Mathé Altéry (, born Marie-Thérèse Renée Micheline Altare, 12 September 1927) is a French

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

prominent in the 1950s and 1960s. Mathé Altéry is the daughter of French

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

Mario Altéry. In 1956, both Altéry and Dany Dauberson individually represented France in the first

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

Career

Altéry was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. She began her singing career in

Cherbourg-Octeville Cherbourg-Octeville () is a former commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.Manche Manche (, ; Norman language, Norman: ) is a coastal Departments of France, French ''département'' in Normandy (administrative region), Normandy on the English Channel, which is known as , literally "the sleeve", in French. Manche is bordered by ...

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

, where her father was working at the time. She studied

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

. Altéry began as a

chorister A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

at the

Théâtre du Châtelet The Théâtre du Châtelet () is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. One of two theatres (the other being the Théâtre de la Ville) built on the site of a ''châtelet'', a ...

in Paris, in the operetta ''Annie du Far-West (Annie of the Wild West)'' and in ''La Toison d'Or''. In 1956, Altéry represented France in the first

, with the song " Le temps perdu" ''(Lost Time)''. During the first contest only the winning song was announced, and so the rank of her song is unknown. As of 2025, she is the oldest living Eurovision contestant.

References

External links

* French sopranos 1927 births Living people Singers from Paris Eurovision Song Contest entrants Knights of the Legion of Honour {{France-opera-singer-stub

Career

See also

References

External links