Faustine de Monès is a prize-winning soprano praised by The Guardian for her emotive expressivity and natural presence.

Faustine has performed on leading stages worldwide—from Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall to the Barbican and major houses such as the Opéra Comique, the Aix-en-Provence Festival, the Chorégies d’Orange, and the Musiikkitalo—working under the baton of esteemed conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Lionel Bringuier, Hannu Lintu, Antony Hermus, Ben Glassberg, Victor Jacob, Clément Mao-Takacs and Emilia Hoving.

This upcoming 2025–2026 season, Faustine will see an exciting role and house debut as Servilia for the Opéra de Nice in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito. She will perform at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester in the UK, with the Hallé Orchestra, singing Unsuk Chin’s Le Silence des Sirènes, and conducted by Elena Schwarz. She will return to the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon to perform Berg’s Der Wein and Mahler’s Symphony n.4; and sing her first Despina in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte for the Festival Castel Artes in France.

During the 2024/2025 season, Faustine sung her first Juliette in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette at the Seine Musicale in Paris, and made a critically acclaimed Australian debut as the Bride in Kaija Saariaho’s Innocence for the Adelaide Festival. She also showcased her versatility by singing Nane in the operetta Gosse de Riche by Maurice Yvain with the Frivolités Parisiennes Orchestra, and returned to her beloved Frasquita in Carmen at both the Hong Kong Opera House and the Hanoi Opera House.

Faustine has enjoyed a very prolific and exciting career these past few years. She has worked with the London Symphony Orchestra, performing Betsy Jolas’s Ces Belles Années… and the Barbican and at the Aix-en-Provence Festival; sung Frasquita at the Opéra de Rouen and the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in the much celebrated original 1875 staging of Carmen, and interpreted Saariaho’s Die Aussicht for the French Classical Music Awards. She was invited several times to the Maison de la Radio in Paris with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France to sing Unsuk Chin and Saariaho; she has sung her first Gilda in Rigoletto and her first Donna Anna in Don Giovanni. She performed the role of Crobyle in Thaïs at the Opéra de Toulon, and Claude Vivier’s The Lonely Child with Finland’s Avanti Orchestra. Her ongoing relationship with the Gulbenkian Foundation continues this season after last year’s Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang and Saariaho’s Cinq Reflets in 2022.

GRAMOPHONE MUSIC AWARD 2024:
Saariaho Orchestral Works, Radio France CD, Château de l’Âme with Faustine de Monès soprano, Hannu Lintu conductor, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France

Hailing from Paris, Faustine made her operatic debut at the age of 15 at the Opéra-Théâtre de Limoges, originating the lead soprano role in the world premiere of Isabelle Aboulker’s Les Fables enchantées.

Faustine is a prize winning artist: Contemporary Prize of the Enescu International Singing Competition; First Prize and the audience prize in the Vivonne International Compétition; Duo Prize with pIanist Bretton Brown at the Toulouse Mélodie Française Compétition.

In 2022/2023 Faustine jumped in as Silandra in Cesti’s Orontea for Theater Aachen, sang the roles of Nouille and La Lune at the Opéra Comique for Marc-Olivier Dupin’s Robert le Cochon at the Opéta Comique, and returned as a soloist for the Chorégies d’Orange gala concert Musiques en Fête.

In 2020/2021, Faustine made her Italian debut as Serpina in Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona with the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana under the baton of Diego Ceretta and the musical supervision of Daniele Gatti, was Frasquita in Carmen and Zerlina in Don Giovanni for the British touring company Diva Opera. She also sang a Puccini recital with conductor Clément Mao-Takacs and his Secession Orchestra for Radio Classic; Forum Opera hailed Faustine’s performance as “sparkling high notes, great virtuosity… an impeccable vocal line… a voice to pay attention to!”

A fervent admirer of Kaija Saariaho and her music, Faustine is honoured to have performed her work with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (Château de l’âme), the Gulbenkian Orchestra (Cinq Reflets), the Festival Musica in Strasbourg, and the Palau de la Musicá (Changing Light & Die Aussicht), the Musiikitalo (La Passion de Simone), as well as for the Victoires de la Musique Classique France 2023.

In 2018, she was a critically-acclaimed Soeur Constance in Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites at Theater Aachen in Germany, did a jump-in for this same role at the Nordhausen Theater in Germany, and was a featured artist in the Génération Jeunes Interprètes showcase for Radio France Musique.

Her US appearances include: Amy March in Mark Adamo’s Little Women with the Mannes Opera in NYC, conducted by Joseph Colaneri, and opening New York Fashion Week as a guest performer for the Givenchy 2016 runway directed by Marina Abramović, and Trois Poèmes de Louise de Vilmorin at Carnegie Hall in the Weill Recital Hall.

Faustine’s roles in Europe include the Sandmännchen in Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel in the Amphitheatre of the Oslo Opera House; Naiad in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos and Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Pfefferberg Theater in Berlin; the title role in Handel’s Semele with the Benslow Music Festival, Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with Longborough Festival Opera Young Artists on Tour, and the role of Burgundy White at the Christie’s London world premiere of The Lovely Ladies by Peter Cowdrey. Her performance of the title role in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas for the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme at the Aldeburgh Festival, conducted by Christian Curnyn, was praised by The Guardian for its “grace and natural expressivity.”

Faustine was a fellow at the Ravinia Steans Music Institute in Chicago and the Caramoor Music Festival in New York, as well as at the Garsington Festival in the UK, where she covered the role of Iris in their 2017 production of Semele. She has been invited several times to take part in the International Vocal Arts Institute (IVAI) in Canada and Israel, where she performed Soeur Constance in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites in Tel Aviv and Laurette in Bizet’s Le Docteur Miracle in Montréal, both under the baton of Metropolitan Opera conductor Paul Nadler. In 2013, Faustine made her Israeli Opera House stage debut with the Israeli Chamber Orchestra for the IVAI Gala Concert.

A frequent recitalist, she has performed at the Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House in London, the Petit Palais with Secession Orchestra, the Avignon Opera young artists concert serie, the Graham Johnson Concert Series at the Guildhall School of Music, and the Oxford Lieder Festival masterclasses with Julius Drake and Roger Vignoles. Faustine was a featured soloist on Radio France Musique at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, and on the broadcast Génération Jeunes Interprètes at the Maison de la Radio. She has given two recitals for the Fondation Vuitton at La Maison Familiale Vuitton about Debussy (ft. Charlotte Rampling), and Poulenc and Louise de Vilmorin.

Faustine is the recipient of career development grants from the Williamson Foundation for Music, the Meyer Foundation, as well as scholarships from City University of London, and from patrons Dr. Michael Shipley and Philip Rudge, and an Award from the Schuyler Foundation for Career Bridges.

She earned a first-class bachelor’s degree with distinction from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and her Master’s in Music, and Artist Diploma in Opera Performance at Mannes College of Music in New York, where she was the recipient of the Alice E. Adams Opera Scholarship and the Presidential Scholarship awards.