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Mireille Asselin

Mireille Asselin
Photo by Bo Huang.

A singer deemed “a treasure” by The Toronto Star and praised by Opera Canada as a “soprano that charms and brightens a room”, Mireille Asselin enjoys a diverse, international career spanning concert, opera and recital work. To date, Mireille has sung five seasons at the Metropolitan Opera, where she debuted as Poussette in MANON. She then made waves by jumping in as Adele for opening night of DIE FLEDERMAUS under the baton of James Levine, giving a performance that critics raved “stole the show”, hailing it as one of New York’s “most enchanting” of the season.

In 2019-2020 Mireille makes debuts with Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris (Zerlina, DON GIOVANNI), l’Orchestre de Chambre de Paris (Mozart’s REQUIEM), the Milwaukee Symphony (Handel’s MESSIAH) and the Caramoor Festival (Venus, Rameau’s DARDANUS). She also returns to sing at Carnegie Hall (Bach’s CHRISTMAS ORATORIO), Columbus Opera (Monteverdi’s POPPEA), and Opera Atelier (Zerlina, DON GIOVANNI). In addition, she will perform extensively with the Mirror Visions Ensemble in recitals across North America and her recording of Haydn’s HARMONIEMESSE with the Handel and Haydn Society will be released on the CORO label.

Her assignments at the Metropolitan Opera have included covers of Valencienne in THE MERRY WIDOW, Jemmy in GUILLAUME TELL and Rosina in IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA. As a respected interpreter of early music Mireille appears regularly with period groups such as Opera Atelier in Toronto and at the Boston Early Music Festival where her most recent roles have included Susanna (MARRIAGE OF FIGARO), Celia (LUCIO SILLA), Morgana (ALCINA), Galatea (ACIS AND GALATEA), Minerva (ULISSE), and La Musica/Euridice in ORFEO. Internationally, she has sung many roles at the Opéra Royal de Versailles (PERSÉE, MÉDÉE, PIGMALION), and performed in the UK with Garsington Opera (DON GIOVANNI), in Germany with the Göttingen International Handel Festival (BERENICE), and in Italy with the Rossini Opera Festival (RICCIARDO E ZORAIDE).

Mireille is an accomplished concert singer and recitalist and has appeared with many of North America’s major orchestras and festivals. She is also an acknowledged champion of contemporary music and has participated in a number of premieres and workshops of new compositions. Her discography includes two albums of Canadian repertoire – “Ash Roses” of music by composer Derek Holman on the Centrediscs label, and “Inspired by Canada – Notre Pays” with Marquis Classics and the Amici Chamber Ensemble. She is a core member of the Mirror Visions Ensemble and has even done film work, starring as Pamina in the feature film Magic Flute Diaries at the age of 21.

She obtained her Master of Music from Yale University’s prestigious Opera Program in 2010, and was a member of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio (2011-12 & 2012-13 seasons). Prior to her studies at Yale, she completed a Bachelor of Music at the Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto (2007).

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