French-American mezzo-soprano Valérie Filloux recently completed her first summer at Aspen Music Festival, where she performed scenes from Little Women, L'italiana in Algeri, and Il barbiere di Siviglia; sang on several recitals and concerts; and devised and premiered a new work in collaboration with composer Gala Flagello as part of the Aspen Composition Project. During her first year with the Maryland Opera Studio, with whom she pursues her Master of Music degree, she covered Zerlina (Don Giovanni), performed scenes as The Fox (The Little Prince) and Nerone (L'incoronazione di Poppea),  and sang Younger Sister/Parent B in the world premiere of TWA by Justine F. Chen and Jaqueline Goldfinger. She is delighted to spend the coming summer with the Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Center, with whom she sings Mrs. Grose (Turn of the Screw), covers The Baker's Wife (Into the Woods), and solos in the company's An Evening of George Gershiwin concert. She looks forward to returning to the Maryland Opera Studio for her second year, during which she sings Nancy (Albert Herring), Florence Pike (Albert Herring), and Paula (Florencia en el Amazonas).

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Valérie finished her undergraduate studies at Northwestern University in 2021, earning a Bachelor of Music in Voice & Opera with program honors along with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies. She competed as a Finalist in the Musicians Club of Women Competition and as a National Finalist in the National NSAL Winston Voice Scholarship Competition after winning the Illinois Division. In the summer of 2021, Valérie was thrilled to be a member of the Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Center. She performed the roles of Zita and Spinellocchio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and sang as a soloist in the Opera Greatest Hits and Janiec on Broadway concerts.

 

During her time at Northwestern, Valérie performed Hansel in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel with Northwestern University’s OPUS and covered La récitante in Debussy’s La damoiselle élue while singing in multiple opera choruses (Berlioz’s Béatrice and Bénédict, Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, Debussy’s La damoiselle élue). Originally scheduled to perform The Angel in Rubenstein’s The Demon at the Russian Opera Workshop, she spent the summer of 2020 studying both The Angel (The Demon) and Olga in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin as part of the workshop’s modified Covid-19 program. She attended the Redwoods Opera Workshop summer festival in June of 2019, performing scenes as Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) and Dorabella (Così fan tutte) as well as arias in a concert at the Stanford Hotel in Mendocino, California. 

 

An avid chamber musician, Valérie served as the Co-President to the Northwestern University Renaissance Singers, the university’s only classical a cappella group, who organized and hosted multiple concerts filled with large-scale works and new work premieres. She recently performed Vivaldi’s Gloria as the Mezzo-Soprano and Soprano II soloist, accompanied by a Baroque chamber orchestra and the Trinity United Methodist Church choir. She made her debut with the Chicago chamber choir Stare at the Sun in their  concert “A Name and A Place.” With seven years of violin experience and four years of viola experience, she enjoys applying her instrumental knowledge to her study of voice while privately teaching each instrument. She is a proud Californian, born and raised there by a French father and American mother.