Born in Edmundston in 1961, Suzie LeBlanc is a talented soprano, teacher, actress, and harpsichordist. Despite being of Acadian heritage, she was exposed to classical music at a young age thanks to her mother, soprano Marie-Germaine LeBlanc, and took lessons in piano and flute. She began singing with the choir Les Jeunes Chanteurs d’Acadie under the direction of Sister Lorette Gallant.
In 1976, LeBlanc’s family moved to Montreal, where she discovered baroque music during a concert at the Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montreal (SMAM). She enrolled at CEGEP St-Laurent, Montreal, where she studied harpsichord with singing as a second subject. SMAM’s director encouraged her to begin performing as a vocalist before she had completed her degree. She later joined the women’s trio Musica Secreta on their tour of Western Canada and was offered a position singing soprano in a professional ensemble in Vancouver, which began her “education on stage.”
After three years, LeBlanc moved to Europe to study voice and was eventually offered a singing part with The Consort Musicke, where she recorded albums in 1989 and 1990, including the music of De Wert and Monteverdi.
LeBlanc established herself as a specialist in baroque and classical repertoire, particularly in early music recordings. She has contributed to an impressive number of recordings and collaborations with ensembles including Tafelmusik, The Purcell Quartet, New World Consort, and Les Voix humaines. She has also recorded many unpublished works, including Chants d’Acadie: Tout passé, which features mainly Acadian songs collected by LeBlanc in Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and PEI.
Throughout her career, LeBlanc has appeared in recitals with many leading early music ensembles and performers, including numerous collaborations with Canadian tenor Daniel Taylor. She has also performed in major venues such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, London’s Wigmore Hall, and the Konzerthaus in Vienna.
As an opera singer, LeBlanc has performed for various organizations, including De Nederlandse Opera, Festival de Beaune, Opéra de Montréal, the Boston Early Music Festival, Tanglewood, Festival Vancouver, and Early Music Vancouver.
LeBlanc’s talents extend beyond singing, as she has also acted in several films. She played the lead character in the award-winning film Lost Song (2008), directed by Rodrigue Jean, and was featured in a film version of Bach’s Coffee Cantata and More Than a Thousand Kisses (2001), directed by Robert Chesterman.
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