Huguette Tourangeau, Master in Surgery is a French-Canadian operatic mezzo-soprano, particularly associated with the French and Italian repertories.
Background
Huguette Tourangeau was born in Montreal, Quebec, and graduated in pedagogy and piano from the Montreal Marguerite-Bourgeoys College, before entering the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal in 1958, where she was a pupil of Ruzena Herlinger (voice), Otto-Werner Mueller (repertory) and Roy Royal (declamation).
Education
Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal.
Career
In 1962, she was a soloist in Monteverdi"s Vespro della Beata Vergine, in Montreal. She made her operatic debut as Mercédès in Carmen, under Zubin Mehta, in 1964, also in Montreal. The same year, she sang Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro at the Stratford Festival under Richard Bonynge.
During the 1965-1966 season, she appeared as Carmen in fifty-six cities throughout North America with the Metropolitan National Company.
In 1967 and 1968, Tourangeau appeared with the New York City Opera, as Carmen. She made her formal Metropolitan Opera debut on November 28, 1973, as Nicklausse in Les contes d"Hoffmann (with Plácido Domingo in the name part), and later sang Dorabella in Così fan tutte (1975-1976), Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro (opposite Justino Díaz and Judith Blegen, 1976) and Parséïs in Esclarmonde (opposite Sutherland, 1976).
Tourangeau appears in Christopher Nupen"s 1973 film Carmen: the Dream and the Destiny, which documents a production (directed by Regina Resnik) of the opera in which Domingo plays Don José to her Carmen. In 1978, she was seen in the Met"s televised performance of Don Giovanni, as Zerlina, which was her final role at that theatre.
Following a Werther, in Lyon, in 1980, Tourangeau bid farewell to the stage.
Other notable roles included Bertario in Rodelinda, at the Holland Festival. In Semiramide (as Arsace), ''Mignon (as Mignon), and Le roi de Lahore (as Kaled), at the Vancouver Opera. And Louisiana Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein, at the Santa Fe Opera.
Tourangeau excelled equally in both light and dramatic roles, possessing a flexible mezzo-soprano adaptable to a wide range of repertoire, from bel canto coloratura trouser-roles to French lyric heroines.
She was also regarded as an excellent singing-actress. Her husband, Barry Thompson (who died in 2009), was manager of the Vancouver Opera (1975-1978) and of the Edmonton Opera Association.
Delibes: Lakmé (Sutherland. Bonynge, Ayrton, 1976) Kultur.