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Rihab Chaieb

Mezzo-soprano

  • Tunisian-Canadian mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb is capturing international attention with her compelling stage presence and vocal versatility.



    In the 26/27 season, Chaieb opens the LA Opera season in a new production of Carmen in the inaugural production of Domingo Hindoyan’s Music Directorship, a role she will reprise for Glyndebourne and Atlanta Opera, alongside her house and role debut as Adalgisa in Bellini’s Norma for Teatro Real Madrid and her role debut in the title role of Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila for Opernhaus Zürich. On the concert platform, Chaieb returns to the Gulbenkian Orchestra for Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été with Hannu Lintu and to the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra for Berio’s Folk Songs with Kirill Karabits. Chaieb embarks on a recital tour with pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz presenting the world premiere of a new song cycle ‘Nomad[e]’, written for her by librettist Royce Vavrek and composer Matthew Ricketts, making her Carnegie Hall recital debut, with further performances at Koerner Hall Toronto, the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago, Bing Concert Hall Stanford & The Frick Collection New York.

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  • Last season, Chaieb made her house debut as Nefertiti in Glass’ Akhnaten for the Gran Teatre del Liceu and Charlotte in Massenet’s Werther for the Teatro Cervantes de Málaga. Elsewhere Chaieb sang the title role in Bizet’s Carmen for Montreal Opera, Cherubino in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro for Atlanta Opera and returned to the Bayerische Staatsoper as Maddalena in a new production of Verdi’s Rigoletto. On the concert platform, plans included her debut with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in Mahler’s Symphony No.2 (Stutzmann), Mahler’s Symphony No.3 with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (Tausk), Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Barcelona (Morlot) Schumann Das Paradies und die Peri with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland (Shelley), a New Years Concert Gala with the Gulbenkian Orchestra (Lintu) and performed a recital at the Life Victoria Barcelona with Brian Zeger.



    A regular interpreter of Bizet’s Carmen, Chaieb has sung the role in recent seasons for Glyndebourne Festival, Opera Australia, Canadian Opera Company, Palm Beach Opera, Oper Köln & Calgary Opera, as well as in concert with the LA Philharmonic, the Quincena Musical de San Sebastián and the BBC Proms. Other operatic highlights include her debut at Opernhaus Zürich as Charlotte in Massenet Werther, Fenena Nabucco for Canadian Opera Company and in debuts for the Bayerische Staatsoper (Rustioni) and Deutsche Oper Berlin, Cherubino Le nozze di Figaro in her LA Opera debut (Conlon), Dorabella Così fan tutte with Washington National Opera, Santiago de Chile, LA Opera & Seiji Ozawa Music Academy, Lola Cavalleria Rusticana with Dutch National Opera (Viotti) and the Bayerische Staatsoper, Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto for Opéra National de Montpellier, Rosina in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia at Cincinnati Opera, Kasturbai in Glass’s Satyagraha & Charlotte Werther for Opera Ballet Vlaanderen.



    Elsewhere, Chaieb has sung Penelope Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria on tour and for a recording with Ensemble I Gemelli and created the role of Claire in the world premiere of Melancholia with the Royal Swedish Opera, La mère Meryem in Jost Voyage vers l’espoir for Grand Théâtre de Genève & gave the world premiere of Tarik O’Regan’s The Phoenix in her debut for Houston Grand Opera. As a former member of the The Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Program, Chaieb appeared in numerous productions there, including Zulma L’italiana in Algeri, Laura Luisa Miller, Lola Cavalleria Rusticana, and Sandmännchen Hänsel und Gretel. Chaieb has since returned to the Metropolitan Opera as a guest for Zerlina Don Giovanni, Maddalena Rigoletto & Nefertiti in Glass’ Akhnaten.


    On the concert platform, Chaieb has sung Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 & Verdi’s Requiem with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Dudamel), Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the The Philadelphia Orchestra at Carnegie Hall (Nézet-Séguin), Ravel’s Sheherezade with the Wiener Symphoniker for the Bregenzer Festspiele (Chan), Le Concert de Paris with the Orchestre National de France (Măcelaru), Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the National Symphony Orchestra Washington (Noseda), Verdi’s Requiem with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra (Gardner), Mahler‘s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Debus) and a Rossini Gala (Nagano) with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Handel’s Messiah with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (Gimeno) and with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (Egarr), Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, de Falla’s El sombrero de tres picos with both Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (Prieto) & Mozart’s Requiem with Orchestre Symphonique de Québec (Sousa) & Les Violons du Roi (Labadie). Her various recital appearances have included Vocal Arts DC with pianist Brian Zeger and for the National Arts Center's #CanadaPerforms series with pianist Jennifer Szeto.


    As a recording artist, Chaieb has appeared on Jonathan Tetelman’s ‘The Great Puccini’ album for Deutsche Grammophon and has recorded both Bach’s Mass in B minor & Beethoven Symphony No.9 with Orchestre Métropolitain under Music Director Nézet-Séguin, the latter released on Deutsche Grammophon’s DG Stage.

    2026/27 season / 804 words. Not to be altered without permission.

Performances

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"a tour de force of singing and acting"

Kevin Wells, Bachtrack

"Carmen depends on a charismatic Carmen in total command of her role. Chaieb has the kind of warm and supple voice which is immediately beguiling, with no weakness as she moved through the registers, soaring effortlessly and at the lower end displaying a smoky richness with tobacco-infused chest tones. When she sang her “I defy everything” in Act 1, she sent out the unmistakeable message: don’t mess with me. This Carmen didn’t snarl or hiss but she did ooze endless spirit. Her richly varied characterisation included those moments of vulnerability, fragility even, when the cards fall badly for her in Act 3, and in the blackest depths of her mezzo range she felt Fate approaching fast. Above all, her superlative French diction added a ring of total authenticity."

 

Alexander Hall, Opera Today

"Chaieb was simply a dream of a Dorabella... with an unfailing communicative circuit running straight from the heart to the vocal cords."

Patrick Dillon, Opera Canada

Intermusica represents Rihab Chaieb worldwide.

Natasha Worsley
Associate Director, Vocal & Opera
+44 7870 979 794
nworsley@intermusica.com

Iago Campello
Artist Manager, Vocal & Opera
+44 7548 317398
icampello@intermusica.com

All artists

Contralto

Avery Amereau

Actor / Narrator

Amira Casar

Chansonnier

HK Gruber

Piano accompanist

Roger Vignoles

Saxophone

Branford Marsalis