French mezzo-soprano Karine Deshayes attended the Sorbonne, where she studied literature and music, and the Paris Conservatoire, where she received vocal training from Mireille Alcantara. Deshayes later studied Baroque performance practices with Emmanuelle Haïm, Christophe Rousset, and William Christie. She has sung at the Opéra National de Lyon, the Teatro Musicale Real in Madrid, the Festival de Radio France in Montpellier, and the Opéra National de Paris. Deshayes gave her first performance at the Metropolitan Opera in 2007, singing the trouser role of Siebel in Gounod's Faust. Deshayes has performed in concert with Jacques Mercier, Marc Soustrot, and Myung-Whun Chung. She won prizes at the 2001 Voix d'Or competition in Ixelles, Belgium, and the 2002 Voix Nouvelles competition at La Monnaie in Brussels. Deshayes has recorded on Sony Classical, Aparte, Zig Zag Territoires, Timpani, and Ediciones Singulares. ~ Blair Sanderson, Rovi