Arizona Opera Cast Members & Creatives

In 2010, french mezzo-soprano Marie Lenormand received the "Grand Prix de la Critique, Revelation Musicale of the 2009-2010 season" for her interpretation of Mignon, by Ambroise Thomas, in a widely acclaimed revival of the piece at the Opéra comique in Paris (the very theater where Mignon had been created), with stage director Jean-Louis Benoit and conductor François-Xavier Roth.

Past notable engagements include her debut with the Bard Music Festival, where she performed in two Shostakovich operas, the role of Masha in Cherry Tree Towers and also in The Nose. Other recent opera engagements include Dorabella in Così Fan Tutte at the Opéra de Bordeaux, Cherubino at the Opéra de Marseille, and Zerlina with both New York City Opera and Toledo Opera. Additionally, she created the role of the Fox in Rachel Portman's The Little Prince with Houston Grand Opera in the early summer of 2003, of which Opera News wrote, "Among the best were Marie Lenormand, whose rich mezzo-soprano and elegant stage presence shone in the role of the Fox." She has also sung with Opera-Atelier in Lully's Persée and L'Incoronazione di Poppea, a recital for the Marilyn Horne Foundation at Carnegie Hall's Weill Hall in New York City, and recitals in New York and Minneapolis with Steven Blier.

Marie Lenormand was a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio from 1999 to 2002. At Houston Grand Opera, she performed Dorabella, the title role in L'incoronazione di Poppea, Mercédès in Carmen, Tebaldo in Don Carlo, the Page in Rigoletto, the Chambermaid in The Makropulos Case, and Thelma Predmore in the world premiere of Carlisle Floyd's Cold Sassy Tree. At Glimmerglass Opera, she sang Melanto in Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria and performed in the world premiere of Central Park, which was later telecast on national television. She returned to Glimmerglass Opera to perform the role of Aloës in Mark Lamos' new production of Chabrier's L'Etoile. She has also sung Cherubino at Fort Worth Opera, as well as Stéphano, and the title role in Carmen at the Oberlin Opera Theater. She has appeared numerous times in broadcasts of NPR's World of Opera.

In addition to her operatic work, Marie Lenormand is also a distinguished oratorio singer. She was the alto soloist in Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass under Robert Shaw, as well as in Elijah with a cast headed by Sherrill Milnes. She was a Regional Finalist at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the recipient of several awards, including the Bloomberg Greenwood Prize, the Faustina Hurlbutt Prize, and the prestigious Lavoisier Scholarship from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

She studies with Patricia MacCaffrey in New York.