Recordings

Massenet | Complete Songs for Voice and Piano

ATMA Classique and Festival Classica present the largest lyric cycle ever undertaken in Canada: a 13-CD set of the complete mélodies by the prolific French composer Jules Massenet (1842-1912). This box set comprises a total of 333 songs, including 13 unpublished songs and 31 that have never been recorded. Jules Massenet Complete Mélodies for voice and piano represents one of the most ambitious projects devoted to French melody in the history of modern recording. Under the artistic direction of baritone Marc Boucher, the project brings together some of Quebec's most beautiful voices accompanied by Olivier Godin on an 1854 Érard piano.

• Karina Gauvin, Sophie Naubert, Anna-Sophie Neher, Magali Simard-Galdès | Sopranos
• Julie Boulianne, Michèle Losier | Mezzo-sopranos
• Florence Bourget, Marie-Nicole Lemieux | Contraltos
• Frédéric Antoun, Antoine Bélanger, Antonio Figueroa, Emmanuel Hasler, Joé Lampron-Dandonneau, Éric Laporte | Tenors
• Marc Boucher, Jean-François Lapointe, Hugo Laporte | Baritones
• Jean Marchand, Marie-Ève Pelletier | Narrators
• Antoine Bareil | Violin
• Stéphane Tétreault | Cello
• David Jacques | Guitar
• Valérie Milot | Harp
• Olivier Godin | 1854 Érard Piano, Harmonium, Harpsichord

Richard Strauss | Der Rosenkavalier

Multimedia artist André Heller makes his highly anticipated debut as stage director at the Berlin State Opera with Richard Strauss' tragicomic Rosenkavalier, drawing unanimous praise from the critics: "With his staging of Rosenkavalier, André Heller sets a monument to flawlessness" (Die Zeit).

Master conductor Zubin Mehta leads the Staatskapelle Berlin and a "cast of singers, above all with Camilla Nylund and Günther Groissböck, which is unsurpassable" (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). Michèle Losier and Nadine Sierra make their role debuts as Octavian and Sophie. A dream cast!

One has hardly ever seen a more splendid, elegant and opulent Rosenkavalier.

• Staatskapelle Berlin
• Zubin Mehta | Conductor
• André Heller | Director
• Camilla Nylund | Feldmarschallin
• Günther Groissböck | Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau
• Michèle Losier | Octavian
• Roman Trekel | Herr von Faninal
• Nadine Sierra | Sophie

Berlioz | Benvenuto Cellini

Michèle Losier is a terrific Ascanio, stealing the show with her brief appearances.

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Berlioz's opera is ambitious in every sense of the word, and its extreme demands have long prevented it from being a runaway success. Until now. The work's combination of romance, excitement, violence, comedy and spectacle proved ideally suited to Terry Gilliam's stylish, colourful and larger-than-life direction. First seen at English National Opera in 2014, its unique look generated much interest and great acclaim: "… tremendous gusto … the sheer energy and generous humour of the show are hard to resist…" (The Guardian). That production was taken up by the Netherlands' De Nationale Opera, and it's from their critically acclaimed 2015 performances that this release has been made.

• Conductor — Sir Mark Elder
• Director — Terry Gilliam
• Dutch National Opera Chorus & Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
• Benvenuto Cellini — John Osborn
• Teresa — Mariangela Sicilia
• Balducci — Maurizio Muraro
• Ascanio — Michèle Losier
• Fieramosca — Laurent Naouri

Mozart | La clemenza di Tito

An excellent, scrupulously voiced Annio.

Mozart's final opera returns to Glyndebourne after an absence of nearly twenty years in a stark, compelling production directed by Claus Guth. Richard Croft sings the title role with exemplary stylistic poise and tonal sweetness, and Anna Stéphany is a Sesto touchingly full of angst and remorse, with terrific élan and immaculate technical control (The Telegraph) — her "Parto, Parto" simply breathtaking (The Guardian).

Guth's vision sets the Roman story in a two-storey office suite exquisitely lit by Olaf Winter, aptly framing the scheming of Vitellia, sung by Alice Coote in terrific form. The OAE under Robin Ticciati brings out the sheer beauty of Mozart's score (Express).

• Conductor — Robin Ticciati
• Director — Claus Guth
• Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
• Tito — Richard Croft
• Sesto — Anna Stéphany
• Vitellia — Alice Coote
• Publio — Clive Bayley
• Annio — Michèle Losier
• Servilia — Joélle Harvey

Mozart | Così fan tutte

A luxurious tone, with radiant high notes.

The direction of this Così fan tutte has been entrusted to choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, who has chosen to embody each character through both a singer and a dancer. From the preconceived notion of constant and eternal love, the lovers shift progressively towards the more complex realisation that feelings of love are more akin to perpetual motion, carried by Philippe Jordan's assured musical direction at the head of the Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus.

• Conductor — Philippe Jordan
• Director — Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker
• Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus
• Dorabella — Michèle Losier
• Fiordiligi — Jacquelyn Wagner
• Guglielmo — Philippe Sly
• Ferrando — Frédéric Antoun
• Despina — Ginger Costa-Jackson
• Don Alfonso — Paulo Szot

Brahms | Chants d'amour

Predictably, though, I was specially delighted by the multifaceted mezzo of Michèle Losier. I found myself repeatedly and pleasantly surprised by Losier's incisive use of text and the depth and nuance of her vocal coloration.

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Kimy McLaren, Michèle Losier, Pascal Charbonneau and Alexandre Sylvestre are the vocal soloists on this recording of two of Brahms' Romantic song cycles, accompanied on piano four-hands by Myriam Farid and Olivier Godin.

Completed in 1869, the first collection of Liebeslieder-Walzer, Op. 52 became a great hit after Brahms and Clara Schumann performed as accompanists at the premiere. These 18 love songs for mixed vocal quartet and four-hand piano pay homage to the city of Vienna. In 1874, Brahms went on to write a sequel, the 15 Neue Liebeslieder-Walzer, Op. 65.

• Kimy McLaren | Soprano
• Michèle Losier | Mezzo-soprano
• Pascal Charbonneau | Tenor
• Alexandre Sylvestre | Bass-baritone
• Myriam Farid | Piano
• Olivier Godin | Piano

Berlioz | Roméo et Juliette

The BBC Symphony Orchestra and its Conductor Laureate Sir Andrew Davis mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death with this recording of the third symphony, Roméo et Juliette, alongside excerpts from Berlioz's largest opera, Les Troyens — a "magical revelation… that wrought shivers" (Bachtrack), in which "one could feel the instant rightness of the sonorous imagery Berlioz devises" (The Sunday Times).

• Sir Andrew Davis | Conductor
• BBC Symphony Orchestra
• Michèle Losier | Mezzo-soprano
• Samuel Boden | Tenor
• David Soar | Bass

Gounod | La Colombe

As sung by Québécoise mezzo-soprano Michèle Losier, a more beguiling start to Act One than Mazet's romance "Apaisez, blanche colombe" is unimaginable. Possessing a voice of a type ever in short supply, ideal for rôles like Siebel in Gounod's Faust that demand both a measure of thrust and lightness of approach, Losier sings the romance enchantingly, her perfect placement of nasalized vowels proving that the correct production of these sounds does not require unattractive distortion of the tone.

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Following his award-winning recording of Donizetti's Les Martyrs, Opera Rara's Music Director Sir Mark Elder turns his attention to another forgotten masterpiece of 19th-century French opera, Gounod's delightful two-act opera La Colombe. He is joined by a superb cast led by two of the most acclaimed young singers in the world — American soprano Erin Morley and Mexican tenor Javier Camarena — alongside Canadian mezzo-soprano Michèle Losier and French baritone Laurent Naouri. Plus one dove, and one parrot.

• Conductor — Sir Mark Elder
• Sylvie — Erin Morley
• Horace — Javier Camarena
• Mazet — Michèle Losier
• Maître Jean — Laurent Naouri
• Hallé Orchestra

Offenbach | Les Contes d'Hoffmann

Michèle Losier brings a surprisingly rich mezzo to the trouser role of Nicklausse.

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An unusually dark and sober production of Offenbach's opera where Natalie Dessay performs the role of Antonia, a young, physically fragile woman whose talent for singing ultimately proves fatal. The automaton Olympia is sung by coloratura soprano Kathleen Kim, while the Venetian courtesan Giulietta is embodied by Tatiana Pavlovskaya. Michèle Losier plays the loyal Nicklausse, and Hoffmann's nemesis — who takes four different forms — is incarnated by French bass-baritone Laurent Naouri, with Hoffmann himself sung by young American tenor Michael Spyres.

• Conductor — Stéphane Denève
• Director — Laurent Pelly
• Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of the Gran Teatre del Liceu
• Hoffmann — Michael Spyres
• Olympia — Kathleen Kim
• Antonia — Natalie Dessay
• Giulietta — Tatiana Pavlovskaya
• Lindorf / Coppélius / Docteur Miracle / Dapertutto — Laurent Naouri
• Nicklausse / La Muse — Michèle Losier

Gounod | Faust

The mezzo-soprano Michèle Losier brought a rich voice and impishness to the pants role of Siebel, Faust's student, who loves Marguerite.

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Double Tony Award-winning stage director Des McAnuff's production, hailed by The New York Times as "rich with ideas and theatrically daring," presents Faust as an atomic scientist inhabiting a dark world shot through with Cold War resonances. Alongside Kaufmann, the Met cast includes the phenomenal René Pape as Méphistophélès and the ideally-suited Marina Poplavskaya as Marguerite. Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin draws an elegant, darkly textured performance from the Metropolitan Opera orchestra.

• Conductor — Yannick Nézet-Séguin
• Director — Des McAnuff
• The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Chorus and Ballet
• Faust — Jonas Kaufmann
• Marguerite — Marina Poplavskaya
• Méphistophélès — René Pape
• Valentin — Russell Braun
• Siebel — Michèle Losier
• Marthe — Wendy White
• Wagner — Jonathan Beyer

Duparc | Mélodies

She sings with passion and nuanced intelligence and brings real understanding to her interpretations. Her voice is full and secure through her range, even down to the depths of La vague et la cloche.

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Following the success of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium, Michèle recorded this exquisite recital alongside the great American pianist Daniel Blumenthal. A superb rendition of Duparc's lyrical and exalted songs.