Pauline Sikirdji

French mezzo-soprano Pauline Sikirdji studied singing at the Paris Conservatoire. She also trained in drama at the École du Théâtre National de Chaillot, and in Baroque music at the CRR in Paris with Sophie Boulin, Isabelle Poulenard and Stéphane Fuget.

Her most recent performances have included two world premieres: Les Voix de Nancy – opéra interview, at the Opéra National de Lorraine in Nancy, and L’Apocalypse Arabe at the Aix-en-Provence Festival.  She has also recently performed in Michael Jarrell’s Siegfried, Nocturne with Angers-Nantes Opéra (directed by Olivier Py), the title role La belle Hélène and 2nd Lady in a new production of Die Zauberflöte at the Opéras de Rennes, Nantes and Angers.

Passionate about contemporary music, she sang the role of Honoria in the first performance of Galla Placidia by Antonin Servière for the ARCAL in Paris, and The Invader by Eric Sweeney in Waterford and Wexford.  In 2014. she was invited to sing in the Festival des Libertés at the Théâtre National in Brussels by Fabrizio Cassol; during the Brussels Nuit Blanche in 2015, she sang Morton Feldman’s Three Voices, with Joan La Barbara, in a coproduction between ENOA and the Théâtre Royal de La Monnaie.  In 2016, she sang the first performance of a song cycle by flautist Magic Malik in Royaumont.

Pauline’s other operatic projects have included Dorabella Così fan tutte in Marseille; she also sang in the premiere of Ana Sokolovic’s Svadba at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, directed by Ted Hufman and Zack Winokur, with several other performances across France, in Luxembourg, and her debut at San Francisco Opera.  At Aix, she also sang Et tâchons d’épuiser la mort dans un baiser, directed by Marc Lainé, featuring Debussy’s songs and letters. She also had a critical success in the title role L’Enfant et les Sortilèges at the Opéra de Lyon, conducted by Martyn Brabbins.

Other roles in her repertoire include Orlovsky Die Fledermaus, Hänsel Hänsel und Gretel, Rosina The Barber of Seville for the Académie Lyrique in Vendôme and Ino Semele at the CRR in Paris.   She also had a critical success singing l’Enfant L’Enfant et les Sortilèges at the Opéra de Lyon, conducted by Martyn Brabbins. Further performances include Second Witch Dido & Aeneas (conducted by Christophe Rousset) at the Festival de Beaune, Dj set à l’écoute by Mathieu Bauer (at the CDN in Montreuil, the Subsistances in Lyon and many other venues), plus Féminines (for two female voices, actress and piano) at the POP/Péniche Opéra in Paris, Mercedes Carmen for Opéra en plein air and Lise in Maison à Vendre by Dalayrac at the Opéra de Reims.