French mezzo-soprano Sophie Boyer performs as a soloist and chamber musician and devotes part of her time to musicological research, particularly around forgotten pianist and composer Marguerite Labori.

Sophie Boyer studied at the CRR and CNSM in Lyon, France and graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, UK under the guidance of Sarah Pring, Robin Bowman and Eugene Asti. She was a finalist in the Concours International de Mélodie Française in Toulouse.

Collaboration with the Clermont-Ferrand Opera House includes the roles of Zerlina, Despina and Offenbach heroines. She performed Blanche de la Force (Les dialogues des Carmélites) at Midsummer Opera (London), Greek woman (Iphigénie en Tauride), conducted by Christophe Rousset, at the Rouen Opera House, Venus (L'Europe galante), conducted by Wiliam Christie, at the Ambronay Festival.

Sophie has formed duos with pianists Marie-Elise Boyer, Alissa Zoubritski and Patricia Garcia Gil and with accordionist Thierry Bouchet. She performed the solo parts on the disc Mantovani Voices (Mantovani, NaÏve) with Accentus (L. Equilbey); she premiered the role of the Témoin in the opera La Digitale by J.P. Carreño at the Colón theater (Bogotá) with Musicatreize.

Doctor Marie-Elise Boyer is a French pianist specializing in vocal repertoire, female composers and new works. She received her DMA in Collaborative Piano at the New England Conservatory in Boston, under the musical guidance of Cameron Stowe and Jonathan Feldman, as well as artists such as Tanya Blaich, Kayo Iwama and Margo Garrett. She previously completed her studies in Accompaniment and Vocal Coaching at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where she was awarded two Masters with Distinction degrees. She furthered her training as a vocal coach at the National Opera Studio in London. Marie-Elise has worked as a vocal coach in German theaters for nine years, including the Staatsoper Hamburg, the Staatstheater Nürnberg and the Theater Bremen. Her passion for Art Song led her to reach the Final of both Nadia et Lili Boulanger competition in Paris with Eva Ganizate in 2009 and Concours International de Mélodie Française in Toulouse with Sophie Boyer in 2013. She won the First Prize in the Elsa Respighi competition in Verona, Italy, in October 2018, with Canadian Soprano Leah Gordon.

We welcome the Boyer sisters to their first appearance in our Historical Piano Concerts.