Suzie LeBlanc, C.M., has carved out one of the most unique profiles of any Canadian soprano. Her performing career in early music includes not only recitals and performances with orchestras, opera companies, traditional and new music ensembles, but she was widely acclaimed as the protagonist in Rodrigue Jean’s film Lost Song at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Residing in Europe between 1987 and 1999, she performed in main stages and festivals performing with leading ensembles. She returned to Canada in the year 2000 to perform the role of Poppea with Yannick Nézet-Séguin at the Montréal Opera and together, they record an album of Mozart lieder. Her curiosity for new vistas led her to expand her repertoire to a full range of classical and contemporary music, as well as traditional songs from her Acadian homeland. In 2011, she commissioned eleven Canadian compositions to set the poetry of Pulitzer-Prize recipient Elizabeth Bishop and recorded them on the album I am in need of music which won an ECMA for Best Classical Recording.

Moved by the migrations and  upheavals of her Acadian ancestors, she co-created a multimedia performance with composer Jérôme Blais: “mouvance” which unites the words of contemporary Acadian poets to Blais’s original music. The pivotal project reunited several of Suzie’s passions: research, history, literature and music.

Suzie LeBlanc is a recipient of the Order of Canada (2015) and of a Prix Éloize (2020) for her artistic contributions. She took up the position of Artistic and Executive director or Early Music Vancouver (EMV) in January 2021 and is enjoying discovering the West Coast of Canada.