MER(S) Marie-Nicole Lemieux

• Edward Elgar (1857 - 1934): Sea Pictures, Op. 37:
• 1 Elgar: Sea Pictures, Op. 37: I. Sea Slumber Song 05:16
• 2 Elgar: Sea Pictures, Op. 37: II. In Haven (Capri) 01:49
• 3 Elgar: Sea Pictures, Op. 37: III. Sabbath Morning at Sea 05:33
• 4 Elgar: Sea Pictures, Op. 37: IV. Where Corals Lie 03:44
• 5 Elgar: Sea Pictures, Op. 37: V. The Swimmer 05:54
• Ernest Chausson (1855 - 1899): Poème de l'amour et de la mer, Op. 19:
• 6 Chausson: Poème de l'amour et de la mer, Op. 19: I. La Fleur des eaux 11:06
• 7 Chausson: Poème de l'amour et de la mer, Op. 19: Ia. Interlude 02:40
• 8 Chausson: Poème de l'amour et de la mer, Op. 19: II. La Mort de l'amour 13:13
• Victorin de Joncières (1839 - 1903): La Mer:
• 9 Joncières: La Mer: I. Le Calme 05:04
• 10 Joncières: La Mer: II. Contemplation 05:27
• 11 Joncières: La Mer: III. La Tempête 02:48
• 12 Joncières: La Mer: IV. Epilogue 01:44
• Total Runtime 01:04:18

Info for MER(S)

MER(S) brings together three sumptuous late-19th century works for female voice and orchestra: Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer, Elgar’s Sea Pictures and, in a world premiere recording, an ‘ode-symphonie’ by Victorin Joncières entitled La mer. Following her triumphant performance as Cassandre in Berlioz’s Les Troyens, Marie-Nicole Lemieux embarks on this musical sea voyage in the company of the Orchestre et choeurs nationaux Bordeaux Aquitaine under their music director Paul Daniel.

Marie-Nicole Lemieux, contralto
Choeur de l'Opera National de Bordeaux
Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine
Paul Daniel, Dirigent

Marie-Nicole Lemieux
It is no wonder that Marie-Nicole Lemieux shines today in the world of singing: the singer like the woman radiates an aura that belongs only to the greatest.

Her vocal talents were revealed to the public in 2000 when she won the Queen Fabiola and Lied Prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium.

She then began an international career that has led her to the world’s most famous stages: La Scala, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, l’Opéra National de Paris, the Champs Elysées, the Capitole de Toulouse, la Monnaie in Brussels, the Staatsoper in Berlin, Munich and Vienna, Zurich Opera, the Theater an der Wien, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Liceu of Barcelona, the Salzburg Festival, the Glyndebourne Festival, the Chorégies d’Orange, the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, the Montreal Opera…

Her powerful voice, her superb sense of line and a faultless virtuosity as well as her sense of nuance and drama allows her to triumph in various repertories. The beginning of her career is marked by baroque music (Orphée by Gluck, Giulio Cesare, Ariodante, Orlando Furioso, Solomon, Theodora…). The evolution of her voice soon allowed her to take on the French repertoire of the XIXth century (Les Troyens, Pelléas et Mélisande, Samson et Dalila, Carmen…), Rossini (Guillaume Tell, Tancredi, L’Italiana in Algeri…) and also Verdi (Mrs. Quickly in Falstaff, Azucena in Trovatore, Ulrica of Ballo in Maschera…)

Alongside her stage career, Marie-Nicole Lemieux is invited to sing the great symphonic repertoire with prestigious orchestras (New York Philarmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France and Orchestre National de France, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre de l’Accademia Santa Cecilia, Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Philharmonia, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Smphonique de Montréal, les Violons du Roy, Orchestre Métropolitain…), and under the direction of renown conductors such as: Myung-Whun Chung, Charles Dutoit, Ivan Fischer, Mikko Franck, Daniele Gatti, Bernard Haitink, Paavo Järvi, Bernard Labadie, Louis Langrée, Kurt Masur, Kent Nagano, John Nelson, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Gianandrea Noseda, Antonio Pappano, Michel Plasson, Michael Schonwandt, Pinchas Steinberg, Pinchas Zukerman…

She is acclaimed as a peerless recital artist with an exceptional vocal palette having a special talent for French and Russian songs, as well as German lieder.

Her discography is rich and varied. In addition to her Vivaldi recordings for Naïve (Orlando Furioso– disc rewarded with a Victoire de la Musique in January 2005- Griselda, la Fida Ninfa, the Stabat mater, and the Nisi dominus…), Marie-Nicole Lemieux has recorded as a soloist Les Nuits d’Eté by Berlioz, Wagner’s Wesendoncklieder, Mahler’s Rückertlieder, L’Heure Exquise (French melodies with Daniel Blumenthal), a Lied by Schumann, Ne me refuse pas: with l’Orchestre National de France (which won her the international prize at the Academy Charles Cros and was acclaimed by international critics), Opera Arias (Gluck, Mozart, Haydn with Violons du Roy), Streams of Pleasure (Haendel in duet with Karina Gauvin) and Chansons perpétuelles (piano recital with Roger Vignoles).

Recently, she could be heard notably in Falstaff in London, Vienna, Paris, Milan, and Toronto, Il Trittico (Zia Principessa and Zita) at the Theater an der Wien, L’Italiana in Algeri (Isabella) and Trancredi at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Madama Butterfly (Suzuki) at Barcelona’s Liceu and at the Concertgebouw, Azucena (Trovatore) with Placido Domingo and Anna Netrebko in Salzbourg and with Roberto Alagna at the Chorégies Orange, Dalila at l’Opéra de Montréal, Ulrica (Un Ballo in Maschera) at la Monnaie in Brussels… In concert, she sang Verdi’s Requiem (Vienna’s Musikverein, Royal Festival Hall of London, Tonhalle in Zurich ans the Philharmonie de Paris), le Poème de l’amour de la Mer on tour with Santa Cecilia, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio France… She has just been on a European tour with the pianist Roger Vignoles (Venice, Rome, Vienna, Zurich, London, Brussels, Amsterdam, Madrid and Bilbao…).

Some of her future projects include Trovatore in Madrid, Falstaff at the Covent Garden and the Staatsoper in Vienna, Madama Butterfly in Orange, Enescu’s Œdipe at Covent Garden, Ballo in Maschera in Zurich, Carmen and Samson et Dalila in convert at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées (Paris), Jephta at the Opéra de Paris, Les Troyens (Cassandre) under the baton of John Nelson…

In concert, she will sing Poème de l’Amour et de la Mer in Cleveland under the direction of Antonio Pappano, Les nuits d’été with Yannick Nézet-Séguin…

Marie-Nicole Lemieux is a Knight of the National Order of Quebec and a member of the Order of Canada and the Order of the Pleiade. She also has a Doctor Honoris Causa from the Université du Québec at Chicoutimi.

Booklet for MER(S)