Esther Chevalier

Esther Chevalier was a French mezzo-soprano who spent almost her whole career at the Opéra-Comique. A pupil of Saint-Yves Bax, she took first prizes at the Paris Conservatoire in singing and in opéra comique, and made her debut at the house in 1873 as Angèle in Le domino noir. Over nearly three decades there she created Mercédès in Carmen, Javotte in Massenet's Manon, Meg in the first Falstaff in France, and la Balayeuse in Charpentier's Louise, taking parts that ranged from grand ladies to soubrettes. She sang Carmen herself at the house in 1892.