Biography
Mezzo-soprano Sophie Michaux was born in London and raised in the French Alps. Now Boston-based, she is recognized as a particularly versatile singer, performing as a soloist in a wide variety of genres from Opera to French Cabaret songs.
On stage, her roles include the role of Ceres in Boston Early Music Festival’s production of Lalande’s Les Fontaines de Versailles, the title roles in La Cenerentola (NEMPAC), in Rinaldo (Boston Opera Collaborative), for which she was nominated as Best Female Performer in an Opera for the 2015 Arts Impulse Theatre Awards, Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia (Opera Brittenica). Her performance of 21-st century works includes the role of Anne in To Hell and Back by Jake Heggie (Boston Opera Collaborative), Mrs. Soames in Our Town by Ned Rorem (Boston Opera Collaborative), Higuchi in Troubled Water by Mischa Saldkind-Pearl (Guerilla Opera), Ceres in The Tempest by Joseph Summer (The Shakespeare Concerts). In December 2017, she was the lead singer in The Christmas Revels, that had 18 performances in Harvard’s historical Sanders Theatre.
Mrs. Michaux is simultaneously active in Oratorio and Ensemble music. Past highlights include Duruflé’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven’s Mass in C , Bach’s Magnificat and B Minor Mass, Mozart’s C Minor Mass, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Palmeri’s Missa Tango with the Chorus of Westerley, Trinity Church of Boston, The Metropolitan Chorale, New England Classical Singers, Choral Art, and The Andover Choral Society. She was a soloist at the Egida Sartori and Laura Alvini Early Music Seminar in Venice, Italy, directed by René Jacobs.
As a core member the nationally renowned Lorelei Ensemble, she maintains a national touring schedule collaborating with ensembles that include the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Center, A Far Cry, and Cantus.
She has recorded with the BEMF, Blue Heron, the Lorelei Ensemble, La Capella Mediterranea, The Revels, The Shakespeare Concerts, and Northern Harmony.
Although she focuses on classical music, her versatility and musical curiosity have brought her to be an active performer in many repertoires including French Cabaret songs, English Sea Shanties, as well as various world polyphonies: in 2014 and 2017, she toured the U.S and Europe with Northern Harmony, an ensemble that is renowned for its command of varied world ethnic singing styles from the Balkans, the Republic of Georgia, South-Africa, and the United States. She is the founding member of Sophie et Adam, a folk music duet with guitarist and singer Adam Jacob Simon, and of Culomba, a world music vocal ensemble that audaciously brings together audiences to experience the beauty and diversity of vocal music from very disparate styles, eras, and regions. She has also explored the Yiddish song repertoire, with performances at the Goethe Institute for the Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprise and the celebration of musical wealth in the Vilna and Łódź Ghettos during WWII.
Sophie belongs to Beyond Artists, a coalition of artists that donates a percentage of their concert fees to organizations they care about. Through her performances, she supports The Ocean Clean Up, 350.org (Climate Change), and Give Directly (Direct Poverty Relief).
Photo credit: Asher + Oak Photography