Jane Berbié

Jane Berbié (born 6 May 1931) is a French mezzo-soprano particularly associated with Mozart and Rossini roles. Berbié was born Jeanne Bergougne, in Villefranche-de-Lauragais, Haute-Garonne, France, and as a child was entered in various local singing competitions, winning a case of champagne at one in Canet-Plage for her rendition of airs of Escamillo and Basilio. She studied piano and voice at the Music Conservatory in Toulouse. On French television she appeared on 'L'Ecole des vedettes' where she was praised by Elvira Popescu. She made her professional operatic debut at the Capitole de Toulouse in 1954, as Nicklause in Les contes d'Hoffmann. She sang throughout France in the standard mezzo roles of the French repertory, such as Siébel in Faust, Urbain in Les Huguenots, the title role in Mignon and Carmen, etc. She made her debut at the Paris Opéra in 1959, as Concepción in L'Heure espagnole, and the same year at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, as the sorceress in Dido and Aeneas. Other roles included several in L'Enfant et les Sortilèges (under Maazel in 1961 and Ozawa in 1979 at the Opéra de Paris), Gontran in Une éducation manquée (1965), Roméo et Juliette, Ascanio in Benvenuto ...