Marion Bauwens, soprano
Marion Bauwens, a young soprano from Ghent, started her musical education at the age of 5 at VEM vzw, Ghent. After studying the violin for a few years with Inge Aelvoet, Marion discovered singing, which immediately became a real passion. She started her vocal training with Jolien de Gendt. In 2009 she took her first steps on the stage of De Munt as a member of the children’s choir of De Munt (led by Dennis Meunier), where she participated in many productions. (La Bohème, Brussels Requiem, …) She then evolved to La Choraline, the youth choir of De Munt (under the direction of Benoît Giaux), in which she remained until she was 18. Here too she participated in several productions. (Krol Roger, Oedipe, Strange Fruit, A Midsummer night’s dream, Sindbad, etc.) She also participated in 2 major festivals, namely Europa Cantat and le Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. As a choir member of La Choraline, Marion gained access to her first solos in Messiaen’s “Les petis petites liturgies de la presence divine” and “Medulla” inspired by Björk.
Thanks to these years in the opera, Marion decided to study classical singing with Benoît Giaux, Elise Gäbele & Ana-Camelia Stefanescu at the IMEP in Namur. After obtaining her master’s degree with great distinction in 2020, she refines her singing technique with Helene Bernardy. (Luxembourg)
Marion was also selected for the prestigious MMA academy, with which she already participated in Foxie (solo debut), La Gioconda and many other productions.
Recently she sang as a soloist in the Chants d’Auvergne from Canteloube in The Bijloke (Ghent) and in Valencia, but also in Ein Deutsches Requiem from Brahms in The Concertgebouw in Bruges, conducted by Steven Decraene.
Last year (January 2022) she made her debut in the Opera Royal de Wallonie as Stella in Le Dernier Sorcier from Pauline Viardot, conducted by Ayrton Desimpelaere and directed by Davide Garattini.
In Octobre 2021 she won the Prix International Soroptimist au Concours Opéra Jeunes Espoirs Raymond Duffault in the opera of Avignon. She also won the 3rd prize and the public’s prize during the 2nd international opera competition Rita Gorr in June 2022.
In September 2022 she joined the MMSoloist-program at La Monnaie in Brussels & in September 2023 she will become an Artist in Residence at the Music Chapel Queen Elisabeth.
She is currently playing the role of Papagena in Die Zauberflöte by W.A. Mozart in the Midsummer Mozartiades in Brussels, Mons & Namur.