The international lyric soprano Solen Mainguené is from Orange in the south of France. Described by German Opernnwelt Magazine as "a cross between Scarlett Johansson and a young Anna Netrebko", she is praised equally for her singing and acting skills, and delights the audiences with a full interpretation of operatic works.
Solen started her undergraduate training in cello and voice at the age of 15 at the "Conservatoire de Rennes" in France. She then undertook a Bachelor at the "Peabody Conservatory" of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, U.S.A, shortly followed by a Master from the Opernklasse at the "Universität Mozarteum" in Salzburg, Austria. Her teachers included: Stanley Cornett, Boris Bakow, John Shirley-Quirk, Andrzej Dobber. Masterclasses with Cheryl Studer, Montserat Caballé, Marilyn Horne, Sophie Koch, Deborah Polaski and Angelika Kirschlager. She currently studies with vocal pedagogue Neil Semer.
In 2012, the soprano became a member of the Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera and since then appears regularly as a guest. Whilst in Hamburg, Solen performed over 20 roles, amongst others: MUSETTA in "La Bohème", FIRST LADY in "Die Zauberflöte" or again MICAELA in "Carmen". She also covered numerous leading sopranos including Anita Hartig, Ailyn Perez or Nino Machaidze in roles such as MARGUERITE "Faust", LUISA "Luisa Miller" and DONNA ELVIRA " Don Giovanni".
Solen is now a member of the Leipzig Opera. In 2022-23 she will be singing DESDEMONA in "Otello", ELLEN ORFORD in "Peter Grimmes", EVA in "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg", as well as the new year concert of the Gewandhaus Orchestra. Additionally she will be gasting with the Danish National Opera as NEDDA in "Pagliacci".
In recent years Solen guested in Europe in roles such as VIOLETTA in "La Traviata" at the Halle Opera, MANON in "Manon" at the Theater Freiburg, LIÙ in "Turandot" at the Opéra de Massy, NEDDA in "Pagliacci" at the Opera de Vichy, Opéra de Clermont-Ferrand and Festival de St Céré, LAURETTA at the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival in Ireland.
Last season she appeared as MUSETTA in "La Bohème" at the Hamburg Staatsoper, ANTONIA in "Les Contes d'Hoffmann" at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, TATJANA in "Eugene Onegin" at the Winterthur Theater, Switzerland and Freiburg Theater and NEDDA in "Pagliacci" at the Opéra Grand Avignon and Opéra de Reims, France.
In Summer 2020 she made her Chorégies d'Orange Début in a televised concert along side: Cecilia Bartoli, Roberto Alagna, Aleksandra Kurzac, Artur Rucinsky and Javier Camarena.
Between 2017 and 2020 Mrs Mainguené was a resident artist of the Theater Freiburg. She enjoyed her regular collaboration with stage director and intendant Peter Carp, with whom she created eclectic roles like TATJANA in "Eugene Onegin" and GOVERNESS in "Turn of the Screw" that received numerous nominations in the press including "best production of the year 2019" in the magazine Deutsche Bühne and Opernwelt.
Since 2017 she appeared in Freiburg as MIMÌ in "La Bohème", ROSALINDE in "Die Fledermaus", ANTONIA in "Les Contes d'Hoffmann" and MANON in "Manon".
In 2017-2018 she appeared very successfully, over twenty times, as VIOLETTA in "La Traviata" at the Aachen Opera, in a dramatically daring and demanding production from Ewa Teilmans, which she renewed on popular demand in 2019.
In the past she appeared as COUNTESS in "Le nozze di figaro" at the Koblenz Opera, NEDDA in "Pagliacci" at the Braunschweig Opera, MUSETTA in "La Bohème" at the Hamburg State Opera, Hannover State Opera and Lübeck Opera, MICAELA in "Carmen" at the Hamburg State Opera, ANTONIA in "Les Contes d'hoffmann" at the Gelsenkirchen Theater im Revier.
In 2015 she did her baroque debut with Telemann's "Flavius Bertaridus" at the Hamburg Staatsoper under the baton of Alessandro de Marchi and with Cestis "L'Orontea" at the renowned Austrian early music festival "Innsbrucker Festwochen der alten Musik".
She took her first Wagnerian steps with FLOWER MAIDEN in "Parsifal" at the Staatsoper Hamburg in the Robert Wilson production under Simone Young. Ms. Mainguené also made her debut at the Leipzig Opera in the role of PEACE MESSENGER in "Rienzi" in 2015 collaboration with the Gewandhaus Orchester as well as at the Laieszhalle Hamburg with the Hamburg Philharmonic under Simone Young.
The same year, she was nominated by the opera magazine "Opernwelt" as rising young singer of the year for her critically acclaimed interpretation of CATHERINE EARNSHAW in Herrmann’s "Whuthering heights" at the Theater Braunschweig, a role and nomination that launched her career and put her vocal and acting skills to light.
On the concert stage, Ms Mainguené appeared in Honneger’s "Jeanne D’Arc au Bucher" with the Hamburg Philharmonic in close collaboration with the French actress Fanny Ardent and Simone Young at the Laieszhalle Hamburg in 2014. She also performed Beethoven 9th in numerous renowned venues and with prestigious orchestras: NDR Sendesaal Hannover, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Glocke Bremen, Teatro de la Maestanza Sevilla, Spain. More recently she appeared at the Munich Residenz in Dovrak's "Stabat Mater".
Ms Mainguené is the recipient of numerous competition prizes, she was the 1st Price winner and ADAMI price for best Italian repertoire interpretation winner of the "2019 Clermont-Ferrant International Competition" (President Inva Mula), a finalist of the Portofino International Voice competition 2020 (President Dominique Meyer), and of the "Avignon Grand Opera International Competition" 2015. (President Raymond Duffaut).
She was also a semi-finalist of the "Belvedere Competition" in Cape Town, South Africa, the "Crown Competition" in Tbilisi, the "Montserrat Caballé Grand Prix" in Zaragoza Spain. Additionally she is a Berenberg Bank Artist, and a recipient of the Körber Stiftung.
The soprano benefitted from the mentoring of the renowned Australian conductor Simone Young with whom she collaborated vastly at the Hamburg State Opera, other conductors in cooperation include: Christian Arming, David Bates, Enrico Delamboye, Alfred Eschwé, Matthias Foremny, Laurence Forster, Pedro Halffter, Axel Kober, Alessandro de Marchi, Nicholas Carter, Ivan Repušić, Alexander Soddy, Stefan Soltesz, Eugen Tzigane, Migel Campos Neto, Dan Carter, Carlo Montanaro, Jose Miguel Esandi and Alexander Vedernikov.
In summer 2020 she worked in close collaboration with renowned French conductor Michel Plasson, and singer Sophie Koch on French repertoire as an invited guest of the 2020 "Michel Plasson Academy for French Music".
Solen has a particular talent and love for acting, as well as a solid acting training. She has done straight plays as an actress, more recently in collaboration with the Thalia Theater Hamburg in 2015. At ease on stage in 4 languages (French, English, German, Italian), she switches easily between languages, accents, singing and speaking. Additionally she particularly enjoys testing the barrier of the operatic form and is known for her daring and physical interpretations of operatic works, and cross genre collaborations.
From her love of acting emanated her prolific collaborations with numerous renowned stage directions, amongst them: David Alden, Johannes Erath, Frank Hilbrich, Robert Wilson, Robert Hunger-Bühler, Antu Nuñes, , Clarac Deloeuil (Le Lab), Hauen und Stechen and David Pountney.
Future engagements include Malmö Opera and Seefestspiele Mörbisch.