Celebrated for the beauty of her voice and the depth of her artistry, French soprano Elsa Benoit has established herself as a captivating force in both opera and concert repertoire, with a particular affinity to Baroque and French repertoire.
Benoit’s 2025/26 season features distinguished engagements across Europe: taking on the title roles in Handel’s Semele at the Dutch National Opera and Rameau’s Scylla et Glaucus at Zurich Opera House, both staged by Claus Guth and under the baton of Emmanuelle Haïm.
Benoit will perform Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 under Paavo Järvi with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 at the Opéra National de Lyon under Jader Bignamini and with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under Robin Ticciati. Together with the Singakademie Zurich, she will tour Helsinki, Bern, and Zurich with Haydn’s The Seasons. At the Vienna Konzerthaus, she will perform Poulenc’s Stabat Mater under Marie Jacquot.
Highlights of pasts seasons include Leïla (Les Pêcheurs de Perles), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) and Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), performing at Opéra Comique and Palais Garnier in Paris, at opera houses in Cologne, Berlin (Komische Oper), Dresden (Semperoper), Munich (Bayerische Staatsoper) and beeing featured at major festivals such as Glyndebourne, Salzburg and Aix-en-Provence.
Elsa’s discography includes a wide range of CDs and DVDs. Among them Poppea in Handel’s Agrippina, which was recorded for Warner Classics and received a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording nomination, Les Indes Galantes at Bayerische Staatsoper for BelAir Classiques, Hippolyte et Aricie at Opéra Comique for Naxos and Poulenc’s Gloria with the Dresden Philharmonic for Berlin Classics.
As an internationally acclaimed concert soloist, Benoit has collaborated with leading orchestras such as the Berlin, Vienna, and Munich Philharmonics, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Oslo Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Stuttgart Bach Academy, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, and Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. She has worked with distinguished conductors including Robin Ticciati, Alan Gilbert, Emmanuelle Haïm, Andris Nelsons, Herbert Blomstedt, Jonathan Nott, Vladimir Jurowski, and Klaus Mäkelä.
After completing a Master with distinction at the Dutch National Opera Academy, she joined the Bayerische Staatsoper’s Opera Studio. Her first permanent engagement was at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt in 2015/16, where she performed roles such as Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Giulietta (I Capuleti e I Montecchi), and Micaëla (Carmen), the latter earning her the Austrian Music Theatre Prize. She then joined the ensemble of Munich’s Bavarian State Opera, excelling in roles including Oscar (Un ballo in maschera), Musetta (La Bohème), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel) and Adina (L’Elisir d’Amore).
