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Winner of the Prix Lyrique Français, French-Canadian Julie Boulianne has been acclaimed for the agility and expressive power of her dark-hued mezzo-soprano in a wide repertoire, with a special focus on the music of Mozart and Rossini. Possessing a voice The New York Times calls “subtle and pure,” she distinguished herself in the role of Isolier in Rossini’s Le Comte Ory while still a member of the Juilliard Opera Center.
During the 2011-2012 season, Julie Boulianne returns to Vancouver Opera as Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette, conducted by Jacques Lacombe; sings Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro at Opéra de Montréal; debuts at Opera Boston as Béatrice in Béatrice et Bénédict; joins the Calgary Philharmonic for Mahler’s Symphony No. 3; sings Falla’s El Amor Brujo with Ensemble Instrumental Appassionata and with the Manitoba Chamber Orchesta; and offers recitals in Toronto and Calgary.
After summer performances of Elisa in Handel’s Tolomeo at Glimmerglass Opera, directed by Chas Rader-Shieber, Julie Boulianne opened the 2010/2011 season of Pacific Opera Victoria in her signature role of Rossini&rsquo
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Winner of the Prix Lyrique Français, French-Canadian Julie Boulianne has been acclaimed for the agility and expressive power of her dark-hued mezzo-soprano in a wide repertoire, with a special focus on the music of Mozart and Rossini. Possessing a voice The New York Times calls “subtle and pure,” she distinguished herself in the role of Isolier in Rossini’s Le Comte Ory while still a member of the Juilliard Opera Center.
During the 2011-2012 season, Julie Boulianne returns to Vancouver Opera as Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette, conducted by Jacques Lacombe; sings Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro at Opéra de Montréal; debuts at Opera Boston as Béatrice in Béatrice et Bénédict; joins the Calgary Philharmonic for Mahler’s Symphony No. 3; sings Falla’s El Amor Brujo with Ensemble Instrumental Appassionata and with the Manitoba Chamber Orchesta; and offers recitals in Toronto and Calgary.
After summer performances of Elisa in Handel’s Tolomeo at Glimmerglass Opera, directed by Chas Rader-Shieber, Julie Boulianne opened the 2010/2011 season of Pacific Opera Victoria in her signature role of Rossini’s La Cenerentola. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Diane in Stephen Wadsworth’s production of Iphigénie en Tauride, conducted by Patrick Summers, and returned to that company as Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette, under the baton of Plácido Domingo. She also essayed the role of Fragoletto, the young hero of Offenbach’s opéra bouffe, Les Brigands, at both Opéra de Toulon and Opéra Comique in Paris, and joins the Cincinnati Symphony for Mozart’s Coronation Mass.
Career highlights include her New York City Opera debut as the wily Lazuli in Chabrier’s comedic opera L’Étoile, directed by Mark Lamos; Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro at Vancouver Opera, conducted by Jonathan Darlington; the title role in Massenet’s Cendrillon at l’Opéra de Montréal and at l’Opéra de Marseille; Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia for her debut at Minnesota Opera; and the title role in La Cenerentola at Aspen Opera Theater, Florida Grand Opera, and Glimmerglass Opera. Equally at home in symphonic repertoire, she has sung Ravel’s Shéhérazade with Emmanuel Villaume and the Utah Symphony, Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’Été with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and l’Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal, Messiah and Bach’s Mass in B minor with the Atlanta Symphony, and is a regular guest of symphony orchestras including L’Orchestre de la Francophonie Canadienne, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and Les Violons du Roy. She has recorded for Chaîne Culturelle de Radio-Canada, Radio France, and on the Naxos label.
In March 2009, Naxos Records released a recording of Shéhérazade and L’enfant et les sortilèges featuring Julie Boulianne and the Nashville Symphony, which was nominated for the Grammy® Award for Best Classical Album.
Julie Bouliane has appeared frequently at Montreal Opera, Quebec Opera, and McGill Opera, in roles such as Rosina, Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette, Nicklausse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, both Cherubino and Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro, and the title roles in Hänsel und Gretel and Dido and Aeneas. She has also performed extensively in France, including Barbarina and the Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte at L’Opéra de Reims, Zerlina at L’Opéra d’Avignon, and Barbarina at L’Opéra de Tours. She made her U.S. debut in 2006 at Nashville Opera in the title role of Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges, and subsequently sang Isolier in Le Comte Ory and Mrs. Soames in the New York premiere of Ned Rorem’s Our Town at the Juilliard Opera Center.
A graduate of McGill University’s Schulich School of Music, Julie Boulianne won the First Prize in both the Canadian Music Competition and the Joy of Singing Competition in New York. She has also been awarded the International Vocal Arts Institute’s Silverman Prize, and in 2007, the Prix de la Chambre des Directeurs for Most Promising Career at the Concours International de Chant de Montréal.
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Reviews
"But it’s French-Canadian mezzo-soprano Boulianne who is the one to watch – Rossini’s endless coloratura is a killer, yet she rips through ornamentation like a carving knife. Her voice has both sweetness and bite, with hints of darker and deeper notes to come, all boding well for meatier roles down the line."
Paula Citron, Toronto Globe and Mail
"Julie Boulianne made Angelina a girl of honesty and spirit, ready to battle for her right to go to the ball and to forgive her obnoxious family. Her warm, flexible mezzo came into its own in her final, triumphant rondo."
Heidi Waleson, The Wall Street Journal
"Julie Boulianne, a mezzo-soprano, brought a rich, beautifully rounded tone to a duet and an aria (‘Adieu, fière cité’) from the Berlioz, and to a moving, wrenchingly characterized account of ‘When I am laid in earth’ (and the scene preceding it) from the Purcell."
Allan Kozinn, The New York Times
"Boulianne’s refined and elegant vocalism suited the put-upon Cinderella. Boulianne brought a touching intimacy to her opening aria ‘Una volta c’era un re’ and displayed facility with the coloratura bravura of the concluding ‘Non più mesta.’ Physically, the petite mezzo looked the part completely, with a waifish, vulnerable presence that underlined Cinderella's melancholy. She later assumed the throne with quiet, self-possessed dignity."
Lawrence A. Johnson, The Miami Herald
"The mezzo-soprano Julie Boulianne gives a beautifully understated performance as his dying wife [in Ned Rorem’s Our Town]."
Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times
"The one compelling reason to see ‘La Cenerentola,’ the Aspen Opera Theater Center’s first offering of the summer, is the mezzo-soprano singing the title role. Beg, borrow or steal to get a ticket for Julie Boulianne’s final performance at 7 p.m. Sunday in the Wheeler Opera House. She is the real deal… she sailed through her moments, big and small, and created a character sweet and innocent enough to justify the subtitle Rossini and his librettist, Jacopo Ferretti, appended to this very Italian version of the Cinderella story: ‘Or Goodness Triumphant.’ Boulianne has the presence to command the stage without histrionics, often by standing there with a gentle smile. She opens her mouth and the sound comes out unforced, ‘Nacqui all’affano’ in the final act. In interacting with the other singers, she seems a model of generous attention and consistently conjures up a feeling of reality. Only a first-year student at Juilliard, the French Canadian already has sang starring roles at l’Opéra Montréal—Rosina in Rossini’s ‘Il Barbiere di Siviglia’ and Annio in Mozart’s ‘La Clemenza di Tito.’ Aspen is fortunate to be hearing her at this stage of her career, much as audiences might remember fondly the likes of Renée Fleming and Susanne Mentzer when they sang here before becoming stars."
Harvey Steiman, Aspen Times
"As Isolier, Julie Boulianne displayed a truly lush lyric mezzo-soprano with a formidably large and secure top."
Fred Cohn, Opera News
"Julie Boulianne, as the page Isolier, who loves the countess, also sang with a round fullness."
Anne Midgette, The New York Times
