Diana Higbee continues to enchant audiences with her “touching and pure voice even in the high register (…) a voice full of agility, brilliance and a wonderful grace.” (Nordbayerischer Kurier) and her voice has been compared to the voice of angels “Voci di Angeli” by Eve Ruggieri on her television program “Musiques au Coeur”.
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This 2007-2008 season began with Diana Higbee singing the wonderful role of Arminda in La Finta Giardiniera by Mozart at the Festival de Gigondas. She made her debut in musical theater as the young ingénue Looloo in 50 Million Frenchmen by Cole Porter conducted by Pascal Verrot and directed by Kim Criswell and James Brennan which toured with the Orchestre de Picardie to the Opera de Rouen, le Grand Théâtre de Provence, la Maison de la Culture d’Amiens and the Royaumont Foundation. She was highly acclaimed for the meanness of her character as the First Witch in Dido and Aeneas at the Lille Opera with conductor Kenneth Weiss. Ms. Higbee’s sang soprano solos in the following sacred music Te Deum by Haendel with Les Voyages Extraordinaires Orchestra with Joachim Jousse, The Messiah with Les Goûts Réunis Orchestra conducted by Dominique Daigremont, The Coronation Mass and Solemn Vespers by Mozart with the Paris Choral Society under the direction of Ned Tipton and the Ensemble Resonnances and the Stabat Mater by Pergolesi with the Promethée Chamber Ensemble conducted by Pierre-Michel Durand. She recorded and performed throughout Paris Les Leçons de Ténèbres by Couperin. The CD will be out this summer.
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Diana Higbee’s engagements for the 2009-2010 season include: Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Mozart Arias with Orchestre Promethée, Contessa (Nozze di Figaro).
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Ms. Higbee has sung among others Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Fiordiligi (Cosi fan Tutte), Bastienne (Bastien und Bastienne), Arminda (La Finta Giardiniera), Musetta (La Bohème), Amour (Orphée et Euridice), Crobyle (Thaïs), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel), and in the baroque repertoire Galatea (Acis and Galatea), Pleasure (The Choice of Hercules) Josabeth (Athalia), Atalanta (Serse), Aréthuze (Actéon), First Witch and Second Woman (Dido and Aeneas). She sang these roles in various opera houses such as Avignon, Rennes, Besançon, Rouen, Marseille Operas, the Stadthalle Bayreuth, the Margräfliches Opernhaus, the Berlin Komische Oper, the Gulbekian Foundation and at the Aix-en-Provence, Chartres, Utrecht and Ambronay Festivals. She has close working relationships with conductors Pascal Verrot, Paul McCreesh, Nicolaus Richter, Pierre-Michel Durand, Kenneth Weiss, Dominique Daigremont and Philippe Barbey-Lallia. She has worked with Dominique Trottein, Thierry Weber, Thomas Muraco, José-Maria Garcia-Léon, Amine Kouider, Lisa Laskowich.
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She was chosen by television audiences around the world as the winner of the Young Talent 2006 on music program “Musiques au Coeur” and the 2006 Wagner Stipend recipient from Paris France.
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Recordings include:
Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel by Humperdinck for the Bayerischer Rundfunk Label, Amour in Orphée et Euridice by Glück for Arte DVD, soprano solo in Requiem Vauban by Enguerrand-Friedrich Lühl for Polymnie Records, Les Leçons de Ténèbres by Couperin for Poco a Poco Label. To be released her performance of the Exsultate Jubilate and Requiem by Mozart for Bel Air Media DVD Classics with Yann Beuron, François Lis and Stéphanie d’Oustrac.
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Diana Higbee makes her home in Versailles, France. She is a French National, with an American Father and New-Zealand Mother. She has been awarded the 2008 GOLD (Graduate Of the Last Decade) award by her Alma Mater Hillsdale College for her achievements in such a short time after graduating. She holds a Masters degree from the Manhattan School of Music in New York where she studied with the late Ted Puffer and Monica Harte.
