Canadian Contralto Makes U.S. Recital Debut
Johnson County Community College |
In 2000 at the age of 24, contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux was the first Canadian to win first prize for lieder at the Queen Elizabeth International Music Competition of Belgium. Winning this prestigious award opened the door to an immediate international career, allowing her to perform in recital and in concert with many great orchestras worldwide.
Lemieux performs at 7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 10, in Yardley Hall of the Carlsen Center, Johnson County Community College, accompanied by Belgium pianist Daniel Blumenthal, who performs with her on their recent CD, L'heure exquise, in a program of Brahms, Schumann, Debussy, Mozart and Reynaldo Hahn. Bill Everett, University of Missouri-Kansas City musicologist, will present Artists Insights at 6 p.m.
Lemieux is known for “her stage presence together with clarity and beauty of tone,” according to La Scena Musicale.
In her young career, Lemieux has already performed in concert with the world’s great orchestras – the National Orchestra of France, National Orchestra of the Capital of Toulouse, Radio Philharmonic of France, Academy of Ancient Music, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, German Symphony Orchestra of Berlin, Les Violons du Roy, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra of Saint Petersburg, Symphony Orchestra of Montréal, Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Savannah (Ga.) Symphony Orchestra, among others.
"Such voices are rare," wrote reviewer Allison Kydd, Edmonton, Canada.
She has sung with many prestigious conductors including Charles Dutoit, Paul Goodwin, Bernard Labadie, Sir Neville Marriner, Kurt Masur, Marc Minkowski, John Nelson, Gianandrea Noseda, Michel Plasson, Michael Schonwandt, Marc Soustrot, Yoav Talmi, Ilan Volkov and Pinchas Zukerman.
Each year, Lemieux keeps a whirlwind schedule of recitals and invitations to sing in international music festivals both in North America and abroad. Performing regularly on stage, she sings roles by Berlioz (Ursule in Béatrice et Bénédict and Anna in Les Troyens), Gluck (Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice), Handel (Bradamante in Alcina, Cornelia in Julio Cesare, Unulfo and Eduige in Rodelinda), Honneger (Catherine in Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher), Rossini (Isaura in Tancredi), Verdi (Mrs. Quickly in Falstaff), Vivaldi (Orlando in Orlando furioso), Wagner (Flosshilde in Götterdämmerung) and more. In 2005, she made her debut with the Berlin Opera, performing in Monteverdi's Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria under René Jacobs.
Born in Dolbeau, Quebec, Lemieux studied at the Quebec Conservatory, Chicoutimi, and also in Montreal.
Since her first recording with winners of the 2000 Queen Elizabeth competition, she has gone on to record CDs headlining her own name under various labels. She sang in Mozart's Requiem with Les Violons du Roy, winning a JUNO Award; Scarlatti and Vivaldi (Salve Regina and Stabat Mater) and Brahms (Lieder). In 2004, she recorded the title role of Orlando in Vivaldi's Orlando furioso with Ensemble Matheus under Jean-Christophe Spinosi. This recording was acclaimed as the 2005 "best recording of the year" at the French Victoires de la Musique, Paris. Lemieux sang as well the role of Unulfo in Handel's Rodelinda with Il Complesso Barocco, under Alan Curtis, for the recently released Deutsche Grammophon CD and L'heure exquise in October 2005.
Tickets for Lemieux are $20, available by calling the Carlsen Center box office, 913-469-4445, or online at www.jccc.edu/CarlsenCenter.
