Playing the violin and learning how to read music as a little child gave Francine an ear and musicality that feels at home in all classical music from baroque to quarter tone music. After her studies at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, where she received her master’s degree with distinction for musical talent and artistry, she moved to Copenhagen to study at the Royal Danish Opera Academy. Here she got the opportunity to sing Flora in Verdi’s La Traviata and Mercedes in Bizet’s Carmen.
During her studies in Denmark, she sang the part of the Squirrel in Richard Ayres’ opera The Cricket Recovers, directed by Pierre Audi, for the Holland Festival. After her education she sang Pernille (Nielsen’s Maskarade) and Cherubino at the Royal Danish Opera. She had her Swedish debut with a leading role, Gwendolen, in The Importance of being Earnest (B. Tommy Andersson) in Vadstena.
In the 2025–26 season she will sing Lola in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Annina in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier at the Royal Danish Opera. She will also appear as second soprano in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Mozart’s C minor Mass. In summer 2025 she sang Wellgunde in Wagner’s Götterdämmerung at Den Ny Opera in Esbjerg, and earlier that year she toured with Malmö Opera as Baba in Menotti’s The Medium.
In 2024 she created the main role of Nallepirat in the children’s opera Nalle Havsöga at Malmö Operaverkstan, and later sang the 3rd Lady and 3rd Boy in Die Zauberflöte at Den Ny Opera in Esbjerg. In 2023 she jumped in as Faust in Malmö Opera’s touring production Marguerite, and also sang Angelina in La Cenerentola at Opera Hedeland. In 2022 she made her role and house debut as Gertrude in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette at Malmö Opera and toured Scandinavia with Nordic Opera in the contemporary opera Drömdöden.
In 2018 she performed and conducted a new music theatre production with music by Ligeti at the Opera Forward Festival in Amsterdam, and in the same year made her role and house debut as Carmen with the Danish National Opera. She also appeared in a lied recital with Magnus Svensson at the Stockholm Konserthus, sang Tisbe in La Cenerentola at the Royal Swedish Opera, Cherubino with Den Ny Opera in Esbjerg, and the Dormouse and the Cricket in Mathilde Wantenaar’s A Song for the Moon with the Dutch National Opera.
In the field of contemporary music, Francine can be called a specialist. During many years she took part in avantgarde projects with Silbersee, based in Holland. She gracefully performs vocal acrobatics by a.o. Georges Aperghis, Luciano Berio, Giacinto Scelsi, John Cage and many living composers.
Francine won the 1st prize at the Copenhagen Lied-Duo Competition2015 with pianist Christian Westergaard and the Händel Award and the Diorapthe Award for the best performance of a new composition by Willem Jeths at the International Vocal Competition 2014 at ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Holland.
Francine can also be heard with Westergaard on a cd box with Heise songs, released in February 2021.
As a concert soloist Francine performs baroque, contemporary and romantic repertoire with a.o. Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, Concerto Copenhagen, Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Copenhagen Phil, Camerata Øresund, Esbjerg Ensemble, Asko Schönberg Ensemble and Orchestre de Chambre de Genève.
