Iris both vocally and in stagecraft.'
Iris‚ Opera Holland Park
Critics’ Circle (June 2016)
' soprano Anne Sophie Duprels‚ whose child-woman Iris lives so completely in her small frame. There’s innocence here‚ but also wilful ignorance‚ and Duprels finds both‚ playing off her physical youthfulness against a voice that has all the lived-colours of a mature woman. It’s this friction that gives her performances its charge‚ surviving even an unusually abstract Act 3.'
Iris‚ Opera Holland Park
Opera Today (June 2016)
'Much rests on the title role — the only character to undergo any ‘development’. Anne Sophie Duprels gave a stunning performance‚ especially in the emotionally charged second Act. Without undue mannerism‚ she successfully conjured the naivety and freshness of a young girl who has no knowledge or understanding of the darker sides of life. Whether nonchalantly swinging her legs by the stream‚ clutching her rag doll tightly to protect it from the monsters which threaten it in her dreams‚ or so utterly absorbed by a puppet show that she engages in a duet with her make-believe alter ego‚ Duprels was credible and sincere. Vocally she was stunning. Her voice floated easily over the large orchestra‚ by turns a silvery thread or a gorgeous stream‚ always focused and sensitively phrased. She exhibited impressive musical awareness and technical control‚ and was able to marry the two to create a moving portrayal. Awaking in a seedy brothel‚ her belief that the flimsy painted walls which surround her belong to paradise was heart-breaking in its artless misconception. And‚ Iris’s Act 2 aria‚ ‘Un dì‚ ero piccina’‚ in which she describes a Buddhist screen she had seen as a child on which was depicted an octopus coiling its tentacles around a young girl‚ evoked tender pathos.'
Iris‚ Opera Holland Park
Planet Hugill (June 2016)
'The only fully developed character is Iris‚ and Anne Sophie Duprels was on superb form. She has quite a slight frame so was perfectly believable as a young girl‚ especially as she brought a lovely sense of naivety and wonder to the role without us ever feeling this was annoying overdone. Instead she and Fuchs created an entirely believable character. But this has combined with a real sense of power‚ focus and beauty in Duprels voice‚ she really seems to have found form. Mascagni’s music was sung with the combination of strength and suppleness which it requires; great beauty of line and tone‚ yet riding the orchestra with ease. She made the last act really powerful and poignant‚ making it seem necessary rather than a strange add on.'
Iris‚ Opera Holland Park
Seen & Heard International (June 2016)
' Anne Sophie Duprels is simply stunning in all respects; in stature‚ she is the perfect size to suggest the fragility of the heroine; her voice has all the range and strength Mascagni requires. Her way with Mascagni’s ever-expressive lines as she sings to her dolls revealed someone completely at home in this repertoire. Her ‘commentary’ on the staged entertainment was beautifully convincing‚ as was her sense of confusion‚ a sense of a girl experiencing something way above her head‚ in the Act Two seduction. The climax‚ her own death scene‚ was magnificently managed‚ vocally and dramatically – a true partnership between herself and orchestra.'
Iris‚ Opera Holland Park
The Guardian (June 2016)
'Fuchs explores its dichotomies clear-mindedly and without sensationalism in a staging‚ her finest of recent years‚ that is at its most unbearable when it is most restrained. She’s helped immeasurably by a performance of almost terrifying intensity from Anne Sophie Duprels in the title role'
Iris‚ Opera Holland Park
The Stage (June 2016)
'Anne Sophie Duprels is an artist who always gives 100 percent‚ and her Iris is vocally and dramatically unstinting'
Iris‚ Opera Holland Park
The Telegraph (June 2016)
'that wonderfully intelligent singer and imaginatively resourceful actress Anne Sophie Duprels gave a heartfelt performance in the title-role that made what could be merely repellent emotionally plausible and touching.'
Iris‚ Opera Holland Park
The Times (June 2016)
'It’s hard to imagine‚ however‚ a singer doing more than Duprels to bring heart and soul to this heroine. With a ballerina’s poise (and tiny stature)‚ she has the physical frailty but sings with tireless power and plangency: it’s a truly bravura performance.'
Iris‚ Opera Holland Park
What’sOnStage.com (June 2016)
'In the title role‚ Anne Sophie Duprels adds yet another verismo victim to her roster and‚ with her warm voice and intense musicality‚ conveys all the despair of a broken innocent. It is harrowing to watch her incomprehension as imprisonment turns to horror.'
RUSALKA SCOTTISH OPERA 2016
The Telegraph april 2016
However, the greatest challenge falls upon Anne Sophie Duprels in the title role. The French soprano plays an elusive character who is, by turns, a mythical creature, a mute human and a desolate spirit. She plays all three with a compelling subtlety and deftness that is equal to the beauty of both her voice and Dvořák’s delightful Slavonic music.
The ARTDESK.COM april 2016
the original director returns, along with choreographer Lucy Burge, lighting designer Wolfgang Goebbel, and the slight but determined figure of Anne Sophie Duprels in the title role(...)The singing, without exception, is excellent throughout(...)Later, as Rusalka is prepared for her wedding to the Prince, she becomes hopelessly tangled in what could be either a huge wedding veil or a fishing net. Her writhing and wriggling to free herself are painful to watch, not least because Duprels is a superb mover and actress.
SCOTSMAN april 2016
The setting is Victorian, but with a timeless naturalism that gives universality to the message. Anne Sophie Duprels’ portrayal of Rusalka is vocally vibrant and all-encompassing, literally a fish out of water, whose true being can never be shaken off in a strange world of human love, weakness and deceit.
BUTTERFLY OPERA DE TOURS 2015
Opera Magazine decembre 2015
L'héroïne trouve en Anne Sophie Duprels une interprete à sa mesure. La carriere de la Soprano Française se déroule presque essentiellement à l'étranger, nottamment aux Etats-Unis et au Royaume Uni. Ce rôle de CioCioSan , qu'elle a déjà chanté plus de cent fois, Anne Sophie Duprels l'aborde comme si il s'agissait d'une première. La voix claire et généreuse se déplioe sans efforts, se parant de justes accents dramatiques, d'une adéquation parfaite au personnage et à la situation. On ne parvient pas à comprendre pourquoi nos scènes Nationales ne l'emploient que si rarement!...elle est lumineuse et bouleversante...
Classica decembre 2015
Déjà remarquée à Tours pour son interpretation de la Voix Humaine de Poulenc, la soprano Française communique à Madame Butterfly un réel pouvoir de conviction et une émotion à tirer les larmes. Un rôle qu'elle connait à la perfection pour l'avoir chanté plus de cent fois sur les scènes internationales.
Concertclassic.com
octobre 2015
Anne-Sophie Duprels transcende un rôle-titre qu’elle a chanté plus de cent fois sur les scènes internationales. Par sa retenue dans l’émotion, la noblesse de ses attitudes, sa manière d’habiter les silences, elle incarne une Cio-Cio-San profondément humaine, touchante jusqu’à tirer des larmes dans sa pureté sacrificielle finale.
anaclase.com
octobre 2015
Dans le rôle-titre, Anne-Sophie Duprels signe une performance des plus impressionnantes, dès les premières vocalises éthérées, depuis les coulisses, pour introduire Cio Cio San dans toute sa forte originalité et sa délicatesse. Merveilleuse dans l’air Io seguo il mio destino, le soprano français porte ensuite le deuxième acte sur ses frêles épaules, mutine et presque drôle face à la longue absence de son mari, avant de sombrer pour finir dans la folie autodestructrice, dans une atmosphère digne et feutrée. Point d’orgue de la soirée, à la fin de l’Acte I, son saisissant duo avec le ténor Avi Klemberg, Pinkerton touchant et sincère jusqu’au repentir, atteint le niveau des grandes interprétations « classiques » de Puccini, sous une énorme lune orangée, symbole de fécondité et de trahison.
BUTTERFLY Opera de Tours 2015
resmusica.com
octobre 2015
Au delà des qualités de sa présentation, pourquoi reprendre cette production datant de 2001 et déjà rejouée in loco en 2006 ? La présence d’Anne-Sophie Duprels, cantatrice dont la carrière s’est essentiellement construite à l’étranger et qui a interprété le rôle titre à plus de cent reprises, en est sans doute le motif. S’appuyant sur un instrument arrivé à pleine maturité, une technique accomplie et une musicalité certaine, elle ne fait qu’une bouchée du rôle et remporte un beau succès personnel dans « Un bel di vedremo ». Nous n’entendons cependant aucune fragilité chez cette jeune japonaise mais une détermination sans faille.
BUTTERFLY Opera de Tours 2015
la nouvelle république
octobre 2015
Amoureuse pudique, mère attendrissante, abandonnée tragique : la Cio-Cio-San d'Anne-Sophie Duprels rayonne
Mais dans ce Japon, le vrai soleil levant est dans la voix de la Cio-Cio-San d'Anne-Sophie Duprels. Sous les regards de l'émouvante Suzuki de Delphine Haidan, retenue, touchante, poignante, dans tous les registres, Anne-Sophie Duprels fait merveille face au Pinkerton d'Avi Klemberg
Madama Butterfly New Zealand Opera
The press (july 2015)
Of course, Anne Sophie Duprels (Butterfly) was the star of the show and her brilliance shone in every note, from unbridled joy, naive simpering, terror, dread and resolve, all sung with conviction and passion.
She was remarkable and if I had to pick my Butterfly, she would be it.
Il Tabarro (Il Trittico) Opera Holland Park
Classical Source.com (June 2015)
'Duprels is a singer-actress of singular power. Her voice‚ not always beautiful near the top
of its range‚ is nevertheless flexible and lyrical‚ and ideal for the trapped and tragic female figures that inspired Puccini throughout his career. As Il tabarro’s down-trodden Giorgetta‚ miserably
married to the much older barge-owner Michele‚ Duprels pulled of a visionary duet with Jeff Gwaltney’s hunky stevedore lover‚ Luigi‚ as they dream of a better life'
Il Tabarro (Il Trittico) Opera Holland Park
MarkRonan.com (June 2015)
'Anne Sophie Duprels gave a beautifully nuanced portrayal of
Giorgetta'
Il Tabarro (Il Trittico) Opera Holland Park
MusicOMH.com (June 2015)
'Anne Sophie Duprels is a sublime Giorgetta'
Il Tabarro (Il Trittico) Opera Holland Park
Seen & Heard International (June 2015)
'Soprano Anne Sophie Duprels (Giorgetta) and baritone Stephen Gadd (Michele) were impressive
as they immediately created a convincing milieu‚ using their voices with suppleness and phrasing thoughtfully to establish their characters and relationship. Duprels was a sympathetic Giorgetta‚
physically fatigued by domestic hardship‚ emotionally worn down by the death of her child. Despite her attraction to Jeff Gwaltney’s Luigi‚ she seemed reluctant to give in to her desires‚ which made
her duet with Gwaltney all the more glorious‚ as they rapturously rejoiced in the imagined splendours of Paris. Gruff and irritable at the start‚ Gadd dropped his cold‚ authoritarian mask in a superb
central duet with Duprels'
Il Tabarro (Il Trittico) Opera Holland Park
Sunday Express (June 2015)
'Anne Sophie Duprels movingly captures Giorgetta’s discontent‚ transformed into raw passion
when she declares her love'
Il Trittico‚ Opera Holland Park
Opera Today.com (June 2015)
'...Trittico may well be the best thing I have yet seen and heard at Holland Park...The casts
were also as fine as I can recall from OHP‚ perhaps even finer still...Anne Sophie Duprels convinced equally in the conflicted roles of Giorgetta and Suor Angelica‚ her musical and dramatic focus and
shaping every inch the equal of Stratford’s'
Suor Angelica (Il Trittico) Opera Holland Park
Classical Source.com (June 2015)
'Duprels’s Angelica slowly emerges in identity before embarking on the emotional crux of the
whole evening in her meeting with her aunt‚ La Zia Principessa‚ who requires her errant niece to sign away her inheritance and who tells her that her bastard son has perished. Duprels’s singing‚
initially meltingly soft‚ gathered in expressive force as she bears her aunt’s cruelty‚ and her aria "Senza mamma" was properly heart-breaking...the two artists really sparked off each other...the
Duprels-Plowright showdown and the closing scene were musically and dramatically so strong'
Suor Angelica (Il Trittico) Opera Holland Park
MarkRonan.com (June 2015)
'Had the evening ended with Tabarro it would have been dramatically very satisfying‚ but with
the addition of Suor Angelica it was a knockout. Anne Sophie Duprels reappeared from her role as Giorgetta to give a truly gripping account of the title role. The single candle and cross on a table‚
partly surrounded by a screen‚ during her meeting with Rosalind Plowright’s superb Principessa was hugely effective‚ and their body language was enough to make one weep...The production’s fine
cutting edge and Stratford’s excellent conducting‚ particularly when Angelica is alone on stage‚ had an emotional tug stronger than almost any I’ve seen‚ including the excellent one at Covent Garden
nearly four years ago'
Suor Angelica (Il Trittico) Opera Holland Park
MusicOMH.com (June 2015)
'The voices of Anne Sophie Duprels as Suor Angelica and Fiona Mackay as La Badessa are hardly
identical in sound but both are possessed of thick‚ vibrant shades and some thrilling darker hues‚ meaning that they work very well together'
Suor Angelica (Il Trittico) Opera Holland Park
Opera Britannia (June 2015)
'And now for a confession. In over forty years of opera-going‚ I have never shed a tear. Not
once. Not when Violetta dies‚ not when the Countess forgives Almaviva‚ not even when I accidentally heard Andrea Bocelli’s Verdi CD. No doubt‚ it points to something unwholesome and not quite right
about me‚ but there you have it – choking up is not in my personality. Until a couple of nights ago‚ that is. I should have sensed that something was brewing from the startling guttural roar Anne
Sophie Duprels emitted as Angelica hurled herself at La Zia Principessa‚ on learning of the fate of the son she has never seen. From the gloriously sung "Senza mamma" to the end of the opera‚ she had
me right on the brink. Her portrayal of Angelica’s death was so raw that it was‚ at times‚ too hard to watch. In the space of a couple of hours she had made the transition from merely good to
stellar‚ and it was wonderful to experience. The audience knew it too‚ and rewarded her with a deafening ovation'
Suor Angelica (Il Trittico) Opera Holland Park
Seen & Heard International (June 2015)
'There was a similarly strong sense of ensemble in Suor Angelica‚ with Duprels once again
taking the leading role‚ as the eponymous sister incarcerated by her family to atone for her sins. At first Duprels is indistinguishable among the down-trodden community of penitent sinners (director
Oliver Platt suggests that they are all guilty of some great misdemeanour and that their prayers are motivated less by spiritual devotion than by a need for attrition); but she emerges as feistily
independent and dangerously resentful. This was utterly committed singing'
Suor Angelica (Il Trittico) Opera Holland Park
Telegraph (June 2015)
'An absolutely wonderful evening. This Puccini opera demands huge resources but Opera Holland
Park pulls it off...Casting and staging all three parts of Puccini’s Il Trittico to an equal level of excellence challenges even the Met or Covent Garden. So hats off to Opera Holland Park’s
management. At its heart is a remarkable double scored by the French soprano Anne Sophie Duprels‚ doubling as the bargeman’s wife Giorgetta in Il Tabarro and the eponymous nun in Suor Angelica. In
terms of tonal beauty‚ Duprels’ voice isn’t inherently an instrument of the first-rank‚ but she uses it with consummate intelligence to express meaning and feeling. I have to cast my mind back a
generation to Teresa Stratas to think of another soprano whose acting was so emotionally raw and compellingly vivid. Sparing herself nothing‚ she makes the plight of both these victimized women
painfully real: Giorgetta‚ immired in the tedium and frustration of her spartan and confined existence; Angelica‚ the meekly resigned girl in the back row who suddenly explodes with resentment at the
way that single-motherhood has left her a pariah. Be warned: I found her enactment of Angelica’s suicidal agony almost unbearable to watch‚ not least as the staging denies her the sentimental
consolation of a redemptive epiphany'
Suor Angelica (Il Trittico) Opera Holland Park
The Times (June 2015)
'Not so much tugging the heartstrings as ripping them out one by one‚ Anne Sophie Duprels’
Angelica‚ who has waited years to find out the fate of the child taken away from her‚ is devastating in its conviction. The opera reaches a tremendous climax with her showdown with Rosalind
Plowright’s guilt-ridden Princess (her faith oppressing her as much as everyone else) and a defiantly unsentimental conclusion'
Suor Angelica (Il Trittico) Opera Holland Park
What’s On Stage.com (June 2015)
'Duprels‚ whose OHP Butterfly remains by some distance the best I’ve seen‚ ever‚ also sings
the title role in Suor Angelica‚ the middle part of Puccini’s triptych. The French diva’s voice may lack a layer of sugar-icing but she is one of the most convincing and engaged singing actresses
working today‚ and Puccini’s tragic novice shows her at her best'
La Voix humaine‚ Grand Théâtre Tours
AnaClase.com (April 2015)
'Sans tomber dans l’obsession de la performance ni dans le pathétique‚ le soprano Anne-Sophie
Duprels se montre une excellente interprète de l’esprit original de La voix humaine /// Without falling into the obsession with performance nor pathos‚ Anne-Sophie Duprels’ soprano shows excellent
interpreter of the original spirit of the human voice'
La Voix humaine‚ Grand Théâtre Tours
Concerto.net (April 2015)
'Tout au long de ce qui constitue‚ tant au regard de l’endurance que des délicatesses de
l’écriture vocale‚ une redoutable performance‚ Anne-Sophie Duprels sait maintenir un subtil équilibre entre réserve et hystérie feminine... /// Throughout what‚ both in terms of endurance of the
delicacies of the vocal writing‚ a formidable performance‚ Anne- Sophie Duprels maintains a subtle balance between reserve and female hysteria...'
La Voix humaine‚ Grand Théâtre Tours
ForumOpera.com (April 2015)
'Aidée par la présence d’Anne Sophie Duprels‚ dont la performance n’est pas que vocale‚ la
première partie s’avère en termes d’efficacité théâtrale plus satisfaisante que la seconde...Anne-Sophie Duprels use de toutes les ressources de son soprano lyrique pour exprimer la souffrance
parfois masochiste de l’héroïne de La Voix humaine‚ quitte à recourir au parlé plus souvent qu’à l’habitude...une interprétation remarquable d’engagement‚ qui vaut à la chanteuse d’être longtemps
applaudie par le public tourangeau ///Aided by the presence of Anne Sophie Duprels whose performance is not just vocal‚ the first part turns out in terms of theatrical effectiveness more satisfactory
than the second...Anne-Sophie Duprels uses all the resources of her lyric soprano voice sometimes masochistic suffering heroine of La Voix humaine‚ even resorting to talking more frequently than
usual...a remarkable interpretation of commitment‚ which earned the singer a applause by the Touraine audience'
La vida breve‚ Opera North at Lowry Salford
Seen & Heard International (March 2015)
'Stealing the show was soprano Anne Sophie Duprels acting superbly as the badly used and abused sewing machinist Salud…In excellent voice‚ smooth‚ securely in-tune and unerringly expressive Duprels generated convincing emotion singing that death is better than suffering the pain of heartbreak'
La vida breve‚ Opera North
Opera (March 2015)
'Anne Sophie Duprels was a tirelessly energetic Salud‚ in the grip of a headlong passion...her emotional see-saw was riveting: her slow‚ self-lacerating suicide was also too much to watch'
La vida breve‚ Opera North
The Journal.co.uk (March 2015)
'...gypsy heroine Salud (Anne Sophie Duprels‚ touchingly travelling from infatuation to desperation)'
La vida breve‚ Opera North
BachTrack.com (February 2015)
'Anne-Sophie Duprels as the betrayed Salud is excellent: she is deeply agitated from the beginning‚ when she anticipates the arrival of her vain‚ slimy lover Paco‚ and skillfully ramps up the agitation so that in the Grand Guignol finale she is absolutely hypnotic as she slowly cuts herself up with dressmaking shears‚ making red rivulets to run down her face and her shroud-like dress'
La vida breve‚ Opera North
Observer on Sunday (February 2015)
'...an unblinking‚ terrifying array of sexual violence and transgression‚ performed by a cast who can cope: Anne Sophie Duprels‚ an Opera North favourite‚ gamine and urgent as Salud‚ makes up for any lightness of voice with the intensity and fervour of her performance'
La vida breve‚ Opera North
The Arts Desk.com (February 2015)
'What we see is always visually arresting‚ brilliantly choreographed and exquisitely sung...Anne Sophie Duprels sings beautifully as Salud'
La vida breve‚ Opera North
The Spectator (February 2015)
'...to turn Salud’s suicide from passionate confrontation into slow ritual: taking one of the finished wedding dresses‚ she mounts the factory’s modelling platform for the famous danza‚ takes the scissors and cuts her flesh to pieces. Her workmates close in around her in a show of oppressive solidarity: they‚ no less than Salud herself‚ demand her death in penance for the transgression of letting a flicker of hope illuminate their world. Thanks to the force of Anne Sophie Duprels’s striking vocal and physical characterisation‚ and to the excellence of the company’s chorus and orchestra‚ the scene is quite overwhelming‚ taking the opera and its bristling score well beyond the stock psychologies of operatic ‘verismo’ to penetrate deep into the concerns and fears which crowd and confound us today'
La vida breve‚ Opera North
The Times (February 2015)
'Anne-Sophie Duprels’ superbly neurotic Salud...As soon as you see those white dresses and watch Duprels brandishing her scissors with more intensity than her seamstress duties require‚ you know exactly how this lurid story will end'
La vida breve‚ Opera North
YorkPress (February 2015)
'Anne Sophie Duprels is a compellingly energetic Salud‚ though her slow suicide is almost too much to watch'
The Jacobin‚ Buxton Festival Opera
BachTrack.com (July 2014)
'Anne Sophie Duprels is a powerful actress and rose well to her key moment in Act III‚ where she sings the melody the old Countess used to sing (thus proving to the Count that she and Bohuš are no foreign imposters who support the Girondins)'
The Jacobin‚ Buxton Festival Opera
MarkRonan.com (July 2014)
'...the casting is superb...Anne Sophie Duprels as his wife Julie coming through beautifully in the touching scene where she persuades Andrew Greenan’s Count that he is badly mistaken'
The Jacobin‚ Buxton Festival Opera
Planet Hugill.com (July 2014)
'Anne Sophie Duprels made a sympathetic and poised Julie. Julie is a character that is only revealed gradually and Duprels allowed Julie to unfold slowly until the dramatic moment when she sang Bohus’s mother’s lullaby to the Count. Duprels and Lester worked well as a pair‚ much of the plot required them to act as a couple‚ and they did so convincingly‚ long married and comfortable with each other'
The Jacobin‚ Buxton Festival Opera
Telegraph (July 2014)
'As ever‚ the admirable Anne Sophie Duprels displays intelligent musicianship and finely sensitive acting'
The Jacobin‚ Buxton Festival Opera
The Arts Desk.com (July 2014)
'The final act of reconciliation is inspired by a lovely lullaby beautifully sung by Anne Sophie Duprels with harp accompaniment‚ a Dvorák inspiration'
Madama Butterfly‚ Scottish Opera
Daily Record (June 2014)
'Anne Sophie Durprels beautifully portrays Butterfly’s naivety as not just an adolescent learning curve‚ but as a fundamental part of her nature. This was evident during the opera’s most famous aria ‘Un Bel Di’ when Butterfly sings of seeing her husband return to her in Japan so they can be together and happy as a family once again. This heartbreaking moment deserved the rapturous applause it received from the Aberdeen audience'
Madama Butterfly‚ Edmonton Opera
Calgary Herald (April 2014)
'A good staging can facilitate this message clearly‚ and in the case of this production‚ it focuses us all the more on soprano Anne Sophie Duprels’ stunningly realistic portrayal of a maturely poised adult Cio-Cio San and the tragedy of her ultimately shattered world'
Madama Butterfly‚ Edmonton Opera
Edmonton Journal (April 2014)
'Brilliant performance by lead soprano in Madama Butterfly: What a performance it is‚ too. In the first act she really does seem 15‚ with that kind of self-conscious stiffness‚ hinting at insecurity‚ that some teenagers show when placed in a situation where they are taking on an adult role. Duprels is absolutely gripping in the second act‚ a kind of firebrand wrapped up in her complete belief that Pinkerton will return for her. Seen like this‚ her complete immersion into her role as an American wife is neither obsession nor fantasy. It only becomes so when it’s clear he has abandoned her. The precision of her movements and gestures unexpectedly reminded me of the great mime artist Marcel Marceau‚ all the more so in the wordless tension‚ fear and excitement she expresses when waiting for Pinkerton to arrive in the orchestral interlude in Act Two. She vocally matches this acting performance‚ too‚ even if she does not have the large voice often heard in the role....This is Duprels’s Madama Butterfly. It is a memorable performance‚ one not to miss'
Thaïs ‚ Theater Lübeck
OpernNetz.com (November 2013)
'Das Publikum der gut verkauften Nachmittagsvorstellung spart nicht mit Beifall‚ durchsetzt mit Bravorufen für Anne Sophie Duprels'
La Voix Humaine , Buxton Festival (UK)
manchestertheatreawards (July 2013)
A bare foot protrudes from beneath a white sheet. The toes twitch. Slowly, a young woman casts off the sheet and is discovered with a white telephone in her bed. We soon realise that she is on the receiving end of a call from the man she loves, who is ending their five-year relationship. And for the next 50 minutes we watch spellbound as she goes through a range of emotions dealing with the situation. She is, turn and turn about, hysterical, calm, loving, at screaming pitch, suicidal.
This is Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine and here we have an authentic and intimate version, featuring the exhilarating French soprano Ann Sophie Duprels, accompanied by the outstanding Poulenc interpreter, pianist Pascal Rogé. Apparently, this is something they have been hoping to do together for years and it is our good fortune that they have managed it at last - in Buxton. It is, of course, sung in French with English surtitles (helpful but obtrusive in this venue).
These two performers surely give the piece its definitive interpretation. Duprels is expressive, waif-like, abandoned, but trying to hold on, even wanting to reassure her lover and take the blame. She lies on her bed, paces about, sits, kneels, fidgets, showing her anguish as she deals with the phone call she is so desperate to receive. Several times they get cut off – and she panics. Yet, for all the anguish, she still ends by saying “Je t’aime”. The music is descriptive, sometimes powerful and punchy, sometimes quite lyrical, reflecting her rollercoaster of emotions.
It is sensitively directed by Marie Lambert.
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera Holland Park
Opera (August 2013)
'A Holland Park regular for more than a decade‚ Anne Sophie Duprels made sure we were aware of Butterfly’s progress from uncompromising‚ simple teenager to young woman in disintegrating denial over her abandonment. Her singing and acting‚ notably in the arch flutterings of Act 1‚ had a compelling interior quality; she had reserves of power for an orchestra-riding eviscerating and emotionally complex ’Un bel di’ and she was even more involving in the detail of her exchanges with Sharpless and Yamadori'
La princesse jaune‚ Buxton Festival
Observer on Sunday (July 2013)
'Anne Sophie Duprels‚ who gives a spirited account of the drab Léna‚ has spent the summer in an imaginary Orient‚ with a stint as Butterfly at Holland Park and a forthcoming Buxton concert of Ravel’s Shéhérazade‚ which begins with the soprano yearning for a fairyland she calls "Asie"'
La princesse jaune‚ Buxton Festival
Telegraph (July 2013)
'...in the Saint-Saens‚ Anne Sophie Duprels proves yet again what a fine actress she is'
La princesse jaune‚ Buxton Festival
The Arts Desk.com (July 2013)
'The production gains much from being spoken and sung in French‚ using the original Louis Gallet libretto‚ especially since Anne-Sophie Duprels as Léna is so alluring and sings so beautifully'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera Holland Park
Musical Criticism.com (June 2013)
'The Butterfly of Anne Sophie Duprels is a resoundingly three-dimensional woman; one senses (and hears) her development as the opera progresses. Each phrase she spins is a long line of breathtaking emotion and commitment. It’s rare to hear a soprano who can do as much vocally with the notoriously difficult role and still be dramatically convincing not only as a young‚ naïve girl but also as a strong woman. Duprels is that singer...This is no ordinary production of Butterfly‚ despite its traditional garb. It is a must see for the exceptionally high level of artistry from all involved and‚ if London’s aberrant weather holds‚ for the experience of a lifetime'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera Holland Park
Classical Source.com (June 2013)
'Pride of place must go to the performance of the name part by Anne Sophie Duprels. The Holland Park audience has privileged access to this singer and her talents‚ as she has been their house prima donna for some years. She reminded me of Elizabeth Vaughan‚ spare of physique yet with reserves of vocal power which enabled her to fill Puccini’s lines with emotionally charged tone...The voice opened up lavishly in the final pages...‘Un bel di’ (One fine day) was finely paced‚ the soprano’s tone expanding as the pictures in her imagination of Pinkerton’s return became more explicit and detailed. The scene with the consul was particularly powerful...in the final scene Duprels showed that the strategic control of her vocal resources had left sufficient reserves of stamina for the taxing emotional and physical conclusion...This is as persuasive an account of Butterfly’s journey through unbearably painful experiences as is before the operatic public today'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera Holland Park
Evening Standard (June 2013)
'Regular OHP prima donna Anne Sophie Duprels holds this centre with ease‚ flipping between anger and disingenuous charm‚ a proud housewife and panicking lover. There have been more polished Butterflies but few this charismatic'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera Holland Park
Independent (June 2013)
'...this Butterfly gestures and moves could have come straight out of the floating world of ukiyo-e prints: soprano Anne Sophie Duprels has absorbed that body-language so completely that she can use it to reinforce the expressiveness of her singing... a performance which grows in beauty and plangency as the show progresses... when Cio-Cio San realises that she has been betrayed until the moment of her dignified death‚ Duprels holds us spellbound through the sheer conviction and power of her performance'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera Holland Park
Independent on Sunday (June 2013)
'Duprels’ Butterfly is half-enchanted by adult sexuality‚ half-afraid‚ embittered by poverty‚ traumatised by her father’s suicide‚ fiercely proud‚ reckless in her rejection of the old religion‚ stubborn. The tension between tradition and individuality is striking: while Duprels holds the formal poses of a geisha in Act I‚ Cio-Cio San’s words are notably indiscreet. In Act II‚ three years later‚ the semi-Westernised woman who sings "Un bel di" ("One Fine Day") is half-mad with the effort of believing in a marriage that all others know to be a sham. The bloody conclusion of Act III‚ signalled early‚ is harrowing...this is a Butterfly in which every detail of Puccini’s score registers and in which Duprels’ vocal lustre‚ physical energy‚ candour and sophistication leave you breathless'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera Holland Park
Metro (June 2013)
'Your eyes stick to Anne Sophie Duprels‚ the French soprano who brings Butterfly to life even in the midst of death. Utterly convincing as a coy child bride and the abandoned mother she becomes‚ Duprels can do supple‚ soaring and every shade between: her joy leaps from peak to peak in the love duet‚ her excitement in Un bel di‚ vedremo is infectious and her tone darkens like a terrible bruise as she bids her son goodbye'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera Holland Park
Observer on Sunday (June 2013)
'The French soprano Anne Sophie Duprels‚ fragile but wiry in physique‚ powerful and communicative in voice‚ sang the title role. She looked striking in her white bridal kimono and moved gracefully‚ adorning the minimal designs. Her agitation in the orchestral intermezzo‚ as she waited for Pinkerton’s ship to make its promised return‚ was almost unbearable'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera Holland Park
Whats on Stage.com (June 2013)
'The plot of Madama Butterfly is known to a broad theatre audience through its reworking as Miss Saigon with a heroine whose tragedy can touch the heart and appal the spirit. Anne Sophie Duprels achieved this and more: her utterly believable Cio-Cio-San was initially presented as a demurely ritualised Japanese Geisha‚ while her subsequent‚ pathetically approximated attempts to westernise her appearance during Pinkerton’s absence somehow freed her to express despair‚ when it came‚ without constraint. Duprels sang as she acted‚ with intense beauty and harrowing dramatic commitment. Every fibre of her being was engaged in her role and the illusion of a guileless Japanese child-woman (which after all takes some buying) was absolute. She used her gorgeous‚ creamy-rich soprano to infuse her character with an utterly heartbreaking vulnerability...this was Duprels’ show – and she stole it'
Queen of Spades‚ Grange Park Opera
MusicalCriticism.com (July 2012)
'Anne Sophie Duprels (a Grange Park favourite) proved much more interesting‚ both musically and dramatically. Her voice has become darker and heavier in recent years‚ as she has embraced some
bigger and more dramatic roles‚ and she is no longer the ingénue that some Lisas try to portray. Duprels conveyed all of Lisa’s growing anxiety about the man that she loves‚ and her big dramatic
moments were seized to the full: what is more‚ she can act with her voice‚ and portray her emotions in the musical sound that she produces. Always watchable‚ Duprels gave us an intense‚ dramatic and
convincing portrayal of Tchaikovsky’s wronged heroine'
Queen of Spades‚ Grange Park Opera
Guardian (June 2012)
'Anne Sophie Duprels is taken close to her vocal limits by the demands of lost soul Lisa‚ yet she holds firm...it’s the ongoing sense of integrated music and drama that raises the evening to
distinction'
Queen of Spades‚ Grange Park Opera
Independent on Sunday (June 2012)
'...Duprels’ remorselessly candid Lisa...'
Queen of Spades‚ Grange Park Opera
Observer on Sunday (June 2012)
'Anne Sophie Duprels had sweet intensity as Lisa'
Queen of Spades‚ Grange Park Opera
Telegraph (June 2012)
'Grange Park has otherwise assembled a first-rate cast: Anne Sophie Duprels (Lisa)‚ Anne-Marie Owens (Countess)‚ Quirijn de Lang (Yeletsky)‚ Roman Ialcic (Tomsky) and those playing the smaller
roles present vivid characterisations...'
Queen of Spades‚ Grange Park Opera
Times (June 2012)
'...gutsy performances make the show a winner...Lisa is scorchingly performed by Anne Sophie Duprels'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera North
Times (March 2012)
'The soprano Anne Sophie Duprels locks on to a youthful persona for a persuasive depiction of the innocence and gullibility of the 15-year-old Butterfly. As well as a bright‚ flexible voice
that scales all Puccini’s dramatic challenges‚ she deploys a beautiful grace in movement‚ stylised perhaps‚ as required‚ but consistent and expressive'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera North
Opera (December 2011)
'Duprel’s Cio-Cio San - who heartbreakingly adopts the bobbed haircut and ankle socks of a high school prom queen - seems to be growing younger by the minute. The challenge is similar to a
classical actress playing Juliet‚ as the full resources of a mature technique are brought to bear on the representation of a guileless teenage girl. Duprel’s voice is light and skittish‚ but never
underpowered. When she tells her American suitor that she’s still shy of her 16th birthday‚ it almost comes as a surprise to discover that she’s as old as that'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera North
Independent (November 2011)
'As for Anne Sophie Duprels‚ returning to the title role‚ it would be hard to find‚ or even imagine‚ a more thoroughly committed rendering of it. Particularly striking was the contrast she made
between the two acts. In the first‚ she was the nervous 15-year old‚ often shrinking from Pinkerton’s eager touches. In Act II‚ she had not only adopted American clothes and hairstyle. She seemed to
have grown physically and in self-confidence‚ even though coping with a desertion she cannot admit is permanent'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera North
Seen & Heard International (November 2011)
'...the greatest singing pleasure of this performance came‚ as in 2006-07‚ from the remarkable Anne Sophie Duprels. She never tries to be girlish in her sung expression‚ letting her warm
soprano‚ with its wide variety of tonal colour and her ability to caress a phrase‚ bring out the nature of Butterfly’s gamut of emotions which go from trepidation‚ through genuine love of Pinkerton
and pass to her agonies in waiting for his return and ultimately realising‚ desperately‚ their relationship. It is a consummate performance and one that I have rarely heard surpassed in my many years
of opera going. Tebaldi is unsurpassed on record‚ and having reviewed Covent Garden’s latest wonder woman in this role‚ I can but note that in my view Duprels stands comparison with
both'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera North at Lowry
Whats On Stage.com (November 2011)
'As Butterfly Anne Sophie Duprels is quite simply stunning as she encaptures every facet of Cio-Cio and moves effortlessly through every emotion. She acts as beautifully as she sings. These two
leads are a match made in heaven'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera North
Guardian (September 2011)
'Far stronger is the manner in which Anne Sophie Duprels’s Cio-Cio-San cuts herself adrift from her native culture‚ maintaining a little American shrine and dressing like a high-school prom
queen. It would be tempting to say that Duprels’s interpretation has matured since the first run of performances‚ when really the opposite is true. Her supple voice and sensitive demeanour more than
ever combine to create the convincing realisation that Cio-Cio-San is‚ perturbingly‚ 15'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera North
The Arts Desk.com (September 2011)
'Duprels projects the necessary youthful vulnerability as Cio-Cio San‚ and we wince as we see her transformation into an American housewife in Act 2…she moves with as much conviction as she
sings; even dramatically compelling when spreading flower petals in anticipation of Pinkerton’s return'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera North
Times (September 2011)
'Anne Sophie Duprels’s Butterfly goes far beyond naive trust. This is a serious-minded girl whose hopes and fears continually shift like the sliding Japanese screens of Hildegard Bechtler’s
sparse set‚ yet whose core qualities — dignity‚ pride‚ courage — are as evident in her final suicidal moments as when she stands up to her hostile and incomprehending family at the start. And she
sings the part with thrilling passion and vocal colour too'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera North
Whats On Stage.com (September 2011)
'The tragedy of Cio-Cio-San is intensified by being given a context‚ rather than being generated only by a few heart-stopping arias. The heart-stopping arias are necessary‚ of course‚ and
Anne-Sophie Duprels delivers! Her voice seems much fuller than in her previous Butterfly with the company‚ her singing growing in power‚ authority and urgency along with her character‚ but in
Albery’s production the human details count for as much. The scene between Butterfly‚ adopted American‚ and Sharpless‚ politely following Japanese custom‚ is as moving as it is witty'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera North
Yorkshire Evening Post (September 2011)
'...there’s rarely a moment when our full attention isn’t grabbed and held by Anne Sophie Duprels as the heartbreaking Cio-Cio-San. Not only is her voice absolute perfection her acting is
equally first rate'
Pelléas and Mélisande‚ Teatro Colón‚ Buenos Aires
La Nacion. com (August 2011)
'...la maravillosa Anne Sophie Duprels‚ con una voz tan potente como sedosa‚ demostró que Mélisande puede ser vocalmente vigorosa sin dejar de ser volátil e inmaterial'
Pelléas and Mélisande‚ Teatro Colón‚ Buenos Aires
La Prensa.com (August 2011)
'La protagonista francesa Anne Sophie Duprels‚ conocida ya el año pasado en "Manon"‚ mostró tanto el "physique du role" de la bella Mélisande junto a una alta cuota de desenvoltura y buen
manejo de la acentuación prosódica francesa'
Pelléas and Mélisande‚ Teatro Colón‚ Buenos Aires
Mundo Clásico.com (August 2011)
'Anne Sophie Duprels fue una Mélisande de infinitos matices y refinado canto'
Pelléas and Mélisande‚ Teatro Colón‚ Buenos Aires
Quintana.com (August 2011)
'Anne Sophie Duprels compone una Mélisande tan enigmática como sensual. Una bella voz con la suficiente carga dramática. Su desempeño musical y escénico fue de gran calidad alcanzando momentos
conmovedores'
Rusalka‚ Grange Park Opera
Opera (August 2011)
'Anne Sophie Duprels lived through her various transformations with considerable skill‚ and got the vocal measure of this demanding role'
Rusalka‚ Grange Park Opera
capricciomusic.blogspot (June 2011)
'Anne Sophie-Duprels plays the part wonderfully‚ her unpassionate‚ innocent‚ coolly piscine youthfulness all brought across very well in a myriad of little details'
Rusalka‚ Grange Park Opera
Stage (June 2011)
'Anne-Sophie Duprels‚ a compelling Rusalka'
Rusalka‚ Grange Park Opera
Telegraph (June 2011)
'Stephen Barlow conducts it with effortless authority. He clearly loves the music to bits without ever letting it go gooey‚ and draws impassioned playing from the English Chamber Orchestra. The
same whole-heartedness was evident in Anne-Sophie Duprels’s Rusalka‚ sung and acted with a warmth and sincerity that was at times almost painful to witness'
Rusalka‚ Grange Park Opera
The Arts Desk.com (June 2011)
'It’s certainly impressive enough to have a strong soprano voice capable of the role’s more extreme demands...Duprels always opens up to the higher-lying outbursts'
Manon‚ Teatro Colón‚ Buenos Aires
Hágase la Música (September 2010)
'El tercer título de la presente temporada lírica del Teatro Colón nos dejó una excelente puesta en escena de la ópera francesa "Manon" de Jules Massenet. En la brillante presentación de una
producción de la Ópera de Chicago‚ la dirección musical de Philippe Auguin fue ajustada y sensible. Las voces de Anne Sophie Duprels y John Osborn alcanzaron momentos líricos memorables‚ sobre todo
cuando ambos lanzados al cielo del lirismo entrecruzaban sus voces de manera perfecta'
Manon‚ Teatro Colón‚ Buenos Aires
Clarin.com (August 2010)
'La soprano Anne Sophie Duprels compone una formidable Manon‚ con una voz de gran cuerpo y potencia '
Manon‚ Teatro Colón‚ Buenos Aires
GB Opera Magazine (Italy) (August 2010)
'Il soprano francese Anne Sophie Duprels ha dato di Manon un ritratto più che convincente‚ in primis nell’evoluzione psicologica del personaggio‚ da fanciulla a donna‚ perfettamente resa anche
sul piano vocale'
Manon‚ Teatro Colón‚ Buenos Aires
La Nacion (August 2010)
'En el personaje central‚ la soprano Anne Sophie Duprels destacó con un timbre vocal incisivo y muy buenos recursos para lograr agudos poderosos emitidos con valentía y arrojo'
Manon‚ Teatro Colón‚ Buenos Aires
Mundo Classico.com (August 2010)
'...una Manon convincente. Es importante resaltar el desarrollo psicológico y actoral que Duprels imprime al personaje y su entrega vocal'
Manon‚ Teatro Colón‚ Buenos Aires
Operaclick.com (August 2010)
'Il soprano francese Anne Sophie Duprels si è messa in evidenza assoluta‚ dando credibilità al suo personaggio‚ fragile‚ seduttore‚ malizioso e a volte commovente. Duprels ha dispiegato una
voce molto lirica‚ anche se non di grande corpo‚ ma con agili colorature e un’emissione facile. È stata graditissima la sua interpretazione di "Adieu‚ notre petite table'
Pelléas and Mélisande‚ Opera Holland Park
Opera (July 2010)
'Mélisande‚ rather than being all wraith-like‚ oblique distractions‚ was sharply characterized as a conflation of negative feminine prototypes - fairy princess‚ minx‚ child bride - and the
clarity of the portrayal‚ set against the elusiveness of everything she says‚ made her dishonesty and knowing lack of innocence credible and disturbingly manipulative. It was a complex thing to
attempt‚ but Anne Sophie Duprels had deceit and instability down to her fingertips‚ and her ardent singing caught the speech-rhythm ebb and flow of the words and music with great success. Her
tumbling tresses scene‚ far from being yet another bad hair day‚ was charged with a pleasingly lubricious eroticism‚ and the Act 4 scene‚ first with Arkel‚ then with Golaud‚ was agonizingly
convincing'
Pelléas and Mélisande‚ Opera Holland Park
Financial Times (June 2010)
'Opera Holland Park fields a high-quality cast. Anne Sophie Duprels sings strongly as Mélisande'
Pelléas and Mélisande‚ Opera Holland Park
Guardian (June 2010)
'Fuchs establishes at the start that Mélisande (Anne Sophie Duprels) is a liar‚ and reminds us throughout that her aura of mystery is linked in no small measure to untrustworthiness. Her scenes
with Palle Knudsen’s Pelléas have an eerie chastity‚ and the final act is devastating. Musically‚ it’s fine‚ too – Duprels suggests deep emotions beneath the surface mix of girlishness and
lies'
Pelléas and Mélisande‚ Opera Holland Park
Independent on Sunday (June 2010)
'...the silent sobbing of Anne-Sophie Duprels’ Mélisande to the sobs of the violins‚ and the exquisitely detailed choreography of the lovers’ hands under Colin Grenfell’s close lighting in Act
IV. Duprels’ gleaming Mélisande is both an innocent and a liar‚ a blank canvas...The singing is wonderful...'
Pelléas and Mélisande‚ Opera Holland Park
Oxford Times (June 2010)
'In the role of Mélisande‚ the superb soprano Anne Sophie Duprels brings a similar emotional heft to that she delivered last year as Holland Park’s Kát’a Kabanová. The production reunites her
with director Olivia Fuchs‚ designer Yannis Thavoris and lighting designer Colin Grenfell. Between them‚ they conjure a magical world‚ monochrome in the main‚ at which we cannot do other than gaze in
rapt fascination'
Pelléas and Mélisande‚ Opera Holland Park
Telegraph (June 2010)
'...admirable French soprano Anne Sophie Duprels sang Mélisande. She is a most resourceful and intelligent actress‚ with the musicianship to match...'
Pelléas and Mélisande‚ Opera Holland Park
Times (June 2010)
'At the centre of it all is Anne Sophie Duprels’s ardently sung‚ ferociously acted Mélisande‚ a blonde bombshell‚ part Lilith and part Bardot‚ both a victim of the men in her life and a willing
conspirator in the tragedy that consumes them all'
Pelléas and Mélisande‚ Opera Holland Park
Whats On Stage.com (June 2010)
'Impressive in recent years as Janacek heroines‚ the petite Anne Sophie Duprels is a waif-like Melisande in Lady Godiva wig‚ singing beautifully and unsurprisingly idiomatically'
The Adventures of Mr Broucek‚ Scottish Opera
The Journal (May 2010)
'Comedic timing is notoriously difficult to pull off alongside the demands of the singing‚ acting and choreography‚ and more often than not it just doesn’t gel at all with the operatic form. In
this instance‚ however‚ there were a good number of sincere belly-laughs throughout‚ induced from the playful manner in which the cast genuinely seemed to enjoy the performance‚ reveling in the
dramatic absurdity that the work is so rich in...The principal cast morphed with ease through their past‚ present and alien characters. Anne Sophie Duprels shone in particular with her extremely
beautiful soprano‚ and John Graham-Hall captured Broucek’s essence perfectly‚ making us hate him‚ excuse him and love him in rapid turns'
The Adventures of Mr Broucek‚ Scottish Opera
Musicweb International (April 2010)
'...a cast who get fully inside the music...a bright-voiced‚ sparkling Anne-Sophie Duprels whose coloratura and sheen were just right for the lunar goddess Etherea‚ as well as the altogether
more down to earth lover Malinka'
The Adventures of Mr Broucek‚ Scottish Opera
Opera Critic.com (April 2010)
'Anne Sophie Duprels gives an energetic performance as Málinka/Etherea‚ flirting with Mazel‚ taunting Broucek‚ on the Moon her bosom ever-expanding above her corset'
The Adventures of Mr Broucek‚ Scottish Opera
Opera-Britannia.com (April 2010)
'The love duet between Lloyd-Roberts as Mazal and Anne Sophie Duprels as Málinka which ended Act I achieved a moment of elegant tenderness and peace'
La Bohème‚ Opera North
Opera (March 2010)
'Duprels has a soprano that is beautifully centred whatever the external; pressures‚ and a corresponding ease inspired her resolute Mimì'
La Bohème‚ Opera North
Guardian (January 2010)
'Duprels opens the emotional floodgates whenever she sings'
La Bohème‚ Opera North
The Arts Desk.com (January 2010)
'...female casting is similarly effective. Anne Sophie Dupreis is a captivating Mimì'
La Bohème‚ Opera North
Times (January 2010)
'Anne Sophie Duprels is an aptly Gallic Mimì. She threads the embroidery of her music with both delicacy and strength‚ and she and Bezdüz (Rodolfo) make a dramatically authentic double act‚
affecting in its simplicity and vulnerability'
Kát’a Kabanová‚ Opera Holland Park
Independent on Sunday (December 2009)
'Face of the Year-Anne-Sophie Duprels‚ giving one of the most memorable and impressive performances of the year in the title role of Opera Holland Park’s triumphant ’Kat’a
Kabanova’.'
The Adventures of Mr Broucek‚ Opera North
Opera (December 2009)
'The soprano Anne Sophie Duprels‚ captivating as ever...'
Kát’a Kabanová‚ Opera Holland Park
Opera (October 2009)
'Anne Sophie Duprels returned to Holland Park for her first Katya…Duprels was downtrodden‚ passionate dignity personified‚ singing with rapture in the love scene‚ and shockingly dishevelled and
distraught as her world fell apart during the Act 3 storm'
The Adventures of Mr Broucek‚ Opera North
Financial Times (October 2009)
'The show communicates most in its delineation of the Malinka-Mazal romance‚ vividly brought to life by Anne Sophie Duprels and Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts'
The Adventures of Mr Broucek‚ Opera North
Guardian (October 2009)
'The cast around him (John Graham-Hall)‚ playing different characters in the Prague scenes‚ on the moon and back in time‚ are all strongly projected too‚ especially Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts‚
Jonathan Best‚ Donald Maxwell and Anne-Sophie Duprels‚ all of whom get the English text across with maximum clarity'
The Adventures of Mr Broucek‚ Opera North
Independent on Sunday (October 2009)
'Anne Sophie Duprels is lusty by turns as Malinka‚ Etherea and Kunka'
The Adventures of Mr Broucek‚ Opera North
Sunday Times (October 2009)
'...and a fine cast‚ from which Anne-Sophie Duprels and Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts stand out in Janacek’s wondrously youthful love music'
The Adventures of Mr Broucek‚ Opera North
Tablet (October 2009)
'...there is terrific support too in what is a real company show from Anne Sophie Duprels‚ Claire Wild...'
The Adventures of Mr Broucek‚ Opera North
Times (October 2009)
'...unmissable for John Graham-Hall’s brilliant assumption of the title role and a fine cast‚ from which Anne-Sophie Duprels and Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts stand out in Janacek’s wondrously
youthful love music‚ with fine character support from the Opera North stalwarts Donald Maxwell‚ Jonathan Best and Frances McCafferty'
The Adventures of Mr Broucek‚ Opera North
Yorkshire Post (October 2009)
'Anne Sophie Duprels‚ in her various sex-driven roles‚ is the jewel of the performance'
Kát’a Kabanová‚ Opera Holland Park
Guardian (August 2009)
'Duprels is wonderful in suggesting the depths of feeling beneath Kát’a’s fragility. '
Kát’a Kabanová‚ Opera Holland Park
Independent on Sunday (August 2009)
'There are no weak links. Every characterisation is thorough‚ every note sung with meaning‚ Randle’s ardent Boris and Duprels’s immersion in Kat’a’s guilt‚ longing and terror‚ like her
Butterfly and Rusalka‚ sensational. Not simply the highlight of Holland Park’s season‚ this Kat’a Kabanova is the highlight of the summer.
'
Kát’a Kabanová‚ Opera Holland Park
Musical Criticism.com (August 2009)
'Indeed‚ Anne Sophie Duprels’ Kát’a is reason enough to see the production‚ as far as I’m concerned. Vocally‚ she’s absolutely ideal: her strong chest voice means she can punch out the dramatic
scenes to great effect‚ while her beautiful top notes are great in the climaxes. Dramatically‚ too‚ she delivers the goods‚ communicating how morally torn she is by her love for Boris. She commands
the stage whenever she’s on it‚ and never lets up on the intensity in this short but thrilling opera.'
Manon‚ Scottish Opera
Opera (August 2009)
'Anne Sophie Duprel’s Manon had the physique du rôle..and the ability to convey the conflicting emotions of ’Adieu‚ notre petite table’'
Kát’a Kabanová‚ Opera Holland Park
Daily Telegraph (July 2009)
'Communicating with the same emotional sincerity as Peggy Ashcroft or Judi Dench and singing with unstinting ardour‚ French soprano Anne Sophie Duprels brings heart-rending pathos and
sensitivity to the title role of Janácek’s Katya Kabanova.....the tragic force of Katya’s story blazes through Duprels’s interpretation‚ '
Kát’a Kabanová‚ Opera Holland Park
Financial Times (July 2009)
'Cradling her stomach as if sick with desire and singing her heart out‚ Anne Sophie Duprels became truly the eye of the storm – an outstanding portrayal.'
Kát’a Kabanová‚ Opera Holland Park
Musical Pointers.com (July 2009)
'Anne Sophie Duprels is totally convincing as the trapped daughter-in-law‚ and down-trodden wife'
Kát’a Kabanová‚ Opera Holland Park
MusicOMH.com (July 2009)
'Anne Sophie Duprels‚ who was such a sensational Jenufa‚ was singing the title role for the first time and delivered a mesmerising performance‚ beguilingly sung and quite faultlessly acted –
her descent into madness was almost too painful to watch...All in all this was a thrilling performance of one of the 20th century’s greatest operas'
Kát’a Kabanová‚ Opera Holland Park
Stage (July 2009)
'This Kat’a Kabanova is a triumph...The principal performances are unimpeachable...Anne Sophie Duprels rises marvellously to the challenge of the title role'
Kát’a Kabanová‚ Opera Holland Park
The Guardian (July 2009)
'Duprels is wonderful in suggesting the depths of feeling beneath Kát’a’s fragility. The emotional ferocity of her singing sometimes seems out of proportion to her slight frame. She cowers in
terror before Jeffrey Lloyd Roberts’s dangerous Tichon‚ and yields to Tom Randle’s vulnerable‚ gloriously sung Boris with shy rapture.'
Kát’a Kabanová‚ Opera Holland Park
Whats On Stage.com (July 2009)
'Anne Sophie Duprels‚ who triumphed here as Jenufa two years ago‚ is a youthful and heartfelt heroine'
Manon‚ Scottish Opera
MusicWeb International.com (June 2009)
'The biggest success is in the choice of the lead role‚ and Scottish Opera have come up trumps in their choice of Anne Sophie Duprels as Manon. Perhaps she could sound a little more girlish on
her first appearance‚ but this is a small point compared with the sheer vocal splendour that she brings to the role. She is wide-eyed and carefree in the opening scene‚ with a hint of pathos coming
to the surface in Voyons‚ Manon; then conflicted and knowing for the second act‚ the aria to the table sounding particularly poignant. She is at her most assured as the pleasure-loving princess of
Act 3 with splendid tone and technique for the bravura passage at the beginning of the gavotte‚ and then she throws caution to the winds as she reconquers Des Grieux at Saint Sulpice: with singing
like this in N’est-ce plus ma main‚ Des Grieux never stood a chance! By the time we reach the gambling tables of Act 4 she is on the brink of losing control of the roller coaster she has embarked
upon‚ and she maintains pathos without loss of tone for the death scene. This is as secure a portrait of Manon as I have ever heard and one which will live long in the memory'
Manon‚ Scottish Opera
Telegraph (June 2009)
'...she’s a fine musician and a resourceful actress‚ and her impassioned singing and intense acting in the latter scenes carried thrilling conviction'
Manon‚ Scottish Opera
TheOperaCritic.com (June 2009)
'Anne Sophie Duprels convincingly portrays the adolescent charms of Manon...The enunciation of the singers is good and‚ in particular‚ the poignancy of Manon’s Act 2 aria ’Adieu‚ notre petite
table’ is memorable'
Manon‚ Scottish Opera
Guardian (May 2009)
'If the initial hesitancy of Anne-Sophie Duprels’s Manon seems calculated rather than natural‚ then the awkwardness of her first meeting with Paul Charles Clarke’s Des Grieux is spot-on. These
two performances are the cornerstone of the production'
Manon‚ Scottish Opera
Independent (May 2009)
'Manon (Anne Sophie Duprels) is here a pretty doll of a girl: naïve‚ vain‚ easily distracted‚ notably less sexual than Puccini’s volatile heroine or her resolute cousin‚ Verdi’s Violetta. Giddy
with novelty‚ she is as intoxicated by the get-rich-quick glamour of the "actresses" Poussette‚ Javotte and Rosette as any provincial 15-year-old might be by today’s Hermès-touting
Wags.
Fluttering like a tiny bird‚ Duprels’ generous‚ intelligent singing and ferociously engaged acting make this selfish‚ silly creature credible from the breathless "Je suis toujours tout
étourdie" to the foolish farewell to her toile de jouy love-nest "Adieu‚ notre petite table"‚ the public triumph of her Act III gavotte‚ the half-sincere‚ half-prideful seduction of "N’est-ce plus ma
main?" in Saint-Sulpice‚ the cruel manipulation of Des Grieux at the gaming table‚ and the forlorn resignation of "Et c’est là l’histoire de Manon Lescaut".
Few actresses‚ if any‚ could better convey this character’s vulnerability and obstinacy or maintain tension through her snail’s-pace journey to candour‚ death and grace. If Duprels dominates‚
dramatically and musically‚ Paul Charles Clarke’s severe‚ sturdy Des Grieux – more curé than cavalier – delivers a persuasive and steely performance'
Manon‚ Scottish Opera
Scotsman (May 2009)
'In the title role‚ Anne Sophie Duprels gives a performance that is absorbing and passionate'
Rupert Chritiansen’s "Biggest Diva of 2008"
Telegraph (December 2008)
'No 7-Anne Sophie Duprels
Capped her devastating Cio-Cio-San for Opera North with a heartfelt Rusalka at Grange Park
'
Jenufa‚ NBR New Zealand Opera
New Zealand Opera News (October 2008)
'"...the rich but pure voice of Anne Sophie Duprels singing Jenufa’s agonised lament over the death of her child in Act 2 is playing over and over in my mind‚ imprinted in my memory - the
atmosphere of grief is Bach-like in its sincerity and simplicity" '
Jenufa‚ NBR New Zealand Opera
Stage Noise (October 2008)
'"In the title role French soprano Anne Sophie Duprels is well cast. Her wide-eyed youth and hope for love and a future are enacted with conviction and sweetness‚ while her rich‚ expressive
voice wraps itself around Janacek’s most lyrical music to heart-breaking effect"'
Jenufa‚ NBR New Zealand Opera
Metro Live (September 2008)
'"French soprano Anne Sophie Duprels is a captivating Jenufa and her rich‚ dramatic voice easily covers the wide range of emotions that Janacek demands. Her soft‚ sweet singing is beautiful‚
yet it’s no problem for her to project over a full chorus and large orchestra" '
Jenufa‚ NBR New Zealand Opera
New Zealand Herald (September 2008)
'French soprano Anne Sophie Duprels was a radiant Jenufa‚ soaring with the purest lyricism in her Act 2 Salve Regina'
Jenufa‚ NBR New Zealand Opera
The Australian (September 2008)
'"Anne Sophie Duprels paced her performance with incremental intensity"'
Jenufa‚ NBR New Zealand Opera
The Opera Critic.com (September 2008)
'To make all this work New Zealand Opera has assembled a well nigh perfect cast...At the heart of the work is Jenufa herself. Anne Sophie Duprels took us from innocent young girl‚ hopelessly in
love‚ to the mature‚ forgiving adult that ends the opera. Her beautiful voice conveyed every facet of the character rising thrillingly to the various climaxes. Put simply‚ she was
Jenufa'
Jenufa‚ NBR New Zealand Opera
Theatre-Review (September 2008)
'"Her voice‚ glorious and warm‚ negotiates Janacek’s lines with ease and beauty" '
Rusalka‚ Grange Park Opera
Financial Times (July 2008)
'This is all very diverting‚ but it wouldn’t work without a cast that sings as convincingly as it acts. Anne-Sophie Duprels offers a career-best performance as the water-sprite who‚ on
achieving human form‚ cannot win back her innocence'
Rusalka‚ Grange Park Opera
Seen & Heard (July 2008)
'Duprels won many hearts with her depiction of the love-lorn water nymph. It helps that Duprels is physically tiny so that she was believable as an inhuman sprite. Even during Act 2‚ when she
took on human form‚ Duprels conveyed the aura of someone unworldly‚ simply by looks‚ size and body language alone; for‚ of course‚ this is an opera in which the heroine does not sing for most of the
middle act.
It says much for Duprels’ stage presence‚ and McDonald’s direction‚ that we barely missed her singing in Act 2‚ she still created a strong stage presence. But when she did sing‚ it was lovely.
Duprels has quite a strong vibrato‚ but allied to a naturally warm voice with a strong lyrical core. The result meant that she shaped Dvorák’s lines beautifully and imbued the water-nymph with a
degree of warmth. It was Rusalka’s Act 1 hymn to the moon which everyone was waiting for‚ and Duprels sang it captivatingly‚ but Dvorák gives Rusalka many other lyrical moments and Duprels took
perfect advantage of these.'
Rusalka‚ Grange Park Opera
Sunday Times (July 2008)
'Anthony McDonald wins riveting acting performances from Anne Sophie Duprels (Rusalka)‚ Jeffrey Lloyd Roberts (the prince)‚ Janis Kelly (the foreign princess) and Clive Bayley (the water
sprite)'
Rusalka‚ Grange Park Opera
Times (July 2008)
'McDonald wins riveting acting performances from Anne Sophie Duprels (Rusalka)‚ Jeffrey Lloyd Roberts (the prince)‚ Janis Kelly (the foreign princess) and Clive Bayley (the water sprite).
Stephen Barlow obviously loves the score and extracted fine playing from an enlarged English Chamber Orchestra. A few more strings might have brought lusher textures‚ but this was GPO operating at
the top of its game'
Rusalka‚ Grange Park Opera
Guardian (June 2008)
'Anne-Sophie Duprels’s facial expressions and body language are as finely articulated as her singing - which is saying something'
Rusalka‚ Grange Park Opera
Independent on Sunday (June 2008)
'In Anne-Sophie Duprels‚ last season’s Cio-Cio San for Opera North‚ Grange Park have a heartbreaking heroine: feisty‚ vulnerable‚ compelling to watch in her mute wretchedness'
Rusalka‚ Grange Park Opera
Stage (June 2008)
'Duprels makes a riveting Rusalka‚ vocally and dramatically'
Rusalka‚ Grange Park Opera
Sunday Telegraph (June 2008)
'Anne-Sophie Duprels gave a glorious performance as the almost willfully innocent Rusalka‚ singing a perfectly judged ’Song to the Moon’ and heart-breaking in her Act II dumb duet'
Rusalka‚ Grange Park Opera
Telegraph (June 2008)
'That wonderful operatic actress Anne Sophie Duprels is utterly heartrending as the lovelorn mermaid‚ and her singing in the third act was ravishingly musical'
Madama Butterfly, Opera North
Musical Criticism (November 2007)
'... a rivetting feast of thrilling tone... her acting is brilliant. Her youth and freshness lend the part a welcome vulnerability and splendid credibility, while the way she throws herself
into everything she does is riveting.'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera North
Observer (October 2007)
'The dignity with which Anne Sophie Duprelss Butterfly dismisses her faithful servant Suzuki confirms the French soprano as a Cio-Cio-San for our times‚ her singing almost as immaculate as her
affecting acting. Entirely convincing as the 15-year-old who cannot believe her luck in nailing a Yankee‚ she remains so as the Westernised single mother who clings to impossible hope.'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera North
Guardian (September 2007)
'She gives a performance of tremendous cogency and insight. Shes entirely credible as the naive 15-year-old of the opening scenes.'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera North
Independent (September 2007)
'The French soprano Anne Sophie Duprels conveys brilliantly the complexity of Cio-Cio San‚ down to the tiniest‚ crucial details of characterisation. Her bright voice‚ warmly Italianate‚ is
tinged with tragic restraint as she sings to her child.'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera North
Sunday Times (September 2007)
'Duprels throws body and soul into her music‚ and brings heartbreaking physical fragility and dignity to the doomed geisha.'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera North
Tablet (September 2007)
'Duprels is one of the most sincere and rounded young singers about‚ and her Butterfly is really astonishing: childlike and passionate‚ her belief in her own power to make dreams come true
frighteningly palpable...She’s also an utterly convincing actress...it’s all a question of completeness - the way that physicality as well as singing is subtly used to signal anxiety‚ impetuousness‚
love: her big aria ’Un bel di’ manages to be unbelievably poignant while not remotely sentimental'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera North
Telegraph (September 2007)
'Anne Sophie Duprels wonderful portrayal of Cio-Cio-San...she sings with great sensibility and warmth‚ colouring the text responsively and shaping the phrases with musicality...for sheer
sweetness of personality‚ for sheer pathos‚ I have seen few to match her. '
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera North
The Stage (September 2007)
'In the title role‚ Anne Sophie Duprels is irresistible. Duprels sings warmly and hopefully and movingly‚ wrapping her words in absolute emotions..what she has is musicality and exquisite
expression.'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera North
The Stage (September 2007)
'In the title role‚ Anne Sophie Duprels is irresistible. Duprels sings warmly and hopefully and movingly‚ wrapping her words in absolute emotions..what she has is musicality and exquisite
expression.'
Madama Butterfly‚ Opera North
Times (September 2007)
'The French soprano Anne-Sophie Duprels offers a magnificently convincing interpretation of Butterfly. Duprels singing blazes with more and more passion as the evening progresses...she gives
the music everything shes got‚ and rides the orchestra thrillingly at the climaxes.'
Jenufa‚ Opera Holland Park
Opera (August 2007)
'In a way‚ the title role demands more input from the singer‚ and it certainly received it from Anne Sophie Duprels; again‚ it is hard to recall a more utterly truthful impersonation... her
body language is incredibly communicative... Duprels is as fine an actor as she is a singer.'
Jenufa‚ Opera Holland Park
Musical Pointers (June 2007)
'I can but endorse the excellence of Anne Sophie Duprels in the title role.'
Jenufa‚ Opera Holland Park
MusicalCriticism.com (June 2007)
'With no intention to resort to hyperbole‚ I can honestly say that Anne Sophie Duprels and ... gave the two most compelling performances I have ever seen at Holland Park.'
Jenufa‚ Opera Holland Park
MusicOMH.com (June 2007)
'Jenufa is a deceptively big sing‚ but French soprano Anne Sophie Duprels rose to the occasion‚ producing a flood of glorious tone all evening. She was touching in her prayer to the Virgin Mary
in Act Two‚ and in the final reconciliation with Laca‚ was quite simply heart-breaking. Its such a superbly written role that Ive never seen a dull Jenufa‚ and in my opinion Duprels can join the
lofty ranks of interpreters including Amanda Roocroft and Karita Mattila. This was her role debut and the prospect of her growing into the part is an exciting one.'
Jenufa‚ Opera Holland Park
Observer (June 2007)
'The eloquent Anne Sophie Duprels in the title role.'
Jenufa‚ Opera Holland Park
ThisisLondon.co.uk (June 2007)
'As Jenufa‚ Anne Sophie Duprels touches us with her pain‚ fragility and ardour.'
Faust‚ New Zealand Opera
Gaynz.com (October 2006)
'Margeurite as played by Anne Sophie Duprels is no shrinking violet vocally. Hers is a fulsome spinto voice and a beautiful one at hat. The Jewel Song received full wattage‚ as did the final
scene‚ so Wagnerian in its concept and harmonies.'
Faust‚ New Zealand Opera
New Zealand Herald (October 2006)
'French soprano Anne Sophie Duprels was an impressive Margeurite‚ neat in her coloratura‚ touching as the plot thickened.'
Faust‚ New Zealand Opera
New Zealand Listener (October 2006)
'Anne Sophie Duprels sang beautifully and idiomatically.'
Faust‚ New Zealand Opera
The Opera Critic (October 2006)
'Anne Sophie Duprels used her dark timbre to great effect‚ and it was a joy to hear her perfect enunciation of the French language.'
Faust‚ New Zealand Opera
Manawatu Standard (September 2006)
'This opera features another dream line-up of principals including...Anne Sophie Duprels as Margeurite... absolutely wonderful throughout the evening.'
Faust‚ New Zealand Opera
Radio New Zealand (September 2006)
'Anne Sophie Duprels made Margeurite a properly flesh-and-blood creature‚ sweetly demure and romantically dreamy at moments‚ but pulsating with girlish energy when aroused... Her voice had for
me the effect of being stoked with a velvet-gloved hand‚ a rich‚ heady infusion‚ rather like a beautiful wine one could savour. Consequently her rendition of the famous Jewel Song was full-blooded
and impetuous-sounding‚ far more involving than the languishments brought to this music by some of its celebrated interpreters. She conveyed a real sense of a young girls passion and sexuality being
ignited‚ one whose antithesis of abandonment and increasingly unhinged despair in the following acts was made all the more shocking and pitiful by the whole-heartedness of it all.'
Faust‚ New Zealand Opera
The NBR (September 2006)
'As Margeurite‚ Anne Sophie Duprels gives an inspired interpretation to a role which needs to trace her change from childlike vulnerability through to the tragically troubled. Her heart
wrenching calling for Faust when she has been ostracised is made even more poignant with her performing before a statue of the Virgin replicating her posture.'
Faust‚ New Zealand OperaFaust‚ New Zealand Opera
Wanganui Chronicle (September 2006)
'...her beautiful voice.'
Cosi fan Tutte‚ Glimmerglass Opera
Ithaca Journal (July 2005)
'This may be the first time this reviewer has heard Fiordiligis lengthy aria “Come scoglio” - gorgeously and adeptly sung with all its octave leaps and abrupt changes from head to chest
register by soprano Anne-Sophie Duprels — without a moment for applause from an audience so struck that hands remained lap-bound! Duprels remorseful rondo‚ “Per pieta‚ ben mio” also manifested range
and careful pacing.'
Cosi fan Tutte‚ Glimmerglass Opera
Times Union (July 2005)
'The petite red-headed soprano Anne-Sophie Duprels as Fiordiligi had a magnetic presence and a voice that grew more attractive the more tortured her heart.'
Cherevichki‚ Garsington Opera
Independent (July 2004)
'Big-voiced Anne-Sophie Duprels delighted.'
Luisa Miller‚ Opera Holland Park
Classical Source (July 2004)
'Anne Sophie Duprels made an affecting Luisa.'
Luisa Miller‚ Opera Holland Park
Evening Standard (July 2004)
'Anne Sophie Duprels is wonderful in the title role‚ floating lines freighted with ardour and heartfelt sorrow‚ shaping and colouring them with the heroines anguish.'
Luisa Miller‚ Opera Holland Park
Guardian (July 2004)
'Anne Sophie Duprels and Alan Oke are the lovers‚ both displaying the requisite combination of passion and refinement.'
Luisa Miller‚ Opera Holland Park
Metro (July 2004)
'Anne Sophie Duprels is an electrifying Luisa and presents a remarkable combination of physical vulnerability‚ vocal power and compelling musical intelligence.'
Luisa Miller‚ Opera Holland Park
Sunday Express (July 2004)
'As Luisa ‚ Anne Sophie Duprels sings like a dream and her tiny figure fills the stage and tugs hard on the heart strings. An unforgettable portrayal.'
Luisa Miller‚ Opera Holland Park
Sunday Telegraph (July 2004)
'Anne Sophie Duprels is lyrical and has a commanding stage presence.'
Luisa Miller‚ Opera Holland Park
Telegraph (July 2004)
'...she is an engaging performer who gives her all.'
Luisa Miller‚ Opera Holland Park
The Stage (July 2004)
'Duprels vibrant full-voiced soprano shapes the melodies with due care for words. Her scenes with Alan Oke move and harrow.'
Luisa Miller‚ Opera Holland Park
Times (July 2004)
'The last in Holland Parks truly excellent season concentrates on the slow extinguishing of hope and love in a series of duets and ensembles of ever-increasing ferocity‚ with the small figure
of Anne-Sophie Duprelss Luisa the unfortunate object of manufactured fate. She is a singer with a heart the size of a bus‚ a voice of deep-grained tone‚ clarity‚ flexibility and beauty‚ a vulnerable
stage presence full of pathos and an utter sincerity of suffering‚ and she brings huge dignity to the role.'
Luisa Miller‚ Opera Holland Park
What’s On (July 2004)
'The production earns its five star rating for the sheer joy of Anne Sophie Duprels. I have rarely heard a performance so faultless and appealing. This singer is just sublimely
perfect.'
Cherevichki‚ Garsington Opera
Independent (June 2004)
'As the demanding Oksana‚ Anne-Sophie Duprels also sings powerfully with just the hint of shrewishness.'
La Traviata‚ Opera North
Daily Post (February 2004)
'Anne-Sophie Duprels was a powerful Violetta who never once failed to appreciate the dramatic impact this particular heroine has on the events in the opera - a far from shrinking
violet.'
Lucia di Lammermoor‚ Opera Holland Park
Times (July 2003)
'...the very special Anne Sophie Duprels as Lucia'
Lucia di Lammermore‚ Opera Holland Park
Telegraph (July 2003)
'Interest‚ however‚ properly focused on Lucia herself. This terrific role was taken by a promising young French soprano‚ Anne Sophie Duprels‚ who made an impression here last year as Magda in
La rondine and went on to present a delightful Mimi in La Boheme at Grange Park last month. Duprels displays a forthright personality and stage presence. She has a sturdy‚ warm and confident voice
that can nail a powerful top E flat when required.'
La Boheme‚ Grange Park
Guardian (June 2003)
'The diminutive Mimi‚ Anne-Sophie Duprels‚ at once tender and powerful.'
La Rondine‚Opera Holland Park
Guardian (July 2002)
'If there is one singer that makes the production‚ it is the French soprano Anne-Sophie Duprels‚ who sings Magda. It is arguable whether the heroine should be quite as guileless as Duprels
plays her‚ but vocally she is just right‚ her singing full of colour and sparkle. It is worth going just to hear her.'
Management:
CCAM (world)
Christopher Carroll
www.christophercarrollartists.com
chris@christophercarrollartists.com
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