Marion Vergez-Pascal, mezzo-soprano

A native of the Béarn region, Marion Vergez-Pascal sang in the children’s choir at the Conservatoire de Pau, conducted by Pascale Verdier. At the age of 14, she joined the Maîtrise de Radio-France choir and sang for three years in various Radio-France productions conducted by Sofi Jeannin, Kurt Masur and Daniele Gatti. After studying classics (hypokhâgne/khâgne), she joined the Département Supérieur pour Jeunes Chanteurs of the CRR in 2014, where she worked with Florence Guignolet. She obtained a DEM diploma with great distinction (Special Prize for French pronunciation). In 2018 she entered the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSMD), in Frédéric Gindraux’s class. She graduated in 2021 and is currently pursuing a master’s degree. She takes lessons from Anne Le Bozec and Susan Manoff. For years, she has been mentored by Roberto Benzi and Annick Massis.

In September 2019 she was selected as a Young Talent for the prestigious Bel Canto School of the IVC Competition in S’Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands. In 2020 she was a laureate of the Académie des Frivolités Parisiennes and in 2021 she participated in the Young Talents programme of the Palais Royal (sponsored by Crédit Agricole Île de France), producing a series of short video clips based on the French opera repertoire at the Petit Palais (‘Retrouvailles au Petit Palais’). She was recently a laureate of the prestigious Académie Ravel of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, where she regularly performs in opera recitals. In 2023 she obtained support from Société Générale’s ‘The Future is You’ Foundation.

Having a passion for the mélodie and Lied repertoire, she has collaborated with several pianists in different programs. With the pianist Cécile Sagnier, she was selected by the Springboard for Young Talents for a recital of La Fontaine’s fables at Château-Thierry (‘Fables, Contes et autres Légendes’). She also sang with Simon Adda-Reyss at the Théâtre des Sablons in Neuilly, in a program devoted to Victor Hugo (October 2021).

In the opera repertoire, she has appeared as Annio in Franck Krawszyk’s show loosely based on Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito at La Seine Musicale. She also sang in a series of concerts of the French opera program ‘Deux hommes et une femme’ with the Palais Royal orchestra (conducted by J. P. Sarcos), alongside Kévin Amiel and Adrien Fournaison. During the 2021–22 season, she played Clorinde in Maurice Yvain’s Là-Haut with the Compagnie des Frivolités Parisiennes at Théâtre de l’Athénée (conducted by Nicolas Chesneau and directed by Pascal Neyron). Recently, she sang the role of Constanza in Haydn’s Isola Disabitata with Studi’Opera at Théâtre Traversière, conducted by Vincent Laissy. In March 2023 she played the Sorceress in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, co-produced by the Conservatoire de Paris and the Philharmonie de Paris, conducted by Leonardo García Alarcon and directed by Marc Laîné. In April she was also solo mezzo-soprano in Mozart’s Requiem with the Orchestre de Pau Pays de Béarn, conducted by Fayçal Karoui.

Keen to make opera accessible to all, Marion has performed in the Paris Chamber Orchestra’s mini-concerts that take place in care homes and hospitals, and participated in the shows Tchek (playing Zefka in an adaptation of Janaček’s Diary of One Who Disappeared) and Help! (as Clorinde in an adaptation of Monteverdi’s The Combat of Tancredi) with the Compagnie Plein Jour at Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, as part of an educational program promoting opera for all.

In November 2022 Marion won First Prize at the International Music Competition Triomphe de l’Art in Brussels. In September 2023 she will start a collaboration with the Opéra Comique through the Académie Favart. At the same time, she will be artist in residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel during the 2023–24 academic year. She is ADAMI Opera Revelation for the 2023–24 season.
In March 2024 she will sing with pianist Anne Le Bozec at the Capitole de Toulouse, in a recital devoted to the young Mozart. In September 2023 she will record her first solo album of Spanish melodies on the Mirare label, with the patronage of Patrick Petit.

In 2025 she will sing the role of Aurore in Félix Fourdrain’s Contes de Perrault with the Frivolités Parisiennes orchestra, conducted by Dylan Corlay and directed by Valérie Lesort, at Théâtre Impérial de Compiègne, Opéra de Reims and Théâtre de l’Athénée Louis Jouvet in Paris.