Janine (or Jeanine) Micheau was born in Toulouse, France, and studied voice at the Music Conservatory there, and later at the Paris Music Conservatory. She made her professional debut at the Opéra-Comique on 16 November 1933, as la Plieuse in Louise, following this with Loys in Juif polonais by Camille Erlanger, the neighbour in Angélique by Ibert and small roles in Lakmé (Miss Rose) and Mireille (Andreloun).
She later sang Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Olympia in Les contes d'Hoffmann, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Leila in Les pêcheurs de perles, Micaela in Carmen, and the title role in Lakmé at the Salle Favart. By 1935 her performances gained her invitations to Marseille (Lakmé), and then (at the instigation of Pierre Monteux) to Amsterdam (Mélisande) and San Francisco. In Buenos Aires Erich Kleiber conducted her in Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier.
She created the role of Creuse in Darius Milhaud's Médée, for her debut at the Paris Opéra in 1940, where she also sang Gilda in Rigoletto, Violetta in La traviata and Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, among other roles.
Once the war over, her career took an international turn, she was invited at La Scala in Milan, La Monnaie in Brussels, Royal Opera House in London, the San Francisco Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, where she sang all the great French roles, Marguerite, Juliette, Manon, Mélisande, etc.
For French Radio she sang in Isoline (1947) and Madame Chrysanthème (1956) by André Messager.
Micheau was also active in concert and on French radio, especially in 18th century French works such as Rameau 's Les Indes galantes and Platée. She made several recordings, of which many have been released on CDs. Concert works in her repertoire included Shéhérazade by Ravel, Le martyre de Saint Sébastien and La demoiselle élue by Debussy, melodies by Milhaud and Debussy, and À la musique by Chabrier (which she also recorded).
From 1961 she became a voice teacher at the Paris Music Conservatory and the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Her final performance was as Pamina in Rouen in May 1968.
Janine Micheau died in Paris, France, aged 62.
* 1953 - Thomas - Mignon - Geneviève Moizan, Janine Micheau, Libero de Luca, René Bianco - Choeur et Orchestre Nationale de Belgique, Georges Sebastian - PREISER
* 1953 - Gounod - Roméo et Juliette - Raoul Jobin, Janine Micheau, Heinz Rehfus - Paris Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Alberto Erede - DECCA
* 1953 - Debussy - Pelléas et Mélisande - Camille Maurane, Janine Micheau, Michel Roux, Xavier Depraz, Rita Gorr - Choeur Elisabeth Brasseur, Orchestre Lamoureux, Jean Fournet - PHILIPS
* 1955 - Gluck - Orphée et Eurydice - Nicolai Gedda, Janine Micheau, Liliane Berton - Choeur et Orchestre du Conservatoire de Paris, Louis Froment - EMI
* 1958 - Bizet - Carmen - Victoria de los Angeles, Nicolai Gedda, Janine Micheau, Ernest Blanc - Choeur et Orchestre de la RTF, Thomas Beecham - EMI
* 1960 - Bizet - Les pêcheurs de perles - Janine Micheau, Nicolai Gedda, Ernest Blanc, Jacques Mars - Choeur et Orchestre de l'Opéra-Comique, Pierre Dervaux - EMI
Category:1914 births Category:1976 deaths Category:French opera singers Category:French sopranos Category:Operatic sopranos
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