This is an authorized translation in English of a post in French by Maité Decombe (@mdecombe): L’opéra de ma vie

^{As my primary language is not English, there are probably some mistakes in my translation.}

Remember that the person who speaks here is NOT me, Vincent Celier (@vcelier), but Maité Decombe (@mdecombe), a French gal.

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The Opera of my Life

I will be a dancer or a nun. I am part of a family of musicians, my father was a conductor and solo violin at age 15 on Barcelona radio. He continued his career at the Opéra de Bordeaux.

He absolutely did not want his daughter to be in this environment.

Did not work: the girl has a sacred temperament and pursues her own dream: to be a star in the performing arts.

My grandparents had created a music school: "Les cours Massenet". They wanted to pay tribute to the composer Jules Massenet, well known to music lovers, and author of the operas Manon, Thaïs, etc. He was also a close friend of my grandfather. I still have letters sent by Jules Massenet to my grandfather.

My musical training starts in the family bosom. Then I decided to go back to the conservatory of Bordeaux singing and comedy. I won 5 first prizes, alongside comedian Roger Miremont.

Roger has been an actor in many musicals such as "Hair", or "Oh! Calcutta!". Then he was a "pensionnaire" of the Comédie Française in Paris, and partner of Jean-Pierre Darras in Molière pour rire et pour pleurer. He has also appeared in numerous films and plays, notably alongside Jacqueline Maillant.

If I tell you about him it's because he was my first big love. And on our promotion of 35 students in the conservatory of Bordeaux, we were the only two who had a professional career.

As for me, I sang in all the operas of France, Belgium, Germany, where a lot of adventures happened.

I could for example tell you:

• How an airplane was stopped because of my delay. I was leaving the opéra de Monte-Carlo and I was singing the same evening in Strasbourg. I arrived directly from stage, still costumed and made up. As a punishment, the captain asked me to sing, during the flight, an excerpt from Carmen a capella, in front of all the amazed travelers.

• How I found myself in what I thought was a taxi when it was a carnival vehicle, slowing down in front of my house, carrying a snake box for the circus around.

• How did I force my friend Paul Brelly, director of the Gaumont cinemas in Bordeaux, to pick me up in a private jet, because I had not planned any transport between Nice and Dijon.

• How I was dropped by helicopter in the ancient theater of Fourvière in Lyon while I have vertigo.

• How and why I was escorted by a CRS convoy between Toulon and Monaco

• How I made my vocalizations in the toilets of a train leading me to Rennes, for a replacement at short notice in Carmen. And why the controller, waiting patiently for my exit, remained speechless when he saw me.

• How I found myself in Yann Queffélec's movie "Les Noces barbares" (in English: The Cruel Embrace), because he insisted that the role of the concert pianist be held by a real pianist. And how the owner of the castle almost had an attack on seeing me driving his precious car.

And many other extraordinary situations that I will tell you in future articles if you have the courage to follow me in my adventures.

Art is the illusion that redeems all others. As far as I'm concerned, it saved my life.

At the age of 3, I was a star dancer in the group of Mady Pierozy, famous star dancer of the Paris Opera. My parents seeing the importance of dance in my life, decided to force me to stop.

But the little one continues in the universe of artist, becoming violin soloist at the age of 10 years.

My father, who was a great violinist, was a very bad teacher. I was his only student and he managed to disgust me from the violin with his screaming and smoking.

It does not matter, my way was elsewhere: the opera. Hence the title of this series of articles: my life is an opera.

For 25 years I traveled across France and part of Europe, sung in the greatest operas, played with some of the greatest actors, and made appearances in several movies.

But I keep it for later, because my life is not a long quiet river.

-- Maité Decombe

Continue to Part 1: Between Illusions and Reality