French mezzo-soprano Marie-Andrée Bouchard-Lesieur has established herself as one of the most promising dramatic voices of her generation, with a repertoire spanning French opera, Verdi, Wagner and the music of the 20th and 21st centuries. A former member of the Académie de l’Opéra national de Paris and participant in the Young Singers Project of the Salzburg Festival, she was named a Révélation at the Victoires de la Musique Classique in 2022.

2026/27 SEASON

The 2026/27 season marks a further expansion of Marie-Andrée Bouchard-Lesieur’s dramatic repertoire and her continuing close relationship with the Opéra national de Paris. She opens the season in Venice with a concert for the Palazzetto Bru Zane before returning to the Paris Opera for its complete Ring Festival, appearing as Waltraute in Die Walküre and the Second Norn in Götterdämmerung, completing her participation in Calixto Bieito’s new staging of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. She subsequently makes her house debut at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo as Métella in Offenbach’s La Vie parisienne, conducted by Gianluca Capuano in a production by Christian Lacroix.

On the concert stage, she performs Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été with Laurence Equilbey and Insula Orchestra at the Konzerthaus Berlin and La Seine Musicale in Paris. In spring 2027, she returns to the Palais Garnier to create the role of Alice in the world premiere of Hèctor Parra’s Miroir de nos peines, conducted by Ingo Metzmacher and directed by Mariame Clément. She concludes the season performing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal at the Opéra Royal de Versailles under Théotime Langlois de Swarte.

RECENT HIGHLIGHTS

Recent highlights include Waltraute in Wagner’s Die Walküre at the Opéra national de Paris in Calixto Bieito’s new production of the Ring, Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana at the Opéra Orchestre national Montpellier, the title role in Offenbach’s La Périchole at the Opéra de Saint-Étienne, Fenena in Nabucco at the Festival de Sanxay, Dara in Augusta Holmès’s La Montagne Noire at the Opéra National de Bordeaux, Krista in Janáček’s The Makropulos Affair at the Opéra de Lille, and Simone in Delibes’s Jean de Nivelle at Müpa Budapest.

Her close association with the Opéra national de Paris began as a member of its Académie from 2019 to 2021. She has since returned to the company in a wide range of repertoire, including Waltraute in Die Walküre, Meg Page in Falstaff, Inès in Il trovatore, the Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Margret in Wozzeck, and roles in Parsifal and Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. During her time at the Académie, she also performed the title role in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord.

Further operatic highlights include Néris in Cherubini’s Médée at the Opéra Comique, Siegrune in Die Walküre at La Monnaie in Brussels, Mère Marie de l’Incarnation in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites at the Opéra National de Bordeaux, Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas under Leonardo García Alarcón, and Meg Page in Falstaff at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège.

Equally at home on the concert platform, Bouchard-Lesieur has appeared in major symphonic and sacred works including Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 under Daniel Harding, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and Rossini’s Petite Messe solennelle under Marc Minkowski. Her repertoire also encompasses French mélodie and orchestral song, with Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été becoming an important part of her concert repertoire.

Born in Normandy, Bouchard-Lesieur studied at Sciences Po Bordeaux before pursuing her vocal training at the Conservatoire de Bordeaux. She later joined the Académie de l’Opéra national de Paris and was selected for the Young Singers Project of the Salzburg Festival.

SELECTED ROLES

Santuzza · Cavalleria rusticana
Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier

Waltraute · Die Walküre
Opéra national de Paris

La Périchole · La Périchole
Opéra de Saint-Étienne

Mère Marie de l’Incarnation · Dialogues des Carmélites
Opéra National de Bordeaux

Meg Page · Falstaff
Opéra national de Paris · Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège