Celebrated for her “silky mezzo-soprano, with its admirable range of colors and dynamics” and “handsome, eloquent stage persona” (Opera Canada), Canadian Mireille Lebel is known for her interpretations of diverse repertoire in a career spanning two decades on both sides of the Atlantic. In the 2025-2026 season, she will premiere Ana Sokolovic’s Clown (s) with Opera de Montréal. This summer she will also perform in Pierrot entre 3 lunes with Festival d’Opéra de Québec, mounted by her artistic collective, Crown The Muse, which she co-founded and co-directs with Rachel Fenlon. 

 

In the 2024-2025 season, she made debuts with the Helsinki Philharmonic in Mahler’s 2nd Symphony with Jukka Pekka Saraste and the Montréal Bach Festival in Mendelssohn’s Elias with Samy Moussa. Ms. Lebel also returned to Vancouver Opera as Prince Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus, and Opera Atelier singing the role of the Pythonisse in the North American premiere of David et Jonathas.  
 

Highlights include Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier (recorded for BR Klassik at Staatstheater Nürnberg and conducted by Joana Mallwitz), Elle in La voix humaine (recorded for Vancouver Opera’s digital season and the first project by Crown the Muse), Charlotte in Werther (recorded for Culture Box and French television), Nicklausse in Les contes d’Hoffmann, the title role in Carmen, Penelope in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria, Siébel in Faust, Nerone in L’incoronazione di Poppea, the title role in Gluck’s Orfeo, and Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro. She has performed with companies including Deutsche Oper, Opera Atelier, Narodni Divadlo Praha, Theater Basel, Opéra Théâtre de Metz, Opera de Nancy, Opera de Nice, Vancouver Opera, Schwetzingen SWR Festspiele, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival, Les Violons du Roy, Collegium 1704, and the Houston Symphony.

 

She has worked as a soloist with conductors Joana Mallwitz, Christoph Eschenbach, Bernard Labadie, Hervé Niquet, Jonathan Darlington, Jacques Lacombe, and Yannick Nezet-Seguin, and enjoys a close collaboration with contemporary composers Samy Moussa, Ana Sokolovic, and Stacey Brown. 

 

Before her career as a freelance artist, Ms. Lebel was a member of the ensemble with Theater Erfurt for five years, during which period she sang roles including Sesto in La clemenza di Tito, Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus, the title role in Hänsel und Gretel, and Idamante in Idomeneo.

 

An expert in Baroque style, she has recorded eight opera discs 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 Broeder’s opera, The Wives of the Dead, with Philharmonisches Orchester Erfurt.

 

Ms. Lebel was a young artist at the Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra de Montreal.  She is the recipient of grants from the Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques, the Canada Council, the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation, and the Deutscher Musikrat. Ms. Lebel graduated with a Bachelor of Music from the University of Toronto and a Master of Music from l’Université de Montréal. Ms. Lebel is based in Berlin, Germany.