As one of the cruel realities of competition, the winners switch from glory to complete oblivion after a few ephemerous mediatic sparks. When Marie-Nicole Lemieux won the Queen Elisabeth Singing Competition in 1998, nobody knew she would become the contralto of her generation, and nobody knew - even if many guessed at it - that she would become one of the most versatile singers imaginable as well as a first-class tragedian. In August 2000 the producers of Cypres were the first to offer her a recital with the pianist Daniel Blumenthal. Programmed was nothing less than Les Nuits d'été, the Wesendonck and the Rückert-lieder - three cycles of lieder counted among the most intense of the repertory. The calm trembling of the contralto in Berlioz, its poignant dignity in Mahler and its heightened expression in Wagner made this record into an undeniable commercial and artistic success. More than ten years have passed since; Marie-Nicole Lemieux today appears on the biggest stages in the world, and this "historic" record reminds us that even at the beginning of her career, the singer from Quebec was already the genius performer we know today.
