CHANTAL LAMBERT

Soprano

 

After being inducted into the Canadian Opera Hall of Fame in 2016 by Opéra de Montréal, Chantal Lambert is the recipient of a Ruby Award in 2025 from Opera Canada, mainly for her contribution to the art form of Opera, highlighting her role at the Atelier lyrique de l'Opéra de Montréal, but also for her career extending into the creation of new operatic works as a librettist and interpreter.

 

Born in Montréal (LaSalle), soprano Chantal Lambert was the recipient of a First Prize from the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montreal, under the mentorship of tenor André Turp, pianist-vocal coach Janine Lachance, and director Roland Laroche. After her own stint as an artist in residency with the Atelier lyrique de l'Opéra de Montréal, she took over as Director of the program in 1990 and held the post for the next thirty-three years.

 

At the same time, Chantal Lambert continued to perform on stage in opera, operetta, and song, covering a repertoire as varied as it is vast, from early music to contemporary creations. She made her professional debut in the role of Métella (La Vie parisienne) for the company Les Nouvelles Variétés Lyriques. She participated in 17 productions with the Opéra de Montréal, several tours with the Orchestre Métropolitain, and worked with I Musici, the Montreal Baroque Orchestra, and sang at the Lanaudière, Lachine, St-Eustache, and Trois-Rivières festivals. Recitals are a key feature of her career since the turn of the century. She is a member of the Collectif de la Lune Rouge, collaborating on the libretto for Albertine en cinq temps – the Opera, based on the eponymous play by Michel Tremblay set to music by Catherine Major. She plays the role of Albertine at the age of 70.

 

The transmission of operatic art is one of the pillars of her professional development. Her pedagogical vocation is founded on a genuine commitment to the development of human potential. In May 2016, she was inducted into the Canadian Opera Hall of Fame. In June 2023, she completed her mandate at the Atelier lyrique and collaborated on the writing of an opera libretto. She has returned to the opera scene and offers her expertise during occasional assignments at the Université de Montréal, the 2025 Montreal Musical International Competition, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and Ici-Musique.  She recently took part in a workshop for the creation of a new opera, Les Dévots, by composer Christophe Lamarche-Ledoux and librettist Félix-Antoine Boutin, which is scheduled to premiere at the Fall 2026 at Espace Libre Theater in Montréal.

 

An ambassador for opera, Chantal Lambert contributes to its development and sustainability. She was president of the Conseil québécois de la musique from 2008 to 2011, sat on the board of directors of the AOC (Association for Opera in Canada) from 2019 to 2023 and currently sits on that of of the ROQ (Reunion of Opera in Québec) and is president of the organization Le Volier, whose mandate is intercultural dialogue through music; and vice-president of Abercorn Lyrique, who’s mission it is to showcase emerging lyric talent in the region of the Eastern Townships of Quebec in a yearly summer festival.

 

She is the author of a linguistic lexicon: Petit lexique de l’Opéra (French, English, Italian, and German), published by Presses universitaires européennes.

 

After being inducted into the Canadian Opera Hall of Fame in 2016, Chantal Lambert is being honored by Opera Canada, which presents her with a Ruby Award in 2025 for her contribution to the art form of Opera, highlighting her role at the Atelier lyrique de l'Opéra de Montréal, and her career extending into the creation of new operatic works.