Music world pays tribute to soprano Jodie Devos

Tributes have been paid to the Belgian soprano Jodie Devos following her death this week of cancer at the age of 35. Devos, from Luxembourg province, was considered one of the most talented opera singers of her generation.

Devos performed all over the world and worked with renowned conductors and directors. Her last appearance on stage was on 30 April. “It is with infinite sadness that we have to announce the death of our artist Jodie Devos in Paris,” her agency wrote on Facebook on Sunday. 

In an interview with De Tijd in 2022, she said: “When I was three, I started singing and I never stopped It wasn’t a choice, but really a vocation.” She came to prominence when she finished second in Belgium’s Queen Elisabeth Music Competition for voice in 2014 and won the audience award. 

Klara radio presenter Katelijne Boon has presented the Queen Elisabeth Competition for several years. “In the first round she stood out,” she told Het Nieuwsblad on Tuesday. “She could pull out all the stops … I’m still upset. She was a comet, lighting up the earth. We can only be glad we were able to bathe in that light for a while.”

Conductor and composer Dirk Brossé told VRT: “She was a gigantic talent, a fantastic singer with a crystal-clear voice, a brilliant actress too, and above all very charming to work with. We are losing one of our very greatest Belgian musicians.”

^{Jodie Devos performs at the Victoires de la musique classique ceremony in Metz, France, February 2020 © PHOTO CHRISTOPH DE BARRY / AFP}