Mireille Lebel

Canadian mezzo-soprano Mireille Lebel has built an international career known for its stylistic versatility, performing repertoire from Monteverdi to contemporary composers. She has been praised for her “silky mezzo-soprano, with its admirable range of colors and dynamics” and “handsome, eloquent stage persona” (Opera Canada). 

In the 2025/26 season, Lebel premieres Clown(s) by Ana Sokolović with Opéra de Montréal, joins the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra for Handel’s Messiah under Jean-Marie Zeitouni, and appears at the Festival International Bach Montréal in Mendelssohn’s Elijah, conducted by Samy Moussa. She also performs Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra and Verdi’s Requiem with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra under Karen Kamensek.

Highlights of the 2024/25 season include debut performances with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra under Jukka-Pekka Saraste and with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, both in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. She returned to Vancouver Opera as Prince Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus and appeared with Opera Atelier as the Pythonisse in Charpentier’s David et Jonathas. Lebel also performed in the world premiere of Pierrot entre 3 lunes with Festival d’Opéra de Québec, a project of her collective Crown The Muse, which she co-founded and co-directs with Rachel Fenlon.

On the operatic stage, Lebel has recently performed as Caccini’s Alcina and Minerva in Desmarets’ Circé with the Boston Early Music Festival, Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice with Vancouver Opera, Ernesto in Il mondo della luna with Opéra-Théâtre de Metz, and Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier at Staatstheater Nürnberg. Other notable roles include Elle in La voix humaine, Charlotte in Werther, Nicklausse in Les contes d’Hoffmann, Penelope in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, Siébel in Faust, Nerone in L’incoronazione di Poppea, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, and the title role in Carmen. Her engagements have also taken her to Deutsche Oper Berlin, Theater Basel, Opéra de Reims, Opéra de Nice, Národní divadlo Praha, Schwetzingen SWR Festspiele, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival.

Equally sought-after as a concert artist, Ms. Lebel has sung with leading ensembles including Les Violons du Roy, the Houston Symphony, Collegium 1704, and the Victoria Symphony. She has worked with conductors such as Joana Mallwitz, Christoph Eschenbach, Bernard Labadie, Hervé Niquet, Jonathan Darlington, Jacques Lacombe, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. A noted Baroque interpreter, Lebel has recorded eight operas with the Boston Early Music Festival on the CPO label, including La descente d’Orphée aux enfers, which won the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. Her discography also includes Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 2 with the Richter Ensemble and the world premiere recording of Alois Bröder’s The Wives of the Dead with Philharmonisches Orchester Erfurt.

Mireille was a member of the ensemble at Theater Erfurt, where her roles included Sesto (La clemenza di Tito), Orlovsky (Die Fledermaus), Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), and Idamante (Idomeneo). A former young artist at the Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, Ms. Lebel is the recipient of grants from the Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation, and the Deutscher Musikrat.