Laetitia Gerards

Soprano

  • Dutch soprano Laetitia Gerards is celebrated for her disarming stage presence and exceptional musicality. A recipient of the Concertgebouw Young Talent Award and the first prize at the Prinses Christina Concours, she enjoys a flourishing career as a soloist in both concert and opera performances. She has collaborated with nearly all major Dutch professional orchestras, including the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Residentie Orkest, Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, and The Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century.

    Renowned for her affinity with American repertoire, Laetitia has delivered memorable performances as Anna in Kurt Weill’s Die Sieben Todsünden at Amsterdam’s Paradiso, Anne Egerman in Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, and Eileen in Leonard Bernstein’s Wonderful Town for Nederlandse Reisopera. Her operatic roles include Papagena in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at Dutch National Opera, Servilia in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito in a staged production with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century under Kenneth Montgomery and Elle in Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine at the Concertgebouw. Additional roles include Musetta in Puccini’s La Bohème, Lisette in Puccini’s La Rondine, Noémie in Massenet’s Cendrillon, and Marzelline in Beethoven’s Fidelio.

    In the 2025/26 season, Laetitia makes her role debut as the Vixen in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, touring ten Dutch cities with the Nederlandse Reisopera. She returns to Dutch National Opera to reprise the role of Count Lothar in Operetta Land. With the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, she performs songs by Bernstein on a spectacular open-air stage at the NDSM wharf during SAIL Amsterdam. She also performs Christmas concerts with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie in both the Netherlands and Germany. At the Zaterdagmatinee, she sings the soprano solo in Langgaard’s Music of the Spheres. On television, she features in Beste Zangers 2025 (AVROTROS) and in Amsterdam 750, the national celebration of the city's anniversary broadcast by NOS.

  • In the 2024/25 season, Laetitia performed in the world premiere of Camiel Jansen’s new oratorio De Fundamenten at the Concertgebouw as part of the NTR Zaterdagmatinee series. She also performed Belle Époque repertoire during a festive New Year’s concert tour with Phion and presented a program of Broadway and West End classics with philharmonie zuidnederland in five Dutch cities. Her longstanding collaboration with pianist Thomas Beijer continued with recitals in Groningen and Utrecht, alongside a unique Costello–Ravel program with the Adam Quartet at De Doelen. She also joined the Zeeuws Orkest for a vibrant program of music from the roaring twenties, featuring works by Gershwin and Bernstein.

    Other previous highlights include her return to Dutch National Opera as Papagena in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte during the 2023/24 season, alongside several exciting international debuts. She performed Maria in excerpts from Bernstein’s West Side Story in Palermo, gave a gala concert at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, and revisited the Concertgebouw recital hall with roaring twenties repertoire alongside members of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. She made debut appearances at the Konzerthaus Berlin, Philharmonie Luxembourg, and Flagey in Brussels, performing works by Mahler, Elvis Costello, and a contemporary opera. She also starred in Steef de Jong’s Operetta Land at Dutch National Opera and sang the role of British Dancing Girl in John Adams’ The Death of Klinghoffer for the NTR Zaterdagmatinee, conducted by the composer himself. Additional career milestones include a Bernstein series with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra at the Concertgebouw, her debut as Mařenka in The Bartered Bride for Nederlandse Reisopera, and performances in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Calgary, and Vancouver as an invitee of the Netherlands-America Foundation.

    Laetitia is a familiar face on Dutch national television. In 2022, she appeared as a contestant on the popular reality show Wie is de Mol?, and in May 2021, she performed during the live broadcast of National Remembrance Day as well as at the Royal Theatre Carré on Liberation Day.

    A versatile musician, Laetitia began her journey with the cello at age five and was admitted to the Young Musicians Academy of the Fontys School of the Arts in Tilburg at thirteen. She later pursued music theatre studies at the same conservatoire before deciding to focus on classical singing. She graduated summa cum laude from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam under Sasja Hunnego in 2016 and continues to refine her singing under the guidance of Margreet Honig.

General Management: Tiben Artists

  • “Gerards was at her very best in Kurt Weill’s hallucinatory Youkali (Land of Cockaigne). It was beautiful how she and Beijer leaned into that nice habanera rhythm and evoked the yearning for that imaginary world. Also in Solitary Hotel by Samuel Barber, on a text from James Joyce’s Ulysses, Gerards’ theatrical personality emerged naturally.”

    Trouw

  • “But the great star of the performance is the young soprano Laetitia Gerards (now a BN-er thanks to her performance in Wie is de Mol), who turns the main role of Marshenka into a nice streetwise, slightly spoilt girl of nowadays.”

    NRC

  • “Laetitia Gerards, as Marshenka, led the cast with a crisp and flawless voice and with an engaging stage presence.”

    Trouw