The Prize for Young Musician of the Year is awarded alternately to a Dutch-speaking and a French-speaking or German-speaking musician; the prize is presented during the Caecilia prizes in collaboration with BOZAR. You can find a complete overview of the Caecilia prizes 2022 here.
Sarah Defrise
In 2020, Sarah Defrise made her remarkable debut at De Munt where she performed the title role in The Little Girl, the first part of Is this the end ? by composer Jean-Luc Fafchamps. In this extraordinary production created during full lockdown, her immense talent shone brilliantly. But Sarah Defrise had already earned her spurs in several performances of international caliber. She proved herself an irresistible Cunégonde in Bernstein's Candide and was also heard in the role of Bacchis in Offenbach's La belle Hélène or as La Fée in Cendrillon by Pauline Viardot. During the current season, she made her debut at the Berlin State Opera in Sleepless by Peter Eötvös and at the Grand Théâtre in Geneva in Der Goldene Drache by the same composer. She will soon be heard in the sequel to Is this the end? by Fafchamps at De Munt as well as Zerlina in Don Giovanni at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie under the direction of Christophe Rousset.
Sarah performs regularly in concert, excelling particularly in 19th-century song repertoire with her regular partner, pianist Stéphane Ginsburgh. Together with pianist Craig White, she has begun an integral recording of Joseph Jongens songs, with the first part released under the title Entrevisions by Musique en Wallonie.
Born into a French-American family, Sarah Defrise was barely four years old when she began with music. Sarah obtained a doctorate in the arts from the Université Libre de Bruxelles, a master's degree in voice from the Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles, and a 'diplôme de concertiste' from the Ecole normale de musique Alfred Cortot in Paris.
Website: https://www.sarah-defrise.com/
Photo: (C) Marie-Clémence David