"immense charisme''
-Le Devoir-
ISABEAU
PROULX LEMIRE
Acteur
"exceptionnellement doué" -La Presse-
"fabulously comic"
-Toronto Star-
Chanteur
&
ABOUT
Canadian actor and tenor Isabeau Proulx Lemire is known for his undoubted versatility, decorated background, and theatrical expertise.
He began an acting career in his hometown of Quebec City. In addition, he has performed for many local theatre companies, such as Le Théâtre Périscope, Le Cirque Éos, l’Opéra de Québec, l’Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Les Fêtes de la Nouvelle-France, and Carnaval de Québec.
Soon after, he joined the Cirque du Soleil and sang the lead role in Walt Disney World’s La Nouba staged by Franco Dragone.
He later completed his vocal baroque studies at the Université de Montréal under Suzie Leblanc’s supervision while furthering his career with the Académie baroque de Montréal, the Cirque du Soleil Musique Inc., the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, the Montreal Baroque Festival, the World Youth Choir, and the Chœur de l’Orchestre symphonique de Québec.
He shares his acting and singing talent on the international scene. He has sung in over thirty “sung theatre” shows from Monteverdi’s Baroque operas to Broadway musicals since 2008.
He has a talent for physical theatre and dance, allowing him to perform in various musicals such as Les Misérables at the Capitole de Québec and Francofolies de Montréal, Next to Normal at Théâtre du Rideau Vert, and Hairspray at the Just for Laughs Festival. As an actor, he has performed plays in English and French for various international theatre festivals, namely Montreal’s Festival TransAmériques, Cleveland’s International Children’s Festival, and Pittsburgh’s International Children’s Festival.
In the opera world, he has sung more than fifteen comic roles from Purcell’s Fairy Queen and Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, French and German operettas to Peter Brook’s La tragédie de Carmen. In 2008, Montreal-based media described Isabeau’s roles of Frosh and Yvan in the Université de Montréal’s Die Fledermaus as “the revelation.” He toured Canada with Jeunesses Musicales of Canada and played the roles of Popoff and D’Estillac in The Merry Widow and the four valets in Les contes d’Hoffmann, co-produced by Opera de Québec. Other companies such as Opera Bouffe du Québec and Chicoutimi’s Société d’art lyrique du Royaume have put Proulx Lemire’s talents to good use. He has played the roles of lovers, valets, foolish oldsters, and noble fathers in many works by Offenbach, such as La Grande-Duchesse de Geroldstein, La Belle Hélène, Les Brigands, Barbe Bleue, La fille du tambour major, Le voyage dans la lune, and Docteur Ox. In addition, he performed roles in Reynaldo Hahn’s Ciboulette and Chabrier’s L’Étoile.
Fuelled by his passion for Baroque music, he has performed with well-known Canadian and international companies. After singing in the most beautiful theatres of France, Spain, Poland, and Romania in 2008, he sang André-Cardinal Destouches’ Le Carnaval et la Folie with Opéra Comique de Paris, directed by Hervé Niquet and presented by France’s Académie baroque européenne d’Ambronay.
On Canadian soil, he’s a singing actor and dancer with the Toronto Masques Theatre in Masques of War, a combination of Monteverdi’s Il Combattimento and Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du soldat. Alongside soprano Shannon Mercer, he sings and plays in Moliere’s Celebration, a double-bill featuring musical intermezzos by Lully and Charpentier, as well as theatrical excerpts from Bourgeois Gentilhomme and Le Malade imaginaire. He has contributed to many multidisciplinary projects with Quebec-based ensembles, such as Les Boréades (Francis Colpron), Masques (Olivier Fortin), L’Harmonie des Saisons (Eric Milnes), Académie baroque de Montréal (Alexander Weimann), La Nef, and Alkemia. Here are a few examples of his recent work. He performed in La Belle Danse of Les Jardins chorégraphiques (baroque dance company), featuring dancer and stage director Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière. He also sang and played in the world premiere of Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Ballet de l’Impatience with Bande Montréal Baroque directed by Noam Krieger at the Montreal Baroque Festival. He was a dancer and singer in Nouvel Opéra’s Visibilia, a new work with opera excerpts by Monteverdi, alongside soprano Suzie Leblanc and director Alexander Weimann (Festival des arts de Saint-Sauveur, Festival Orford, Vancouver Early Music Festival).
BIOGRAPHY
PRESS REVIEWS
« Proulx Lemire almost stole the show with his portrayals of clumsy Basilio and the stuttering judge »
-La Tribune's review for Le Nozze de Figaro (Université de Sherbrooke)
« …the cast was dominated by […] Isabeau Proulx Lemire’s acrobatic clowning while playing the drunk jailer […] »
-La Presse’s review for Die Fliedermaus (Université de Montréal)
« Dazzling performance by Isabeau Proulx lemire ».
- La Presse about his short appearance in Carmen of Peter Brook by the Canadian Vocal Art Institute, Montréal.
« ...the talented […] Isabeau Proux-Lemire, [was] fabulously comic in three roles... [He] strut[s] his theatrical stuff with panache.»
-The Toronto Star about his performance in the Molière’s Celebration of Toronto Masque Theater.
« a special mention goes to the actor and singer Isabeau Proulx Lemire, who in his role of Master of Ceremonies called out loud each different scene with always with finesse and timing. Revalation of University of Montreal’s Die Fledermaus a couple years ago, this exeptionally gifted yougn man was one the stars of the evening ». -La Presse reiterates after Lully’s Ballet de l’Impatience at the Montreal Baroque Festival.
« from this evening on, we will always remember the actor and singer Isabeau Proulx Lemire as the perfect Master of Ceremonies, in particular for his immense charisma and the care he brouthg to his old-fashioned pronunciation.» [of French]
-Montreal’s Le Devoir elaborates very much in the sames lines (Balllet de l’Impatience)
GALLERY
Pictures
Just for laughs Festival
Opera Bouffe du Québec
Opera Bouffe du Québec
Toronto Masque Theater: a double-bill featuring generous musical (Lully/Charpentier) and theatrical excerpts of Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme and Le Malade Imaginaire.
The rock musical
Jeunesses Musicales du Canada Opéra de Québec
Choeur Vives Voix
The rock musical Théâtre du Rideau Vert
Opera Bouffe du Québec
Opera Bouffe du Québec
Choeur Vives Voix
Opéra Bouffe du Québec