Mady Mesplé (7 March 1931 – 30 May 2020) was a French opera singer, considered the leading coloratura soprano of her generation in France, and sometimes heralded as the successor to Mado Robin, with Lakmé by Delibes becoming her signature role internationally.
She sang professionally for more than thirty years, with a repertoire that ranged from operetta to contemporary works. After retiring from the stage, she started teaching. Mesplé was the archetype of a light coloratura soprano: technically secure, musically distinctive, and with a charming stage presence. When she developed Parkinson's disease in the mid-1990s, she responded by writing a book about her career and the development of her illness.
Born Madeleine Mesplé in Toulouse on 7 March 1931, she came from a modest family background. Her father Pierre was an accountant and her mother Yvonne (Sesquiere) a secretary. She took up music at the age of four, and her mother's recognition of her promise, confirmed by a teacher,...
