Isabelle Druet

Isabelle Druet (born 19 September 1979) is a French operatic coloratura mezzo-soprano who has performed internationally. She began her career as an actress and co-founded a theatre company, La Carotte. She has performed in concert and recorded with the ensemble Le Poème Harmonique. On stage, she has performed at opera houses in Paris, Nancy, Lyon and Düsseldorf, among others.

Born in Niort (Deux-Sèvres), Druet started as an actress, taking theatre courses in high school in Salins-les-Baths. She then pursued a Diplôme d'études universitaires scientifiques et techniques (DEUST) (Diploma of scientific and technical university studies) degree in Besançon, studying at the University of Franche-Comté. Though she sang in the university choir, her musical preferences were for reggae and Indian music. In 2000, she co-founded a theatre company based in Besançon, La Carotte, where theatre, mime, music, dance and storytelling performances were mixed. Torn between theatre and music, she finally moved to Paris and studied music for two years in the 7th arrondissement before entering the National Conservatoire.

Studying voice at the Conservatoire de Paris, Druet graduated summa cum laude in 2007. She obtained a master's degree, writing a thesis, La construction du personnage à l'opéra, and attending masterclasses with René Jacobs and Agnès Mellon, among others. In June 2007 she won a first prize in singing with unanimous praise from the jury at the Conservatoire in Isabelle Guillaud's class. That same year, she was elected in the category "Révélation classique lyrique" of the Adami. Simultaneously with her final two years at the Conservatoire, Druet performed in the Opéra-Comique, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Théâtre du Châtelet, as well as at regional festivals. Among her roles were Zaïde in Europa Galante by André Campra under the direction of William Christie, which toured in 2005; playing the sorceress in Dido and Aeneas, singing roles in The Clemency of Titus, and playing in the Conservatoire's productions of Eugène Onegin as Mme Larina and in Handel's Alcina as Ruggiero, among many other performances.