Mélissa Petit

The French soprano Mélissa Petit, who was born in 1990, hails from Saint-Raphaël on the Côte d’Azur. She began her vocal training at the age of 14, studying in her hometown and in Nice; she also took master classes with Francisco Araiza, Cheryl Studer, Siegfried Jerusalem, Ann Murray, and others. From 2010 to 2013, Petit gained her first stage experience in the opera studio of the Hamburg Staatsoper. In 2015, she was accepted as a member of Zurich Opera’s ensemble, where her roles included Ännchen in Weber’s Der Freischütz, Sophie in Massenet’s Werther, and Créuse in Charpentier’s Médée; since 2017, she has pursued an international freelance career. At the Bregenz Festival, she sang Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen and Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto. She has appeared at the Opéra national de Paris as Giannetta in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore and as Papagena in Mozart’s The Magic Flute; at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and at Zurich Opera, she took on the title role of Aricie in Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie. Cecilia Bartoli engaged her in 2021 as Bellezza in Handel’s Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno for the Salzburg Whitsun Festival; she has also appeared there as Servilia in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito and, most recently in 2026, as the Contessa de Folville in Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims. At the Theater an der Wien, she has performed the roles of Marzelline in Beet­hoven’s Fidelio, the title role in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, and Juliette in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette; she made her debut at the Berlin Staatsoper as Ilia in Mozart’s Idomeneo. She has ventured into the Wagner repertoire at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, singing the roles of both Freia and Woglinde in Das Rheingold. Mélissa Petit collaborates with many leading historically informed performance ensembles, including Les Talens Lyriques, Il Pomo d’Oro, Les Arts Florissants, and Le Concert de la Loge. She has recorded with the Palazzetto Bru Zane.

One previous Lucerne Festival appearance: on 20 August 2022, when Mélissa Petit made her debut here singing Servilia in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito under the direction of Gianluca Capuano.

June 2026