BIOGRAPHY
Praised for her “impressive control and poise” (Early Music Today) and her “commanding stage presence” (Planet Hugill), French bi-lingual Thalie trained with English National Opera on their distinguished Opera Works programme (2014/15) and was a 2016 Britten-Pears Young Artist performing Bach Cantatas under the guidance of tenor Mark Padmore. A finalist of the 2017 London Song Festival Lieder competition, in January 2018 Thalie was selected by Malcolm Martineau to take part in his residential song masterclass series with her duo partner Nico de Villiers, in Crear, Scotland. She is an alumna of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Recent engagements include her festival debut at Buxton International Festival as Marc'Antonio Marc'Antonio e Cleopatra, Andronico Tamerlano (Cambridge Handel Opera Company), Turio Caio Fabbricio (London Early Opera) and her Tête à Tête Opera Festival debut as soloist in The Golden Thread - a contemporary cantata composed by Alice Beckwith for mezzo soprano and large chamber ensemble. With themes of renewal, hope, and feminine strength, the piece depicts a young woman’s encounter with the Green Man and his more sinister counterpart, the Erlking.
Piacere Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disginganno (Le Festival de musique du Périgord Noir), Prue The Dancing Master (The Malcolm Arnold Festival), Hänsel Hänsel und Gretel (Trinity Orchestra and Lambeth Orchestra respectively) and a role debut as Rose Across The Sky - a new commission for Cheltenham Music Festival which was subsequently nominated for a Royal Philharmonic Society Award under 'Community Opera'. Thalie also sang the title role in Handel's Agrippina and Zefka in The Diary of One Who Disappeared alongside tenor Tom Randle (Dartington Arts Festival).
In 2024, Thalie will cover Dame Sarah Connolly singing the title role in the world premiere of Lee Bradshaw’s new opera Zarqa al-Yamama for the Arabia Opera in Riyadh, and will have the pleasure of singing the role in two additional performances.
In concert, Ravel's Shéhérezade (City of Sheffield Youth Orchestra), Mahler's Kindertotenlieder (The Whitehall Orchestra) and Rückert-Lieder (Lewes Symphony Orchestra). Thalie will join Julian Perkins in performing a series of Handel Cantatas as part of the 2021 Cambridge Summer Music Festival, and a recital series - L'étranger - with Nico de Villiers; repertoire including Ravel Shéhérezade, Debussy Chansons de Bilitis and Delage Quatre poèmes hindous.
(Unfortunately due to Covid, Thalie's return as a 2020 Britten-Pears Young Artist - exploring the works of Mahler and the Late Romantics, under the tutelage of Malcolm Martineau and Anne Schwanewilm, was cancelled.)
At ENO, Thalie studied Bradamante Alcina, Cornelia Giulio Cesare and subsequently sang Medoro Orlando in the final performance - Landscape - at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London. Operatic roles include Mallika Lakmé (Guildford Opera), the title role in Lully's Armide (Woodhouse Opera), Phèdre Hippolyte et Aricie (Linden Baroque), Second Lady The Magic Flute (Hampstead Garden Opera), Frédéric Mignon (New Sussex Opera), Mrs Kneebone A Dinner Engagement (Bute Park Opera), Maman L’enfant et les Sortilèges (Bute Park Opera), Dog Cunning Little Vixen, Sorceress Dido and Aeneas, Andreloun Mireille, and chorus in The Poisoned Kiss, Hugh the Drover and Die Rheinnixen (New Sussex Opera). For Longborough Festival Opera, Thalie has sung Chorus for their productions of Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer, Beethoven's Fidelio and Gluck's Orfeo ed Eurydice.
RWCMD roles in scenes have included Annio La Clemenza di Tito, Ursule Béatrice et Bénédict, Madame de la Haltière Cendrillon and Meg The Merry Wives of Windsor.
A frequent performer of Oratorio, roles consist of Micah Samson, Alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Saint-Saens’ Christmas Oratorio, Bach's Magnificat, Haydn's Nelson Mass, Bruckner Te Deum, Vivaldi's Gloria and Mozart's Requiem. She has performed as a concert artist at The Royal Albert Hall, St John Smith Square, The Royal Courts of Justice, Cadogan Hall and the beautiful 12th Century Cathedral of Saint Amand-de-Coly in France.
Thalie has performed in masterclasses under Sandrine Piau, Malcolm Martineau, Christian Curnyn, Ann Murray, Christophe Rousset, Della Jones, Philip Lloyd-Evans, James Bowman, John Shirely-Quirk and Sophie Daneman.
Other solo performances include winning the Oratorio class at the Croydon Music Festival in 2010.
In July 2008, Thalie graduated with a high 2:1 BMus Music Degree from Sussex University, where she studied Performance under Ian Kennedy (The Guildhall School of Music and Drama). Prior to university Thalie had the pleasure of singing with the Farnham Youth Choir (between 11 and 18 years of age), becoming the Choir Leader. This was a very exciting period of her life as, with a very demanding international repertoire, they were invited to sing at many concerts around England and Europe. Particularly memorable was winning the Sainsbury Choir of the Year at Buxton Opera House, and going on to sing before the Queen at the annual Memorial Service at The Royal Albert Hall. They were also invited to perform and won the International Children’s Choir Festival at Lake Garda, Italy.