Rising Stars: Isabelle Druet at Palace of the Arts

In 2008, Druet finished in second place in the singing category – behind Szabolcs Brickner – in the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, which is considered one of the world’s most prestigious competitive challenges. She has received regular invitations to perform ever since. ?This is particularly worthy of admiration in light of the fact that Druet was initially self-taught, and began methodical musical studies at the Conservatoire de Paris only at the age of 20. At the beginning, she acted in a company she herself founded while singing pop and reggae, but classical music proved to be the genre which never ceased to amaze her. Although she has sung many Baroque works in her career so far, she herself regards this as only a coincidence given that she has also sung the role of Carmen with enormous success. Her first recording features songs by French composers of the 19th and 20th centuries, and she made her debut at the Bastille Opera in Paris in the 2011/12 season as the page of Herodias in the Richard Strauss opera Salome. ?Druet’s versatility means that she is equally at home in the concert hall as she is performing on the opera stage. “I like the intimacy of this genre, the direct connection with the audience,” she told one interviewer. “I get the chance to perform works which, though they may not be so spectacular or well-known, are still beautiful pieces of music. For a long time, I hesitated over whether to include Berlioz’s cycle Les nuits d’été in the programme, which has been sung by so many divas – among them the one I admire above all others, Régine Crespin. However, given that I entered the world of classical music late, I have no mythical notions and it is this which I can thank for my freedom as an artist.”