Biography
Concert Events 2008

Contralto Sonia Sasseville is known for the unique timbre of her voice and her sensitive stage presence. Her warm, entrancing voice, as powerful as it is supple, has helped win over many different audiences in various types of repertoire.

Sonia Sasseville was born in Ottawa area and moved to Montréal in 2002, after completing a Master’s degree in vocal performance at McGill University. She is best known as a recitalist, specializing in the music of Duparc and Debussy, but with a strong affinity for the great German composers, especially Brahms and Mahler. Her performances of the Kindertotenlieder have been critically acclaimed. She also enjoys a key position in the world of Québec opera, and in the space of less than two years has sung leading roles in Chanson Gitane (Mitidika), La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein and La Perichole, besides presenting a refreshing new approach to the role of Marcellina in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro.

Her extensive work with the Montréal Baroque Orchestra has developed her appreciation of early instruments, and her repertoire includes major works by Bach, including the Magnificat and B Minor Mass, Handel’s Messiah and settings of the Stabat Mater by Pergolesi and Vivaldi.

Sonia Sasseville has performed elsewhere in Canada in Mozart’s Requiem, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater and Gounod’s Les sept paroles du Christ. She has received awards from the Conseil des Arts et des lettres du Québec, Jeunesses Musicales of Canada and the Orford Arts Centre, and has sung under conductors Agnès Grossmann, Timothy Vernon, Tania Miller, Joël Thiffault, Simon Fournier, Lisette Canton, Sébastien Lauriault, Lawrence Ewashko and John Finney.

Ms. Sasseville's beautiful vocal skills can now be heard in the United States. In December 2004, the Handel and Haydn Society invited her to Boston where she performed as contralto soloist at the annual concert of Handel's The Messiah directed by John Finney.

Concert Schedule 2007-2008  2008-2009