Biography

Manon Duboc is a French soprano who lived successively in France, Ireland, Switzerland, Australia, UK, and Belgium.

She studied at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne and in London, at the Trinitiy Laban with Neil Baker. She is now living in Antwerp and perfectionning her art under Chelsea Bonagura‘s guidance. Manon benefited from the teaching of many talented and current musicians in the industry, such as Helmut Deutsch, Stephan MacLeod, Nicky Spence, and Jeannette Fischer.

We recently heard Manon Duboc in the role of Pamina/Die Zaubeflöte under Arthur Faghen‘s direction and Robin Guarino, Antonia/Les Contes d’Hoffmann, with Federico Santi and Lorenzo Maria Mucci. She sang as a soloist in Vivaldi’s Gloria, Haendel’s Messiah, in Valentin Villard’s Messe pour six voix solistes, or in the BWV30 cantata Freue dich erlöste Schar.
She sang in France, in the United-Kingdom, in Belgium, in Italy and in Switzerland with Nicolas Reymond, Matthew Watts, Christophe Gesseney, Stephan MacLeod, and Damien Luy.
She is the recipient of two musical scholarships, has won the first prize in the Young Artists Trentino Music Festival Competition, the Jury’s Encouragment Price at the Leopold Bellan International Music Competition and has been a semi-finalist at the International Singing Competition of Marmande.

Manon Duboc wishes to bring lyrical music beyond the concert halls’ spaces. Thus, over the three month lockdown in London in 2020, and the following months in Switzerland, she sang small 20 minute concerts every Saturday night on her balcony, sharing with her neighbors the music of Schumann, Fauré, Bellini, Mozart, Bizet (and so many others!), sometimes incorporating well known songs from Piaf, Gershiwn (with an electric guitar), My Fair Lady and Les Misérables.

Besides music, Manon studied translation (French, English, Italian), and obtained a Degree in Linguistics sciences. She also enrolled as a part-time firefighter and worked for the fire department of Lyon for 6 years. She participated in the extinguition of multiple fires (forest fires, car fires, house fires…), intervened on many car crash sites, and dozens of health emergencies (including CPR, drownings, serious cuts, burns, faintings…). Over those 6 years, Manon simultaneously managed academic studies, music conservatoire and night shifts, and finished her firefighter’s career at the rank of Sapeur First Class.

When Manon speaks English, she tries to subtly drop rare or obsolete words into the conversation.
Success rate: 40%

Manon skateboards since the winter of 2019.

Manon is a brilliant stakhanovist (in a non-Soviet way). Nothing moves her more than a completed to do list.

Sometimes, Manon has excellent motor reflexes. She once slapped a seagull on Federation square in Melbourne.
No seagull steals Manon’s sandwich without paying the price.

Manon collects words. Here are three excerpts of her collections:
-Weird English words starting with an a-: ajar, aloft, aloof, aglow
-Funny color denominations in French with their equivalent in English: céladon (celadon / green), albumen (no English equivalent / white), céruléen (cerulean / blue), caca d’oie (literally: goose excrement / green)
–Funny villages’ names in Normandie: Grainville-la-Teinturière (Grainville-the-dyer), Cany-barville (sounds like Cannibal-city), Criquetôt-le-Mauconduit (Criquetôt-the-bad-behaved), Goderville, Carville-pot-de-fer (Carville-iron-pot), Theuville-aux-Maillots (Theuville-swimsuits)…