Isabel Leonard
Vocalists
— Mezzo-Soprano
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Manager: Angela Maria Blasi
Management Territory: Worldwide
"Enter the stunning Isabel Leonard, whose lilting mezzo-soprano voice and fluid, natural acting ability brought to the role of Rosina all the sweetness and cunning of this central character. Her 'Una voce poco fa' aria and overall embodiment of Rosina hold sway among the many more experienced Rosinas who precede her - when she explains that she becomes a viper when crossed in love, you believe her." —-Sabine Kortals, The Denver Post, February 2010
“Isabel Leonard demonstrates how the entire drama of an aria, phrase, and sometimes only in a shadowed sung word can flow together…. a grand Mozart stylist, who continues in the lines of Christa Ludwig, Brigitte Fassbänder, and Agnes Baltsa.” —Merkur Online, August 2009
"My favorite was mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard doing a trouser role as Cherubino, the Count's page. —--Zachary Lewis, The Plain Dealer ,Cleveland, March 25, 2009
About
American Isabel Leonard is already making waves in the world of classical music both at home in the United States and abroad.
Engagements for Ms. Leonard in the 2010/2011 season will include Dorabella in Cosi fan Tutte at the Metropolitan Opera; Sesto in a Laurent Pelly production of Giulio Cesare at the Opera National de Paris, with Emmanuel Haim conducting; Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro with Seiji Ozawa in Tokyo, Japan and at Carnegie Hall, as well as Cherubino at the Opera National de Paris. She will finish the season with a . . . new production of Vivaldi’s Griselda at the Santa Fe Opera. On the concert stage, Ms. Leonard will be the featured soloist in concerts with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in the spring of 2011, performing Mozart’s “Ch’io mi scordi di te? –Non temer, amato bene”.
Isabel Leonard’s 2009/2010 season began with one of her signature roles; Cherubino in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro at the Metropolitan Opera. In February, she appeared as Rosina in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Opera Colorado.
In the 2008/2009 season, Ms. Leonard appeared at the Metropolitan Opera as Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and performed Mozart’s C minor Mass with the Cleveland Orchestra, conducted by Franz Welser-Möst. After singing in the Marilyn Horne Foundation’s 75th Birthday Gala in Carnegie Hall, she was featured in the title role of Offenbach’s La Perichole at the Opera National de Bordeaux. Ms. Leonard recently appeared as Cherubino in a concert version of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro with the Cleveland Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Welser-Möst and will be featured in the title role of Rossini’s La Cenerentola at the Fort Worth Opera. Ms. Leonard then returns to Europe to debut as Cherubino at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and as Dorabella in a new production of Mozart’s Così fan Tutte at the Salzburg Festival, directed by Claus Guth.
In September 2007, Ms. Leonard made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette, conducted by Plácido Domingo and starring Anna Netrebko and Roberto Alagna. This production was also recorded for video and television transmission and broadcast live over the Metropolitan Opera worldwide radio network. In addition to her Metropolitan Opera debut, she appeared as Zerlina in Don Giovanni with Chicago Opera Theatre and performed the role of Cherubino in a new production of Le Nozze di Figaro at the Santa Fe Opera. She made her first coast-to-coast recital tour including Atlanta, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Fort Worth and her Carnegie Hall debut. Orchestral engagements for the 2007/2008 season have included performances with the St. Louis Symphony with Jiri Belohlàvek in Mozart’s complete Exultate, Jubilate and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4., as a soloist in the Mozart C Minor Mass with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Esa Pekka Salonen and in Berlioz’ Romeo et Juliette, conducted by Valery Gergiev. She made her debut with the Cincinnati May Festival, also performing Berlioz’ Romeo et Juliette, conducted by James Conlon. Ms. Leonard was a featured soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl in the summer of 2008 singing a program of Mozart concert arias, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis.
