Fernande Chiocchio

Chiocchio, Fernande

Fernande Chiocchio. Mezzo-soprano, pianist, teacher, b Montreal 29 May 1929; B MUS piano (Montreal) 1950. She studied piano at the École supérieure de musique de Lachine and voice 1950-5 with Pauline Donalda and Sister Rolande Ouimet. In 1951 she received the Prix Archambault. She also studied voice with Rachele Maragliano-Mori and Philon Ktsanes and stage skills with Jan Doat. With the Opera Guild she made her debut in 1952 at Her Majesty's Theatre in Prokofiev's The Love of Three Oranges. She subsequently performed some 12 roles with the company, notably Mercédès in Carmen (1960), Flora in La Traviata (1962), Dame Marthe in Faust (1963), and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly (1965, 1969). She was a member of a vocal quartet which made a 50-concert JM tour in France in 1958. In 1963 she formed the Trio vocal de Montréal with Josèphe Colle and George Morgan, performing primarily on CBC radio. For CBC TV she appeared in Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortilèges (1957), and was Mère Jeanne in Dialogue des Carmélites (1960) and Bertha in The Barber of Seville (1965). She sang Suzuki with the COC in 1964 and with the Vancouver Opera in 1965. On grants from the Canada Council in 1966 and 1967 she studied with Pierre Médecin and Iris Corradetti at the Académie internationale d'été de Nice. For the Montreal Festivals she sang in Stravinsky's Les Noces and Harry Somers'The Fool, then Charlotte in Werther (1963), and Mara in Gilbert Bécaud's L'Opéra d'Aran (1965). At the Opéra du Québec she sang the Mistress of the novices in Suor Angelica (1971), Maddelena in Rigoletto (1972), and Emilia in Verdi's Otello (September 1973 - a role she had performed at Expo 67 with the MSO). She participated in the recording of Gilles Tremblay'sKékoba and Serge Garant'sPhrases I (RCI 240/4-ACM 2). In 1978 she settled in France, where she appeared notably in Charpentier's Louise and Jacques Bondon's I 330 (both in 1978) at the Opéra de Nantes. After a Chiocchio recital Jean Vallerand wrote: 'In Canada she is one of the most musical and accomplished interpreters of her generation'.(Montreal La Presse, 11 Dec 1963). Chiocchio taught voice 1967-77 at the Cons de Hull.and following her return to Montreal in 1982, she has taught privately. She was artistic director 1984-8 of the Opéra-Comique du Québec.