Rachel Yakar | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Born | (1936-03-03)3 March 1936 Lyon, France |
| Died | 24 June 2023(2023-06-24) (aged 87) La Rochelle, France |
| Education | Paris Conservatoire |
| Occupations |
|
| Organizations | |
Rachel Yakar (3 March 1936 – 24 June 2023) was a French operaticsoprano and academic voice teacher. She was known forMozart roles such as Elvira inDon Giovanni,Baroque opera and contemporary opera. She was a member of theDeutsche Oper am Rhein from 1964 to 1991, and appeared also in Paris, at the Royal Opera House in London and at festivals includingBayreuth andGlyndebourne. She received international attention as Poppea in the 1977 production of Monteverdi'sL'incoronazione di Poppea at theOper Zürich conducted byNikolaus Harnoncourt, which was recorded and filmed. She made many more recordings reviving Baroque operas in historically informed performance. Her portrayal of Debussy'sMélisande was described as ideal. She was admired not only for her voice and diction but also for her stage presence. After her retirement from the stage she taught at theParis Conservatoire.Ivan A. Alexandre [fr] fromDiapason summarised her performing: "A darling of the Baroque pioneers and a Mozartian at heart and in style, the soprano from Lyon was also the intimate voice of Strauss, Debussy and Messiaen."[1]
Yakar was born inLyon on 3 March 1936 to a family of Greek-Turkish origin. She first trained to be a fashion designer.[2] She then studied voice at theParis Conservatoire, and further for four years withGermaine Lubin.[2] In 1963, she made her debut at theStrasbourg opera.[2][3]
She moved to theDeutsche Oper am Rhein in 1964, where she remained a member of the ensemble for more than 25 years.[2] She appeared there in more than 40 productions, including leading roles such as the female title role in Gluck'sOrfeo ed Euridice, Mozart's Contessa inLe nozze di Figaro and Donna Elvira inDon Giovanni, Verdi's Gilda inRigoletto and Desdemona inOtello, Tchaikovsky's Tatjana inEugene Onegin, and Puccini's Mimi inLa Bohème and Liù inTurandot.[4] She also appeared there in the title roles of Dvořák'sRusalka,Arabella by Richard Strauss, and Debussy'sPelléas et Mélisande, and as Antonia in Offenbach'sLes contes d'Hoffmann, Marguerite in Gounod'sFaust and Anne in Stravinsky'sThe Rake's Progress.[1] She was a favourite with the audience due to her stage presence.[4]
Already before her official debut, Yakar was invited to perform at theAix-en-Provence Festival in 1961, as Rosina inHenry Barraud'sLavinia.[5] She returned for Najade inAriadne auf Naxos in 1966, alongsideTatiana Troyanos as the Composer,Régine Crespin as Ariadne andMady Mesplé as Zerbinetta.[5]
Yakar participated in the world premiere of Klebe'sDas Märchen von der schönen Lilie at theSchwetzingen Festival on 15 May 1969.[2] She first appeared at thePalais Garnier in Paris in 1970 as Gilda inRigoletto and Micaëla in Bizet'sCarmen.[1] In the mid and late 1970s, she performed more and more internationally. She appeared at theBayreuth Festival in 1975 and 1976 as Freia inDas Rheingold, Gerhilde inDie Walküre, and a Flower Maiden inParsifal.[6]
Yakar performed the title role of Monteverdi'sL'incoronazione di Poppea at theOper Zürich on 8 January 1977,[1] staged byJean-Pierre Ponnelle and conducted byNikolaus Harnoncourt inhistorically informed performance. The production was recorded in 1978[7][8] and filmed.[9] Her performances at theGlyndebourne Festival began in 1977 with Elvira, alongsideThomas Allen as Don Giovanni, staged byPeter Hall and conducted byBernard Haitink; a reviewer named her "one of the best Elviras around", with a "beautiful and supple Italian sound".[10] She performed there in 1980 and 1982 as the Marschallin inDer Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss, alongsideFelicity Lott in the title role andKrisztina Laki as Sophie.[11] She performed in Aix-en-Provence again as Aricie in Rameau'sHippolyte et Aricie in 1983, conducted byJohn Eliot Gardiner and directed byPier Luigi Pizzi, alongsideJosé van Dam as Hippolyte andJessye Norman as Phèdre.[5] She appeared at theEdinburgh Festival,Salzburg Festival and at theRoyal Opera House in London, among others.[4] Her last role on stage was Clymène in Lully'sPhaëton, conducted byMarc Minkowski and directed byKarine Saporta for the opening of Lyon'sOpéra Nouvel in 1993.[1]
Her repertoire included more Mozart roles, including Celia inLucio Silla,[1] Ilia inIdomeneo,[12] and the First Lady inDie Zauberflöte,[2]
She appeared with pioneers of revivals of Baroque operas, performingClérambault's Médée and Orphée withReinhard Goebel,[13] Lully'sArmide withPhilippe Herreweghe, Leclair's Circé inScylla et Glaucus withJohn Eliot Gardiner, and Handel's Melissa inAmadigi di Gaula withRoger Norrington.[1]
Her portrayal of Debussy'sMélisande, first performed at the end of the 1970s conducted byArmin Jordan, was regarded as ideal.[1] She also appeared in works of the 20th century such as Honegger's Diane inLes aventures du roi Pausole and Poulenc's Madame Lidoine inDialogues of the Carmelites.[1]
Yakar was regarded as a "sculptor of words, a draughtswoman of singing, a melodist and a stage beast".[1]
In concert she performed in choral works such as Bach'sMass in B minor conducted byMichel Corboz in 1979, and in Mendelssohn'sPaulus. She sangmélodies by composers such asHennri Duparc,Gabriel Fauré,Olivier Messiaen andFrancis Poulenc.[1]
Yakar taught opera at the Paris Conservatoire from 1990[14] to 1997.[3]Patricia Petibon was one of her students".[14] Simultaneously she installed, together withRené Jacobs, a studio at theCentre de musique baroque de Versailles, and gavemaster classes.[14]
Yakar was married to tenor Michel Lecocq who was active at theStrasbourg Opera.[15] After retiring from her teaching post, they lived inLoix on the Île de Ré.[1][14]
Yakar died inLa Rochelle[16] after a long struggle with illness[14]on 24 June 2023, aged 87.[4][12] Looking at her contributions, Minkowski expressed thankfulness for her portrayals of Poppea withHarnoncourt andPonnelle, Ilia, Aricie, andJenůfa, for her perfect style, exemplary diction, and her both angelic and sensual lyricism.[12]
In 1973, Yakar participated in the first recording of Rameau'sLes Indes galantes, conducted byJean-Claude Malgoire, as Emílie.[1][17] In a 2012 comparison of recordings ofL'incoronazione di Poppea, a reviewer noted her velvety seductive singing portrayingPoppaea Sabina, with passion in a duet withEric Tappy as Nero in Act 3; he found the final love duet "perfectly paced and beautifully sung".[18] Joseph McLellan from the Washington Post observed that during the final duet, Nero caresses her but she in turn caresses the new crown, turning her back to him.[19]
She recorded works byAndré Campra,André Grétry, and Rameau'sPygmalion withGustav Leonhardt. She was part of the first recording of a Handel opera with period instruments,Admeto conducted byAlan Curtis. Yakar was Fiordiligi in the first recording of the cycle of Mozart'sDa Ponte operas with period instruments conducted by Harnoncourt, performed at theDrottningholm festival.[1]
She recorded melodies byReynaldo Hahn,Georges Bizet andEmmanuel Chabrier with pianist Claude Lavoix;[20] a reviewer fromGramophone noted:
Rachel Yakar has a wider range of tone-colours and gives the words a sharper flavour ... [She] shows a flexibility with words, a way of lightening syllables and giving more conversational ease to the utterance.[20]
