Marina Viotti (born 30 April 1986) is a Swiss-French

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...

Early life

Marina Viotti was born on April 30, 1986, in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

, in the canton of

Vaud Vaud ( ; , ), more formally Canton of Vaud, is one of the Cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of Subdivisions of the canton of Vaud, ten districts; its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat ...

. A dual French-Swiss national, she is the daughter of Swiss conductor

Marcello Viotti Marcello Viotti (29 June 195416 February 2005) was a Swiss classical music conductor, best known for opera. Viotti was born in Vallorbe, in the French-speaking region of Switzerland, to Italian parents. He studied cello, piano and singing at th ...

and French violinist Marie-Laurence Geneviève Jacqueline Bret, and the sister of conductor

Lorenzo Viotti Lorenzo Viotti (born 15 March 1990) is a Swiss conductor. He is currently chief conductor of the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and Dutch National Opera. Biography Born in Lausanne the son of conductor Marcello Viotti, Viotti studied piano, ...

. She has a younger brother, Alessandro, a horn player at the Lyon Opera, and a younger sister, Milena, also a horn player at the Munich Opera. She spent her childhood in various places, notably in Lorraine. Following her father's death in 2005, she moved to

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

with her family.

Musical career

After graduating with a flute diploma in 2000, Viotti has performed in various musical genres including

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

, and

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

. She also studied literature and philosophy and attended business school in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

before moving to

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

in 2011 to train in opera singing with Heidi Brunner. In 2013, she joined Brigitte Balleys's class at the HEMU in Lausanne, where she earned a soloist diploma. Viotti, a qualified mezzo-soprano, then continued her studies with

Raúl Giménez Raúl Giménez (born on September 14, 1950) is an Argentine operatic tenor, associated with the Italian bel canto vocal style. Giménez was born in Carllos, Perigrinni, Province of Santa Fe, Argentina. He studied at the Music Conservatory of ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. During her solo career, Viotti was hired by the

, the

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

and Munich Operas, as well as the Lucerne Theatre. In 2015, she won the Belcanto International Prize at the Rossini Festival in Wildbad and, the following year, was awarded Third Prize at the

Geneva International Music Competition The Geneva International Music Competition () is one of the world's leading international music competitions, founded in 1939. In 1957, it was one of the founding members of the World Federation of International Music Competition (WFIMC), whose he ...

. She has also received several scholarships, including the Leenaards Scholarship in 2016. In 2017, she won First Prize at the Kattenburg Competition in Lausanne. In 2018, she was named a finalist in the

Operalia Plácido Domingo's Operalia, The World Opera Competition is an annual international competition for opera singers, founded by Plácido Domingo in 1993. Overview The competition's parent organization, Operalia Foundation, is a nonprofit organizat ...

Competition and was named Young Singer of the Year at the

International Opera Awards The International Opera Awards is an annual awards ceremony honouring excellence in opera around the world. Origins The International Opera Awards was founded in 2013 by Harry Hyman, a UK businessman, philanthropist and supporter of opera, and ...

in 2019. In 2022, she was awarded the Swiss Music Prize by the

Federal Office of Culture The Federal Office of Culture (FOC) is an administrative unit of the Federal Department of Home Affairs, based in Bern, Switzerland. The agency has two extensive areas of responsibility: promoting Swiss culture and preserving the country’s c ...

. In 2023, Viotti won the Victoire de la Musique Classique in the category of "Olyric Artist of the Year." She also participated in the second day of the 36th edition of "Un violon sur le sable" (Fiddler on the Sand), on Tuesday, 25 July 2023. On 26 July 2024, Viotti participated in one of the opening ceremony acts for the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

in Paris alongside the band

Gojira is the original Japanese name for Godzilla, a giant monster at the center of a media franchise. It may also refer to: Films *Godzilla (franchise), ''Godzilla'' franchise, known as in Japan **Godzilla (1954 film), ''Godzilla'' (1954 film), relea ...

, performing a metal adaptation of the revolutionary song "Ah! ça ira," titled "Mea Culpa", incorporating an excerpt from "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle." On 2 February 2025, Viotti won the

Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for works (songs or albums) containing quality performances in the heavy metal music genre. The Grammy Awards is an annual ceremony, where ...

for "Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça ira!)," a collaboration with Gojira and Victor Le Masne, at the 67th ceremony in Los Angeles. She is the first woman to win an award in this category since its inception.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Viotti, Marina 1986 births Living people Musicians from Lausanne Swiss mezzo-sopranos French operatic mezzo-sopranos French people of Swiss descent Grammy Award winners