Born in Albi, France, Gabrielle Philiponet first studied the flute and cello before training as a singer with Daniel Ottevaere. A member of the Opera Studio of the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Brussels, she was a prize winner at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition.
Widely regarded as one of today’s leading French lyric sopranos, her wide-ranging repertoire spans from Mozart to contemporary music.
Most recently, Gabrielle received widespread critical acclaim for the title role in Christof Loy’s new staging of Gustave Charpentier’s Louise at the Opéra de Lyon. She will return there in the 2026/2027 season as Fata Morgana in Laurent Pelly’s new production of Prokofiev’s L’Amour des trois oranges, which will subsequently be presented at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris and at the Opéra national du Rhin.
Following her acclaimed performance in Bruno Mantovani’s Amours, a song cycle for voice and piano based on poems by the Renaissance poet Etienne Jodelle, the French composer invited her to create the role of La Songeuse in his opera Voyage d’Automne, premiered in November 2024 at the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse.
Closely associated with the French repertoire, Gabrielle debuted at the Opéra de Paris with Frasquita (Bizet, Carmen), a role she returned to for the Bayerische Staatsoper and the Aix-en-Provence Festival. She appeared as Micaëla in Metz, Lille and Massy, and was Leïla (Bizet, Les Pêcheurs de perles) at the Opéra de Lille and Opéra de Nice. She made her debut as Marguerite (Gounod, Faust) at the Opéra de Saint-Etienne and her title role debut in Gounod’s Mireille at the Opéra de Metz. Gabrielle performed Massenet’s Cendrillon for both La Monnaie in Brussels and the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, as well as L’Enfant et les Sortilèges by Ravel with the Symphonic Orchestra of Montréal. Add to this the title role in Félicien David’s Lalla-Roukh for the Wexford Festival Opera and Plautine in Rameau’s Le Temple de la Gloire with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra of San Francisco.
Gabrielle has worked with conductors such as Kent Nagano, Roberto Rizzi-Brignoli, Alain Altinoglu, Karel Mark Chichon, Ingo Metzmacher, Andreas Spering, Hervé Niquet, Roland Böer, Laurent Campellone, Giuseppe Grazioli, Roberto Forés-Veses, Paul Goodwin, Pablo Heras-Casado, Lorenzo Viotti.
She regularly appears in leading roles from the romantic operatic repertoire, singing Magda in Puccini’s Rondine in Nancy and Metz, and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi with the Belgian National Orchestra at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. She performed Mimì in La Bohème in Saint-Etienne and Avignon, and was Musetta in the same opera in Marseille, Metz, Massy and for “Musiques en fête” at Chorégies d’Orange which was broadcast live on France 3 (TV) and on France Musique (radio). She embodied her signature role of Violetta in La Traviata in Paris, New Orleans, Massy, among other cities, was to be heard as Desdemona in Otello in Saint-Etienne, and debuted as Alice in Falstaff in an Antonello Allemandi/Denis Podalydès production for the Opéra de Lille, Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg and Théâtre de Caen.
Other career highlights include the Mozart roles of Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) at the Angers-Nantes Opéra and Opéra Grand Avignon, Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) at the Opéra de Rouen, and Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro) at the Opéra de Nancy. She was Adina (Donizetti, L’Elisir d’amore) at the Toulouse and Nice Operas, and starred as Corinna (Rossini, Il viaggio a Reims) in Bordeaux, Toulouse, Nice, Marseille, Montpellier, Nancy and Vichy.
