About

With a rich, warm timbre and resonant low notes, Elisabeth Ternisien is a French mezzo-soprano specialized in bel canto, and in the French and German romantic repertoire. Her background in theater and commitment to the stage shine through in her solo performances, blending vocal excellence with emotional storytelling. Elisabeth also explores innovative projects that merge classical singing with other art forms. Her goal is to make Opera always more accessible, and to share the pure joy of singing.

She discovered music through jazz singing and musicals at the CRR in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés with Emmanuel Touchard. She then began singing opera with Isabelle Guillaud and Doris Lamprecht at the Paris Conservatoires. At the same time, she studied drama at the Les Enfants terribles school in Paris, where she worked with Gil Galliot, Zakariya Gouram and Florence Pernel.

In 2020 she entered the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles in Christine Solhosse's class. There, she perfected her contemporary repertoire with Marianne Pousseur. In 2023 she joined the Maastricht Conservatoire in Axel Everaert's class.

She regularly performs as an ensemble singer, with the Catharsis ensemble and the Choeur de chambre à soi conducted by Charles Michiels, notably at the Festival musiques sacrées in Mons and the Festival Rencontres Inattendues in Tournai. In February 2024, she took part in the Meester and Gezellen programme, touring the Netherlands as part of a vocal ensemble, conducted by Yuval Weinberg.

Elisabeth regularly sings alto solos in J. S. Bach's St. John Passion, A. Vivaldi's Gloria and A. Dvoràk’s Messe in D-dur, with the Komorebi Ensemble and the Uccle Philharmonic Orchestra. On this occasion, she received guidance from Sigiswald Kuijken.

@Eva Bec-L’horset

Since 2023 Elisabeth has multiplied her stage experiences: she plays the lead role in G. C. Menotti's opera The Old Maid and the Thief at the Courant d'Air and Turbulence festivals in Brussels. She also studies with soloists such as Marina Viotti, Edwin Crossley-Mercier and Géraldine Chauvet at the Castel Artès summer academy. In December 2023, she was selected to take part in the first Monte Carlo Opera Academy, where she studied with Sophie Koch. She sings the roles of the mother, the Chinese cup and the dragonfly in Mr. Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortilèges, with the Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by David Molard-Soriano.

Driven by her taste for musical innovation, Elisabeth was one of the finalists in the 2024 Maastricht Award for Innovation in Music, for her performance « Consolation Space ».

In December 2024, she sings Hélène in J. Offenbach's operetta La belle Hélène, with the Nuove Musiche orchestra, conducted by Eric Lederhandler. In February 2025, she sings the lead role in Tancredi by G. Rossini, with the Maastricht Conservatorium Orchestra, conducted by Achille Lampo.