Chantal Santon

French soprano Chantal Santon Jeffery made her stage debut in 1999 in Der Freischütz (a bridesmaid) conducted by Myung-Whun Chung in the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, where she has since performed in The Cunning Little Vixen conducted by Jonathan Darlington and L'occasione Fa Il Ladro conducted by Jean-Christophe Spinosi. Since 2001, she has regularly worked with the French national opera company ARCAL performing major roles in various productions. She also sang on stage Metella in La Vie Parisienne, Nérine in Charpentier’s Medee (conducted by Hervé Niquet), the title-role in La Finta Giardiniera conducted by David Stern, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni …

In concert, she has performed an extremely varied repertoire, ranging from French Baroque to Verdi’s Requiem. Her love of contemporary music has led her to become involved in several world premiere performances in France, Germany, Wales, Italy, Belgium and Japan. French composer Fréderic Verrieres is currently composing a role for her based on Geena Rowlands's character in Cassavetes Opening Night.

With the internationally acclaimed Il Seminario Musicale directed by Gérard Lesne, she has sung in numerous baroque festivals. She recently sang the four soprano solo parts in Telemann’s Der Tag des Gerichts with Opera Fuoco in the Théâtre des Champs Elysées; a classical French opera recital with Martin Gester's Parlement de Musique; Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem and Haydn’s Nelson Mass in Paris; Boccherini’s Stabat Mater and various Bach’s cantatas in the Cité de la Musique.

Her performances include Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Requiem at the Limoges operahouse; Donna Elvira in a touring production of Don Giovanni conducted by David Stern with whom she also sang Contessa in Le Nozze Di Figaro, Eleonora in Salieri's Prima La Musica, Poi Le Parole and the title role in Dido And Aeneas; the lead soprano role in King Arthur by Purcell at the Montpellier Opera with Le Concert Spirituel conducted by Hervé Niquet.

She also gives a number of regular recitals with pianist Ivan Coueffe singing Strauss, Wagner, Berg, Liszt, Debussy and Britten.

Recent recordings include La Dafne by Da Gagliano (title role) with Fuoco E Cenere, a French baroque recital recorded live in Versailles with Gérard Lesne and Kraus’ Amphitryon under the baton of Werner Ehrhardt and the Missa Assumpta est with Le Concert Spirituel and Hervé Niquet.

After graduating with a degree in political science, Chantal Santon Jeffery studied singing at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris with renowned teachers such as Margreet Honig, Noelle Barker, Udo Reinemann and Ruben Lifschitz.