Tunisian-Canadian mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb has drawn international recognition for her clear, sensuous vocal tone and her dramatic flair. With a versatile instrument that allows her to shine in repertoire from Monteverdi, Handel, and Mozart through Bizet, Verdi and Glass, the Canadian mezzo is a prominent new talent on the world’s major stages.

 

In the 2022/23 season, Chaieb makes both notable debuts and anticipated returns: she brings her acclaimed interpretation of Carmen to both the Canadian Opera Company and Calgary Opera and makes her LA Opera debut as Cherubino in a new production of Le nozze di Figaro. At Grand Théâtre de Genève she appears as La mère Meryem in the world-premiere of Christian Jost’s Voyage vers l’espoir and makes her Bayerische Staatsoper debut as Fenena in Verdi’s Nabucco. 

 

A regular performer on the concert platform, this season Chaieb joins Philharmonia Baroque in Handel’s Messiah, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été and with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, she performs her first Ruggiero in Handel’s Alcina.

The 2021/22 season included Rihab Chaieb’s debut at Washington National Opera as Dorabella in Così fan tutte, a concert tour and recording of Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria with Ensemble I Gemelli, a return to Opéra National de Montpellier as Maddalena in Marie-Eve Signeyrole’s new staging of Rigoletto, a debut at Palm Beach Opera in the title role of Carmen, and a return to The Metropolitan Opera as Nefertiti in Phelim McDermott’s revelatory production of Philip Glass’ Akhnaten.

 

On the concert stage, Rihab Chaieb has performed with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal in Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in Handel’s Messiah, both Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in de Falla’s Three-Cornered Hat, and at the Toronto Summer Music Festival in her first Das Lied von der Erde.

 

Chaieb is a former member of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Program, where she has appeared in numerous productions, including L’italiana in Algeri (Zulma), Luisa Miller (Laura), Cavalleria Rusticana (Lola), and Hänsel und Gretel (Sandmännchen). She has returned since as a guest in Don Giovanni (Zerlina) under Cornelius Meister. Also, a former member of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio, where she earned major acclaim as Sesto (La clemenza di Tito) and San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program, where she debuted as Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro).