MEDIA

Education

Originally from Belgium, the young mezzo-soprano/contralto Lotte Verstaen, began her musical education at the music academy of her hometown Tielt with soprano Catherine Vandevelde. In September 2019, she obtained the Master’s degree of Singing with the highest distinction at the LUCA School of Arts/Campus Lemmens in Louvain (also with Catherine Vandevelde). Subsequently she followed master classes with Maarten Koningsberger, Yann Beuron, Karine Deshayes, Daniela Musca, Roger Vignoles, Audrey Hyland, Rosemary Joshua, Alexander Vassiliev, Lisette Oropesa and George Ure.

whilst completing her vocal and musical eduction at LUCA, Lotte Verstaen was admitted to the MM Academy of the ROH La Monnaie in Brussels, which she joined in 2015. As a member of this Academy she repeatedly took part in concert projects under the baton of renowned conductors such as : Thomas Rösner, Mikhail Tatarnikov, Antonello Manacorda, Evelino Pidò, Andrea Marcon and Hartmut Haenchen.

Upcoming productions 2023-2024

La damoiselle élue (Claude Debussy) coproduced by Flanders Opera and Flanders Festival, Prinz Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus) also at Flanders Opera, Schwertleite (Walküre) in Wagner's Ring (director Romeo Castellucci) at the Monnaie. Amongst her other future roles Suzuki (Madama Butterfly) more soon. Noteworthy : at la Monnaie Lotte is currently cover for the title role in the world premiere of Cassandra an opera by Bernard Foccroulle (director Marie-Eve Signeyrole / conductor Kazushi Ono).

Recent engagements

Her role debut as Olga in Eugen Onegin at the Monnaie ; Madamigella Dangeville in Adriana Lecouvreur at Opéra royal de Wallonie Liège (house debut) and Une jeune Galiléenne and Marie-Madeleine in La Vierge (Jules Massenet) at the Klangvokal Musikfestival Dortmund. Upon invitation of the Flanders Festival she performed Berlioz' Les nuits d'été together with pianist Peter Jeurissen. As a studio member at the Cologne opera house she was cast in La Traviata (Annina), in Rigoletto (Un Paggio), in Nozze di Figaro (Cherubino) and in the « Ring for children » as 1. Norn & Flosshilde and Schwertleite) and sang a first role in the premiere of « Schnittstellen » (Das Kind). Further more she appeared in Die Vögel (Braunfels) as 1. Drossel , 3rd Wood sprite, in Rusalka, Ariel in The Tempest  (Purcell) and the 2nd Lady in Mozart's Magic flute. Eventually she made her role debut as Ursule in Berlioz' Béatrice et Bénédict (new production led by François-René Roth).

Lotte Verstaen made her house debut at Flanders Opera as Dryade in Ariadne auf Naxos and participated in the zaterdagmatinee at Concertgebouw Amsterdam in Kat'a Kabanova as Feklusa, alongside the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra Hiversum under the baton of Karina Canellakis.

Roles sung whilst trained

Paquette in Candide (Bernstein) under Patrick Leterme at Flagey Brussels (Festival Musiq’3), Louvain-la-Neuve (Festival du Brabant Wallon), Liège (Opéra Royal de Wallonie), Charleroi (Palais des Beaux Arts), Saint-Hubert and La Louvière ; Third Lady in Mozart's Magic Flute with Casco Phil led by Dionysis Grammenos ; Dinah in Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti under Ivan Meylemans ; Sorceress and Spirit in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas under Filip Martens and Mme de la Haltière in Massenet's Cendrillon. The more she covered the role of Dorabella (Così fan tutte) at the Brussel's Mozart Festival (and a few years later at Flanders opera there led by Trevor Pinnock). At the MM Academy she participated ENOA-LAB's production A song for the moon. A kid's opera by Mathilde Wantenaar and directed by Béatrice Lachaussé, produced by La Monnaie.

In concert she appeared as a soloist in J.S. Bach's Johannes Passion under Bart Naessens and Peter Ledaine (with Ensemble Orlandus and Baroque Consort Euterpe) ; Haendel's Messiah under Dirk De Nef ; Mahler's Rückert-Lieder arranged for voice and string orchestra under Marc Tooten and Saint--Saëns’ Christmas oratorio under Filip Martens.

Lotte has also a strong affinity with contemporary and 20th-century classical composers such as Jeroen D’hoe next to Frank Martin (1890-1974) of whom she interpreted the cycle «Quatre Sonnets à Cassandre ».

Competitions

In 2019 Lotte Verstaen reached the semi-finals of the 38th International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition in Villach in July 2019 and won the Third Prize at the 52nd International Singing Competition of Toulouse in September 2019.

Upcoming Lotte Verstaen sings the final round of the competition "Voix Nouvelles" edition 2023, at the Paris Opéra Comique.

Cv-update : Season 2023-2024. Please contact the agency to get the most recent update of Lotte Verstaen's biographical details.