A PROPOS
Maïlys de Villoutreys was nine year’s old when she discovered singing, joining the children’s choir la Maîtrise de Bretagne, after several years of studying the violin. With the choir she took part in numerous concerts, recordings and tours in France and Europe.
While completing a degree in Italian language and civilisation, she studied singing in Rennes Conservatoire, and then at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, where she completed her masters with honours in 2011.
Her passion and talent for the baroque repertoire has lead to collaborations with many of the world’s leading period music ensembles. She can regularly be heard with Ensemble Amarillis (especially for French chamber music), but also with Ensemble Pygmalion (R Pichon) in Bach Cantatas and Passions, Les Musiciens du Louvre (M Minkowski), the Concerto Soave (JM Aymes), l’Ensemble Desmarest (R Khalil), Les Folies Françoises (P Cohen-Akenine), Le Banquet Céleste (D Guillon), la Rêveuse (B Perrot et F Bolton), le Caravansérail (B Cuiller), Les Surprises (LN Bestion de Camboulas), Marguerite Louise (G Jarry),...
Maïlys discovered the stage at a young age, interpreting children’s roles at the Opéra de Rennes (Sophie in Britten’s Let's make an opera, and Yniold in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande). Since then, Maïlys has gone on to perform several Mozart roles, including Pamina, Barberina, and the Queen of the Night (conducted by N Krüger, Melia). She was Miss Ellen in Lakmé at the Opéra de Rouen; Amour (Orphée et Euridyce, Gluck) in Saint-Etienne, Marseille and at the Opera Royal de Versailles, and Clarine (Platée, Rameau) under Jean-Claude Malgoire.
From 2014 to 2017 Maïlys was Clarice, the “coquette”, in the baroque and contemporary opera La Double Coquette (Antoine Dauvergne and Gérard Pesson) with Ensemble Amarillis, which toured to Scène Nationale de Besançon, Grand Théâtre d'Angers, Croisements Festival in Beijing, French May Festival in Hong Kong, Festival de Sablé-sur-Sarthe, Théâtre de la Ville Paris, L'Arsenal in Metz, Dock Street Charleston NY USA, Montclair New Jersey USA, and KunstFestSpiele Hannover. In 2019, she was « la Princesse » in the creation of the opera Trois Contes by the french composer Gérard Pesson (Opéra de Lille).
Her discography includes two recitals: “Songs of Jean-Benjamin de Laborde” with the Trio Dauphine (Evidence classics, 2015), and “Il pianto della Madonna” (B records, 2016) with the ensemble Desmarest. More recently, with Le Banquet Céleste (D Guillon), she recorded Maddalena ai piedi di Cristo (Caldara) as « Marta » ; and she performed « la Musique » in the new and warmly welcome recording of Les Arts Florissans (Charpentier) with the Ensemble Marguerite Louise (G Jarry).