Hasnaa Bennani

From the first sounds, Hasnaa Bennani impresses with the silkiness and the sweet tone of her bright voice, as well as the subtle and natural art of phrasing. This virtuosity in playing with her voice combined with the elegance of her vocal line and exceptional diction makes her an astounding interpreter of 18th-century Italian repertoire and lyrical tragedies.

The French-Moroccan soprano began her musical journey in Rabat under the guidance of her sister Jalila Bennani, singer and choir conductor, and László Fodor, violin teacher. Following these diverse beginnings, she obtained a diploma at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse in Paris in the class of Glenn Chambers and then honed her early music skills under the tutelage of Howard Crook and Isabelle Poulenard. 

After winning first prize in a Baroque singing competition in Froville, her career picked up pace. She has worked intensively with numerous and renowned French ensembles, including La Grande Écurie et La Chambre du Roy, Le Poème Harmonique (artistic direction: Vincent Dumestre), Les Musiciens du Louvre (Marc Minkowski), Les Talens Lyriques (Christophe Rousset), Le Concert Spirituel (Hervé Niquet), Les Surprises (Louis-Noël Bestion de Camboulas), La Rêveuse (Benjamin Perrot and Florence Bolton), Les Ambassadeurs (Alexis Kossenko), Akadêmia (Françoise Lasserre), La Chapelle Rhénane (Benoît Haller) and Le Caravansérail (Bertrand Cuiller). Internationally, her artistic qualities convinced ensembles such as Les Muffatti (Peter Van Heyghen), Capella Cracoviensis (Jan Tomasz Adamus), Hassler Consort (Franz Raml), Orfeo Orchestra (György Vashegyi), Armonia Atenea (George Petrou) and Accademia Bizantina (Ottavio Dantone) to work with her. 

On the operatic stages, Hasnaa Bennani starred as Al-Faïma in Dubois’ Aben-Hamet at the Atelier Lyrique de Tourcoing, Snow and Spring in Gérard Condé’s La Chouette Enrhumée at the Opéra de Metz, the Water Nymph in Lully’s Armide at the Opéra de Nancy, Cléone and Happy Shadow in Rameau’s Castor et Pollux with Le Concert Spirituel at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and with Les Talens Lyriques at the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, as well as Ismène in Marin Marais’ Alcyone with Jordi Savall at the Opéra-Comique. She also played Berenice in Handel’s Scipione at the Halle Festival with the Armonia Atenea ensemble led by George Petrou, with whom she sang the role of Gildippe in Porpora’s Carlo il Calvo. In 2020, she made her debut at the Bayreuth Baroque Festival with the role of Giuditta in Vinci’s Gismondo, re di Polonia. 

The recent several years brought a number of her projects, including Leclair’s Scylla et Glaucus and Rameau’s Castor et Pollux, two important projects with the Purcell Choir and the Orfeo Orchestra led by György Vashegyi (Budapest and Versailles); a tour with Scarlatti’s Stabat Mater with performances in Paris, Lyon, at the festivals of Saint-Dié and Vézelay and at the Musicales de Normandie with Le Caravansérail; concerts and a recording of Mondonville’s Carnaval du Parnasse with Les Ambassadeurs at the Royal Opera House of Versailles and Tourcoing. 

In the 2024/2025 season, her voice flourished particularly in Italian music performances, including a tour with Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with Le Poème Harmonique. Hasnaa Bennani also sang the role of Mary Magdalene in Handel’s oratorio La Resurrezione with Le Concert de la Loge in Ghent and took part in the production of Landi’s La morte di Orfeo at Versailles with Stéphane Fuget and his Les Épopées ensemble. In the summer of 2025, she played the role of Ismene in Telemann’s Orfeo at the Drottningholm Festival, led by Francesco Corti and directed by Elena Barbalich. 

Her discography includes Couperin’s Leçons de Ténèbres with Le Poème Harmonique (Alpha), Lully’s Amadis (as Corisande) and Rameau’s Zaïs (as Amour) with Les Talens Lyriques (Aparté) along with an album of Handel opera arias written for Francesca Cuzzoni with Les Muffatti (Ramée). She also recorded the role of Cecina in Porpora’s Germanico in Germania for Decca with Capella Cracoviensis (the concert version of the opera was presented in Moscow and at the Theater an de Wien).