SolenMainguené

She began her vocal studies at the Conservatoire de Rennes, followed by a Bachelor on a merit scholarship at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and a Master in the Opernklasse of the Mozarteum University Salzburg, completing her formation as a member of the Hamburg State Opera’s Opera Studio.

She attended masterclasses with Montserrat Caballé, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Cheryl Studer, Marilyn Horne, Barbara Bonney, Neil Schicoff, Grace Bumbry, Sophie Koch and Dame Ann Murray, and benefited from the mentoring of the conductors Simone Young and Michel Plasson. She currently studies with the American vocal pedagogue Neil Semer.

Solen is herself a mentor to advanced vocal students of the Mendelssohn Conservatory in Leipzig as part of the MentoringArts Program.

She began her career at the Hamburg State Opera, where, as a resident artist, she performed more than twenty roles and built the foundation of her lyrical repertoire. Her roles there included Musetta, Micaëla, First Lady and the Flower Maiden in Parsifal, among others.

As a freelance artist, she continued to refine and expand her repertoire across Germany and Europe, performing roles such as Mimì, Violetta, Manon, Antonia, Liù, Nedda, Tatjana, Contessa and the Governess. Her engagements included Theater Freiburg, Theater Aachen, Theater Dessau, Staatstheater Braunschweig, Musiktheater im Revier Gelsenkirchen, Oper Halle, Oper Leipzig, Malmö Opera, Opéra Grand Avignon, Opéra de Massy and Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe.

In 2023, she joined the ensemble of Oper Leipzig, marking a new chapter in her artistic development. There, she began exploring a more dramatic repertoire, adding roles such as Desdemona, Lisa, the Marschallin, Gutrune and Alice Ford, as well as Giorgetta in Puccini’s Il Tabarro, to her repertoire.

In the 2026/27 season at Oper Leipzig, she returns as Mimì in Konwitschny’s celebrated production of La bohème and as Micaëla in Carmen. She will also appear as Giorgetta in Puccini’s Il Tabarrounder the baton of Ivan Repušić and revisit one of her signature roles, Nedda in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci.

Alongside her work at Oper Leipzig, she is now expanding her international career, appearing at renowned opera houses including Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, Staatsoper Hannover, Teatro Real Madrid and Prague State Opera.

A trained actress, Solen moves naturally between opera, theatre, film, narration and performance art. Drawn to the exploration of theatrical boundaries, she feels equally at home in unconventional formats and spaces where the lines between disciplines become fluid.

In 2022, she was Marion Cotillard’s understudy in the role of Jeanne d’Arc in Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher at Teatro Real Madrid — a spoken role she had previously performed with Fanny Ardant at the Laeiszhalle Hamburg in 2015. Her artistic collaborations also include Thalia Theater Hamburg, the collectives Hauen und Stechen and Proxi, the Bundesjugendballett and Swiss actor Robert Hunger-Bühler.

Solen is known for her versatility, linguistic ease and strong stage presence. She speaks French, English and German fluently and is at home performing in Italian and Russian.