Death of singer Béatrice Uria-Monzon, “an immense Carmen”

French-Spanish opera singer Béatrice Uria-Monzon died on Saturday, July 19, in Agen following a long illness, at the age of 61, her agent announced on Facebook.

She was "an immense artist, an immense Carmen," Thérèse Cédelle, her agent for nearly forty years, told Agence France-Presse, describing her as a singer of "great class," "very frank, very sincere and very loved."

Revealed in 1993 during her revolutionary interpretation of Georges Bizet's Carmen at the Paris Opera, the mezzo-soprano reprised this role numerous times in the greatest halls around the world, from New York to Moscow. "She burned on stage," added the agent, praising the "very great international career" of an "artist to her fingertips."

Moving towards the soprano repertoire, Béatrice Uria-Monzon has notably interpreted Tosca and Lady Macbeth. In 2017, she played the Countess of Sérizy in Luca Francesconi's Trompe-la-Mort at the Paris Opera, then Adriana Lecouvreur in Saint-Etienne, Margherita and Elena in Mefistofele at the Chorégies d'Orange, La Gioconda at the Théâtre royal de la Monnaie (Brussels) and Madeleine de Coigny in Andrea Chénier .

"How sad to lose a friend and a wonderful singer," former culture minister Roselyne Bachelot posted on Instagram . "Farewell, my Béa," reacted Italian tenor Roberto Alagna, who starred alongside her in Carmen , on Facebook.

To pay tribute to him, France Télévisions announced that a special evening will be dedicated to him on Tuesday, July 22, on France 4, with a rebroadcast of Carmen at the Théâtre antique d'Orange, directed by Jérôme Savary, followed by the program "Fauteuils d'orchestre" presented by Anne Sinclair, which was dedicated to him.