Marie-Nicole Lemieux
Contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux rose to prominence with a string of competition victories in 2000, the most important of which was first prize at the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels. Her triumph there was further italicized when she was awarded the special prize for lieder performance. Since that time, she has regularly appeared in concert and on the operatic stage, as well as in numerous recordings on a spate of labels, including Analekta, Virgin Classics, and Naïve. Lemieux's repertory is broad, taking in songs/lieder by Brahms, Mahler, Reynaldo Hahn, and Enescu, as well as a range of operatic roles from Gluck, Monteverdi, Vivaldi, and a growing list of others. Her concert and sacred repertory has tended to favor the Baroque and early Classical periods but is substantial nonetheless, encompassing music by Handel, Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti, Mozart, and many others. In 2019, Lemieux issued Mer(s), performing music by Elgar, Chausson, and Joncières.
Lemieux was born in Dolbeau, Quebec, Canada, on June 26, 1975. She began serious vocal studies in 1994 at the Conservatoire de musique de Chicoutimi, where her most important teacher was Rosaire Simard. She followed with studies at the Conservatoire de musique de Montreal, where she worked with Marie Daveluy. Lemieux's victory in June 2000 at the Queen Elizabeth Competition was preceded by triumphs at two important Canadian competitions: in March at the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières Competition and in May at the Jeunesses Musicales du Canada National Competition.
Lemieux's first solo recording was issued in November 2000 by Cypres, an album containing Berlioz' Les nuits d'ete and lieder by Mahler and Wagner. Her operatic debut as Cornelia in Handel's Giulio Cesare took place at the Canadian Opera in 2002. Critics and the public alike responded with enthusiasm. Lemieux issued an acclaimed recording of Brahms lieder on the Analekta label in 2004, and in 2005, a pivotal year for Lemieux, she sang the title role in Vivaldi's Orlando furioso on a highly praised Naïve release, and later debuted to critical acclaim at the Staatsoper Berlin in Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria.
Lemieux's U.S. recital debut took place in 2007 in Overland Park, Kansas with pianist Daniel Blumenthal accompanying. Her U.S. concert debut came the following month with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a performance of J.S. Bach's Magnificat. She continues to appear both as a choral soloist and in operas throughout Europe and North America. Her 2010 Naïve album of French opera arias, Ne me refuse pas, was a finalist for the Grammophone Award. In 2015, she released Chansons perpétuelles with pianist Roger Vignoles on Naïve, and she was named a member of the Order of Canada. Lemieux made her Metropolitan Opera debut in a 2019 production of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande. That year, Lemieux was joined by Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine under Paul Daniel on the Erato album Mer(s). She returned to Erato in 2020 on a star-studded recording of Handel's Agrippina.
© Robert Cummings & Keith Finke /TiVo
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Berlioz: Les nuits d'été, Op. 7, H 81b - Ravel: Shéhérazade, M. 41 - Saint-Saëns: Mélodies persanes, Op. 26
Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monté-Carlo, Kazuki Yamada
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 29 Sep 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mélodies: "L'heure exquise"
Art Songs, Mélodies & Lieder - Released by naïve classique on 4 Oct 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
"Ne me refuse pas" - Airs d'opéras français
Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Orchestre National de France, Fabien Gabel
Vocal Recitals - Released by naïve classique on 25 Oct 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Opera Arias
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 3 Sep 2012
Stereophile: Record To Die For16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Si, Si, Si, Si ! - Rossini: Opera Arias & Duets (Live)
Classical - Released by Erato - Warner Classics on 3 Mar 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Lieder
Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Michael McMahon, Nicolo Eugelmi
Classical - Released by Analekta on 19 Oct 2004
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Antonio Vivaldi : Orlando Furioso, RV 728 (Opere teatrale, vol. 4)
Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Ensemble Matheus, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Lorenzo Regazzo
Full Operas - Released by naïve classique on 19 Oct 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Antonio Vivaldi : La Fida Ninfa (Opere teatrale, vol. 11)
Ensemble Matheus, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Philippe Jaroussky, Marie-Nicole Lemieux
Full Operas - Released by naïve classique on 18 Nov 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
MER(S)
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 13 Sep 2019
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haendel: Streams of Pleasure
Karina Gauvin, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Alan Curtis, George Frideric Handel, Il Complesso Barocco
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 12 Oct 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
La passion Lemieux
Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Antonio Vivaldi
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 7 Oct 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chansons perpétuelles
Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Roger Vignoles, Gabriel Fauré
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 24 Nov 2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Schoenberg, Berg, Webern
Quatuor Diotima, Sandrine Piau, Marie-Nicole Lemieux
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 24 Nov 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Frauenliebe und Leben - Liederkreis
Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Daniel Blumenthal
Art Songs, Mélodies & Lieder - Released by naïve classique on 9 Mar 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Avison: Salve Regina, Stabat Mater, Concerti per Archi
Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Jeanne Lamon
Classical - Released by Analekta on 18 Sep 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Rodelinda
Simone Kermes, Marijana Mijanovic, Steve Davislim, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis
Classical - Released by Archiv Produktion on 1 Jan 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz: Les nuits d'été - Wagner: Wesendonck-Lieder - Mahler: Rückert-Lieder
Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Daniel Blumenthal
Art Songs, Mélodies & Lieder - Released by Cypres on 1 Feb 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lettres de madame Roy à sa fille Gabrielle
Classical - Released by Audiogram on 10 Sep 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rossini: Opera Arias & Duets (Live)
Classical - Released by Erato - Warner Classics on 3 Mar 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz: Les nuits d'été: I. Villanelle
Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monté-Carlo, Kazuki Yamada
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 8 Sep 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz, Wagner, Mahler: Works
Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Daniel Blumenthal
Classical - Released by Cypres on 26 Jan 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo