Mezzo-soprano Stéphanie d'Oustrac, a protégée of early music conductor William Christie, has specialized in French Baroque opera. She has expanded her repertoire into 19th and 20th century roles as her career has developed. Stéphanie d'Oustrac was born in Rennes, France, on June 27, 1974. She is a great-niece of Francis Poulenc and Jacques de La Presle, and has performed the music of both composers As a child, d'Oustrac sang in the Maîtrise de Bretagne Children's Choir but at first, hoped to be an actress and was admitted to the Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in Rennes. Among her classmates there was Yann Tiersen. The Barbra Streisand film Yentl made her realize that singing and acting together was a possibility, and hearing a recital by mezzo-soprano Teresa Berganza sealed her decision to become an opera singer. Enrolling at the Conservatoire national supérieur et de danse de Lyon, d'Oustrac won the school's first prize for song in 1998. A breakthrough in her career came when she was heard by conductor William Christie, the leader of the Baroque opera group Les Arts Florissants and a major force in French early music. Christie cast her in a production of Lully's Thésée at the Baroque Academy of Ambronay, in the role of Médée. She landed several other supporting roles before appearing in the title role of Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Médée in 2002. For some years, d'Oustrac was identified with Baroque opera, especially French, but as the range of the historical performance movement has expanded, so too has d'Oustrac's, and she has performed music by Fauré, Berlioz, and Britten. She has also appeared with L'Arpeggiata, Il Seminario Musicale, Amarillis, and other Baroque chamber groups. She has given recitals around Europe, China, and the U.S. After making several recordings for the Ambronay label, d'Oustrac was signed to Harmonia Mundi and released Sirènes, featuring music by Berlioz, Liszt, and Wagner, in 2019. She followed it up later that year with the album Une Soirée chez Berlioz. ~ James Manheim