Cécile Restier

French pianist, vocal coach and répétiteur Cécile Restier is widely recognised as one of the leading opera coaches of her generation. Combining exceptional pianistic skills with profound knowledge of the operatic repertoire, languages and vocal technique, she has collaborated for nearly two decades with many of the world’s foremost opera houses, conductors and singers.

Born in Paris, she studied piano and vocal accompaniment (opera and song) at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, where she graduated with three First Prizes. During her studies she was already entrusted with accompanying vocal classes, opera workshops, ensembles and diction courses, demonstrating from an early stage her outstanding gifts as a collaborative pianist and vocal coach.

In 2007 she joined the Oper Frankfurt as Solo Répétiteur, before being appointed in 2012 to the same position at the Vienna State Opera, one of the world’s most prestigious opera houses. During her thirteen seasons in Vienna she collaborated on hundreds of productions covering the core international repertoire while also teaching French diction and phonetics at the MUK – Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna. Since September 2025, she has been Solo Répétiteur at the Opéra National de Lyon, where she also serves as Head of Musical Studies for the Lyon Opera Studio, mentoring the next generation of international singers.

Her guest engagements have taken her to many of the world’s leading festivals and opera houses, including the Salzburg Festival, the Bregenz Festival, the Bard SummerScape Festival in New York State, the Opéra-Comique, the Théâtre du Châtelet, the opera houses of Lyon, Rouen and Montpellier, La Monnaie / De Munt in Brussels, the Philharmonie de Paris and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

Throughout her career she has collaborated with many of today’s foremost conductors, among them Alain Altinoglu, Marco Armiliato, Bertrand de Billy, Paolo Carignani, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Frédéric Chaslin, William Christie, Plácido Domingo, Gustavo Dudamel, Christoph Eschenbach, Dan Ettinger, Asher Fisch, Mikko Franck, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Jesús López Cobos, Ingo Metzmacher, Marc Minkowski, Evelino Pidò and Simone Young.

She is equally sought after by the world’s leading singers as a recital pianist, language coach and musical partner. Among the artists with whom she has collaborated are Roberto Alagna, Piotr Beczała, Plácido Domingo, Juan Diego Flórez, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Angela Gheorghiu, Peter Mattei, George Petean, Neil Shicoff, Nina Stemme and Béatrice Uria-Monzon. She has appeared in recital with Juan Diego Flórez at venues including the Vienna State Opera, the Musikverein Graz and Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu.

In 2021, Cécile Restier appeared as pianist for the prestigious Metropolitan Opera New Year’s Eve Gala in New York, further underlining her international reputation as one of today’s most accomplished collaborative pianists in the operatic world.

Equally respected as a répétiteur, recital pianist, vocal coach and pedagogue, Cécile Restier brings together exceptional musical insight, stylistic authority and linguistic expertise. Her long-standing collaborations with the world’s greatest opera houses and artists have established her as one of the most sought-after musical partners on the international operatic scene.