Vanessa Chartrand-Rodrigue is an exciting young conductor with considerable experience in both orchestral and operatic repertoire. The last few years have been highlighted by her work as musical assistant to Vladimir Jurowsky at the Royal Opera House London in their production of Jenufa in 2020, her debut in France with the Orchestre National d’Auvergne in 2023 and her ongoing and enthusiastic commitment as artistic and musical director of the Berlin-based chamber orchestra OpusXX specialising in works by women composers. She has also recently conducted a Bartók and Stravinsky programme with the Kiev Symphony Orchestra, a Debussy and Haydn programme with the Chamber Orchestra of Cascais (Portugal) as well as a Mendelssohn, Mozart and Beethoven Programm with the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra. Vanessa Chartrand-Rodrigue has extensive musical experience on stage, having performed both as an opera singer and leading early chamber ensembles on the viola da gamba before turning her attention to conducting.
September 2023
Vanessa Chartrand-Rodrigue was born in Canada and lives now in Berlin. She is a bursary recipient winner of the 2020 International Opera Awards as well as of the Royal Philharmonic Society in London.
Her professional background is both rich in content and unique: She was first a Gamba player before dedicating herself to singing and then to conducting. Vladimir Jurowski, whom she assisted at the Royal Opera House London (production of Jenufa) and at the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (with works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mahler, Zemlinsky) encouraged her to continue as a conductor and gave her vocation a decisive impulse.
Full of ideas and eager to move with the times, Vanessa Chartrand-Rodrigue founded in Berlin 2018 the OpusXX Orchestra, an ensemble aiming to give a voice to female composers. Versatile and keen to bring her interpretation to a diverse repertoire, she conducts symphony orchestras as well as chamber music ensembles. She has most recently been guest of the Kiyv Symphony Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Cascais (Portugal), Ensemble UnitedBerlin, Chroma Ensemble, the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra and made her debut in France in 2023 with the Orchestre National d'Auvergne. In the frame of the 30-years-celebrations of the fall of the Berlin wall, she conducted a world-premiere by the New-York composer Lisa Bielawa (Mauer Broadcast for double choir, ensemble and soloists) at the Brandenburger Tor. Also in Berlin she conducted staged productions of Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro, Carmen and Les Contes d’Hoffmann.
Vanessa Chartrand-Rodrigue’s mentors are Vladimir Jurowski and Jessica Cottis. She also has worked with Jay Bernfeld, Luigi Gaggero, Hervé Niquet, Skip Sempé, and (as an opera singer) had coaching with Michael McMahon, Alexander Schmalcz and Falk Struckmann, a. o.
Vanessa Chartrand-Rodrigue has completed her master-degrees from the McGill University (singing) and the Montreal University (viola da gamba). She perfected her singing in Germany with Jeanne Piland. On opera-stage she performed Medoro (Orlando), Giulio Cesare, Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro), Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte), Haensel (Haensel and Gretel), Carmen, Nicklausse (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) and Hermia (A Midsummer Night’s Dream). She was also a soloist in Monteverdi’s Beatus Vir, Mozart’s Requiem, Saint-Saens’ Oratorio de Noel and Mahler’s Symphonie No 4.
Vanessa Chartrand-Rodrigue is also a composer. She is regularly invited to perform her works with OpusXX Orchestra and other ensembles.
September 2023
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