Patricia Petibon

Soprano Patricia Petibon specializes in Baroque opera but also sings and records a variety of later material, mostly French. She appeared on the scene in the 1990s as part of the Baroque ensemble Les Arts Florissants. Petibon has a large recording catalog featuring recitals of various kinds in addition to operatic roles. In 2025, she released the album Tombeau pour Aliénor, whose title came from a work by Thierry Escaich. Petibon was born in Montargis, France, in the Loire valley south of Paris, on February 27, 1970. Her parents were both teachers. Petibon looked toward several careers before becoming a singer; she took piano lessons as a child, studied painting, and attended the Conservatoire de Paris, where she first earned a degree in musicology before turning to voice studies with Rachel Yakar. She received that degree in 1995 and was soon participating in concerts with Les Arts Florissants and conductor William Christie. In 1995, she made her recording debut with Les Arts Florissants on a recording of Charpentier's La Descente d'Orphée aux Enfers, and she made several more recordings with that group. In 1996, she appeared on a recording of Étienne Méhul's 1792 opera Stratonice. In 1999, Petibon joined The American Boychoir on Fast Cats and Mysterious Cows, an album of American music. Petibon has appeared frequently at the Paris Opera, singing not only Baroque works but music by Mozart (as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni in 2012), Offenbach, and Richard Strauss. Her repertory extends as far forward as Alban Berg's Lulu, which she sang at the Salzburg Festival with the Vienna Philharmonic in 2010. From 2008 through the mid-2010s, she recorded for the Deutsche Grammophon label, moving to Sony Classical in 2017 and releasing several albums there, including L'Amour, la Mort, et La Mer, with pianist Susan Manoff in 2020. In 2025, she joined Ensemble Amarillis on the album Tombeau pour Aliénor and was also heard with the Württemberg Philharmonic on an album of works by Charles Koechlin, singing three mélodies (French songs). Petibon was married to the late French jazz violinist Didier Lockwood. ~ James Manheim, Rovi