Françoise Garner

Françoise Garner (17 October 1933 – 6 March 2024) was a French soprano who made an international career. She began as a coloratura soprano at the Opéra-Comique, in roles such as Lakmé by Delibes and Leïla in Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de perles. She appeared from the 1970s at leading opera houses of Europe, more and more in lyric soprano roles such as Liu in Puccini's Turandot and Leonora in Verdi's Il trovatore. She performed as Gounod's Marguerite at La Scala of Milan and as his Juliette in the Verona Arena, but was also, trained in Rome, one of few French singers who knew belcanto.

Life and career
Garner was born in Nérac, Lot-et-Garonne on 17 October 1933. Her maternal grandparents were merchants there. Her family left for Paris when she was five, but she regularly returned for vacation until age 20. During the summers there, she attended operas at the Théâtre de Verdure de La Garenne. She first studied musicology at the Conservatoire de Paris with Marcel Samuel-Rousseau. When her voice was discovered, she focused on singing. She studied further at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia of Rome with Rachele Maragliano-Mori, later at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Rudolf Baumgartner. She finished studies with Abrami in Milan.

Garner made her debut at the Opéra-Comique in 1963 in the world premiere of Menotti's The Last Savage. Other roles there included Rosina in Rossini' Il barbiere di Siviglia, the title role in Lakmé by Delibes, Olympia in Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, and Leïla in Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de perles. At the Paris Opera, she performed the title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto, later as Countess Adèle in Rossini's Le comte Ory in 1976, and in several roles in Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortilèges, staged by Jorge Lavelli in 1979. In 1971, she appeared as the Queen of the Night in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at the Aix-en-Provence Festival.

She made an international career beginning in the 1970s; she appeared as Marguerite in Gounod's Faust at La Scala of Milan in 1977, directed by Jean-Louis Barrault and conducted by Georges Prêtre. She performed at the Grand Théâtre de Genève in 1980, as Donizetti's Anna Bolena at the Liceu in Barcelona in 1982, and in Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa in 1983. She appeared as Bellini's Norma at the Opéra royal de Wallonie in 1984 and performed the role of Salomé in Massenet's Hérodiade at the 1987 Orange Festival.

She appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City as Konstanze in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail in 1984 and as Elvira in Bellini's I puritani in 1986. She appeared as Norma at the Sydney Opera, and in the title roles of Gounod's Roméo et Juliette and Puccini's Madame Butterfly in the Verona Arena.

A coloratura soprano at first, she developed to a lyric soprano with roles such as Verdi's La traviata and Leonora in Il trovatore, and Liu in Puccini's Turandot, and finally to more dramatic roles such as Puccini's Tosca. Garner remained a presence in leading roles at French regional theatres. She recorded the role of Norma in 1992.

Garner lived in Nîmes after she retired from the stage. She died there 6 March 2024, at the age of 90.