Colette Boky

Boky, Colette

Boky, Colette, née Giroux, soprano, professor (b at Montréal 4 June 1935). On the advice of conductor Jean Deslauriers, she began vocal training in 1953. She made her Canadian debut (1961) in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro and her European debut (1964) in Haydn's The Apothecary.

In 1962 she won the Prix d'Europe and a second award, as well as a medal in the Geneva international competition. She sang at the Bremen Opera, the Salzburg Festival, the Munich Festival and the Volksoper in Vienna. Her arrival at the Metropolitan Opera (1967) in the role of the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute was a highlight of her career. Some of Boky's best- known roles have been in Poulenc's Dialogue des Carmélites and Les Mamelles de Térésias, and in Puccini's Suor Angelica.

Gifted with great sensitivity, a warm voice and an easy stage presence, Boky is a sought-after artist in Europe as well as in Canada. Since the start of the 1980s she has been teaching vocal arts at Université du Québec à Montréal, conducting master classes, and performing in pedagogical venues around the world, as well as acting as jury member at international competitions. She was awarded the Prix de musique Calixa-Lavallée (1971) and the Prix Denise-Pelletier (1986).