After completing a master’s degree in modern literature, the mezzo-soprano Elsa Maurus studied singing with Eugénia Besala-Ludwig, the mother of Christa Ludwig, then with Heidi Raymond in Geneva. She made her début at the Nantes Opera House in Léo Delibes’s Le roi l’a dit, followed by the rôle of Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia in Rouen. In the same year, 1994, Georges Prêtre cast her in the rôle of Mara in the Opéra d’Aran by Gilbert Bécaud, which he conducted at the Konzerthaus in Vienna, with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Her first recording was of Gouvy’s Requiem, which was awarded the Diapason d’Or and a Choc du Monde de la Musique. She also recorded the soundtrack for Fina Torrès’s film, Mécaniques Cé...