The Young Musician of the Year Award is alternately given to a Dutch-speaking and a French-speaking or German-speaking musician. The prize is presented during the Caecilia Awards in collaboration with Bozar. You can read a complete overview of the Caecilia Awards 2022 here.
In 2020, Sarah Defrise made a remarkable debut at the Munt, where she performed the title role inThe Little Girl, the first part ofIs this the end?by composer Jean-Luc Fafchamps. In this extraordinary production, brought to life during full lockdown, her immense talent shone brilliantly. But Sarah Defrise had already proven herself in multiple international productions. She was an irresistible Cunégonde in Bernstein'sfromCandideand also performed as Bacchis in Offenbach'sLa belle Hélèneor as La Fée inCinderellaby Pauline Viardot. During the current season, she made her debut at the Berlin State Opera inSleeplessby Peter Eötvös and at the Grand Théâtre de Genève inThe Golden Dragonby the same composer. She will soon be heard in the sequel toIs this the end?by Fafchamps at the Munt as well as Zerlina inDon Giovanni
at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie under the direction of Christophe Rousset.Sarah performs regularly in concert, particularly excelling in 19th-century art song repertoire with her regular partner, pianist Stéphane Ginsburgh. Together with pianist Craig White, she has begun an integral recording of Joseph Jongens songs, with the first part published under the titleEntrevisions
by Musique en Wallonie.
Simon van Rompay https://www.sarah-defrise.com/
Photo: (C) Marie-Clémence David
