French contralto Anthea Pichanick burst onto the musical scene by winning First Prize and the Special Prize at the prestigious Antonio Cesti International Baroque Opera Competition in Innsbruck in 2015. The discovery was that of a unique vocal grain, a strikingly deep timbre and a musicality that combines refinement and intensity. This victory led to a recital with the ensemble L’Astrée, at Vienna’s Konzerthaus.
In the summer of 2016, Pichanick gave a highly acclaimed performance at the Festival International d’Opéra Baroque et Romantique de Beaune, as Asteria in Vivaldi’s Tamerlano, with the ensemble Les Accents conducted by violinist Thibault Noally. The magazine Diapason hails “a generous timbre, perfectly poised, and admirable diction”. This event marks the beginning of a loyal collaboration with both the Festival de Beaune and Thibault Noally’s Les Accents.
The 2016/2017 season sees her cultivating eclecticism. In December 2016, at the Théâtre des Champs- Élysées, she sang Handel’s The Messiah with Le Concert Spirituel conducted by Hervé Niquet. She then appeared as one of the Handmaids in Strauss’s Elektra at the Opéra de Lyon under the baton of Hartmut Haenchen. The privileged relationship with Les Accents is strengthened by the revival of Vivaldi’s Tamerlano in Dortmund, Germany, and a Vivaldi recital at the Théâtre Grévin in Paris in June 2017: “One falls instantly under the spell of a contralto timbre as rare as it is original, whose grain is pearl, whose velvet is down and whose darkness is light,” notes the specialized website Forumopera.
Shortly afterwards, she brilliantly took on the title role in Alessandro Scarlatti’s Mitridate, again at the Beaune Festival: “Anthea Pichanick assumes the boldness as well as the outpourings of the title role, a supple contralto with a free delivery and a suave mid-range” (Diapason).
During the same summer, we can also mention Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with Le Poème Harmonique and Vincent Dumestre, alongside Julia Lezhneva, in Krakow.
The 2017/2018 season is just as intense: Mozart’s Requiem at La Seine Musicale in Boulogne- Billancourt with Les Musiciens du Louvre conducted by Marc Minkowski, staged by Bartabas; Handel’s Israel in Egypt with Les Cris de Paris and Les Siècles at the Cervantino Festival in Mexico; The Messiah with the Balearic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pablo Mielgo.
She also takes part in the gala evening at the Salle Gaveau alongside Emőke Baráth, Chantal Santon Jeffery, Philippe Jaroussky, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro and La Chimera.
She makes her debut at the Opéra de Nancy with a new role, Zulma in Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri, conducted by Giuseppe Grazioli and directed by David Hermann. Forumopera is once again enthusiastic: “We admire the talent with which Anthea Pichanick manages, thanks to her vocal and theatrical resources, to make Zulma a person in her own right”. She reprises the role at the Beaune Festival, this time with Ensemble Matheus and Jean-Christophe Spinosi. Also in Beaune, she sings the role of Fernando in Handel’s Rodrigo with Les Accents.
In 2018/2019, let’s mention Bach’s Christmas Oratorio conducted by György Vashegyi (Palais des Arts in Budapest, Chapelle Royale de Versailles, Église Saint-Roch in Paris), The Messiah again with Hervé Niquet (Chapelle Royale de Versailles), Bach and Hasse concerts with Les Musiciens du Louvre, and Mozart’s Requiem with the Choir and Orchestra of the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon conducted by Lorenzo Viotti.
One season follows another, and she takes on the role of Ménandre in Durón’s Coronis, conducted by Vincent Dumestre and directed by Omar Porras (Théâtre de Caen, Opéra de Lille, Opéra de Rouen, Opéra de Limoges, Opéra Comique).
She also sang in Handel’s Rodrigo with Les Accents at the Theater an der Wien, and took part in a Monteverdi Gala with I Gemelli, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, Philippe Jaroussky and Emőke Baráth (Théâtre des Champs- Élysées, Arsenal de Metz, Théâtre de Compiègne).
She sings Mozart’s Requiem with the Purcell Choir and the Orfeo Orchestra Budapest conducted by György Vashegyi at the Théâtre des Champs- Élysées, a theater she returns to for Rossini’s La Petite Messe solennelle with the Flemish Radio Choir.
She performed at the Montpellier Opera in Verdi’s Rigoletto, directed by Marie-Eve Signeyrol, and in Sivan Eldar’s creation After Arethusa. She also performs as a guest in two recitals, in duo with Etienne Galletier on theorbo and with her trio “Dara” for the program “Il est quelqu’un sur terre”.
In 2023/2024, she will be touring several “Sento in seno” concerts with the Caravaggio ensemble, including a recital at the Beaune International Festival.
“It is rare to come across an authentic contralto: next to Delphine Galou or Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Anthea Pichanick is one of the most beautiful. The fullness of her singing, its equality, its roundness, its warm colors, all win the audience’s approval, matched by a line conduct, a suppleness, a vitality at the service of the texts illustrated. Add to these exceptional means a rare familiarity of style, and you’ll have understood that we were delighted: the singing is inhabited.” ( Forum Opéra)
Pichanick is back with Ophélie Gaillard on cello in Bach-Rothko-&-Moi at the Chapelle de la Trinité in Lyon.
She returns to Thibault Noally and Les Accents with Scarlatti’s Mitridate at the Louvre auditorium in Paris and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, alongside Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian, Julia Lezhneva, Vivica Genaux, Sophie Rennert and Victor Sicard.
Again with Thibault Noally, she is Eustazio in Handel’s Rinaldo in 2024 for a tour at the Théatre des Champs Elysées, the Palau de la musica in Barcelona and the Halles aux grains in Toulouse, with Carlo Vistoli, Emőke Baráth, Chiara Skerath, Lucile Richardo and Andrea Mastroni.
She also flies to Finland for a Mozart Requiem conducted by Benjamin Levy.
She reprised the role of Divine Justice in Falvetti’s Il Diluvio Universale with La Capella Mediterranea conducted by Leonardo Garcia Alarcon in Caen, France, and in Poland.
Regarding her discography, Alpha Classics released a recording of Messiah with Le Concert Spirituel and Hervé Niquet, in the fall of 2017.
In early 2020, Anthea Pichanick released her first solo recording, Motets napolitains, with the baroque ensemble Les Accents conducted by Thibault Noally (La Musica).
Other recordings include Scarlatti’s Il martirio de Santa Teodosia with Thibault Noally, Didon et Enée with Les Argonautes, Duròn’s Coronis…
In September 2023, she recorded the solo viola part in Handel’s 5-part Dixit Dominus with Les Argonautes for Aparté Recordings.