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Wide editorial portrait of Isabel Leonard reclining on a pale linen sofa in a violet one-shoulder gown, one hand raised to her brow as a shaft of daylight crosses the frame.

Mezzo-soprano

Isabel Leonard

Three Grammys. Two decades. One voice.

With the assurance of one who feels completely at home on the stage
The New York Times · Her Metropolitan Opera debut

Next performance

Amplify Gala · Nov 21, 2026 · Jacobs Music Center, San Diego

All performances

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Conversations and appearances

Isabel Leonard as Frida Kahlo in a white gown, arms extended, dancing among four figures in red skeleton costumes beneath a bare red tree at the Metropolitan Opera.
As Frida Kahlo in El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego, Metropolitan Opera, 2026Photo: Metropolitan Opera
Past engagements
  • Nov 6 to 8, 2026Shéhérazade / Le jet d'eauSan Francisco Symphony, San FranciscoFabien Gabel, conductorConcertDetails: Shéhérazade / Le jet d'eau, San Francisco Symphony (opens the presenter’s site)
  • Oct 1, 2026Recital with Malcolm MartineauHouse debutSant Pau Recinte Modernista, BarcelonaConcertDetails: Recital with Malcolm Martineau, Sant Pau Recinte Modernista (opens the presenter’s site)
  • Sep 19, 2026Great American Songbook, Season Opening GalaHouston Symphony, HoustonSteven Reineke, conductorConcert
  • Jul 9 to 11, 2026La CenerentolaBayerische Staatsoper, MunichAntonio Fogliani, conductorAngelina
  • Jul 1 to 18, 2026CarmenHouse debutArena at Heumarkt, ViennaJoji Hattori, conductorCarmen
  • Jun 9, 2026Spanish Song and Dance RecitalCarnegie Hall (Zankel Hall), New YorkConcert
  • May 14 to Jun 5, 2026El Último Sueño de Frida y DiegoRole debutMetropolitan Opera, New YorkYannick Nézet-Séguin, conductorFrida Kahlo
  • May 5, 2026Concert of the Century, 50th Anniversary GalaCarnegie Hall, New YorkYannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor
  • Mar 30, 2026Masterclass & RecitalWashington University in St. Louis (Department of Music), St. Louis
  • Mar 25 to 26, 2026Masterclass & RecitalIthaca College School of Music, Ithaca
  • Mar 23, 2026Youth Orchestra ConcertAsheville Symphony, Asheville
  • Mar 21, 2026Nightingale MasterworksAsheville Symphony, AshevilleDarko Butorac, conductor
  • Mar 17, 2026RecitalAsheville Symphony, AshevilleConcert
  • Feb 4, 2026Knoxville: Summer of 1915Carnegie Hall, New YorkYannick Nézet-Séguin, conductorConcert
  • Jan 28, 2026A Starlit Night, Concert & GalaOpera San Antonio, San Antonio
  • Jan 15, 2026Recital with John AridaCarnegie Hall (Stern Auditorium), New YorkConcert
  • Dec 8 to 11, 2025Rossini TourMultiple, Grenoble / Lyon / Aix-en-ProvenceJérémie Rhorer, conductorConcert
  • Nov 1 to 29, 2025CarmenMetropolitan Opera, New YorkFabien Gabel, conductorCarmen
  • Oct 3 to 5, 2025L'enfant et les sortilègesSan Diego Symphony, San DiegoRafael Payare, conductorL'enfant

Recordings

A voice for our time.
A career for the ages.

A native New Yorker and graduate of The Juilliard School, three-time Grammy Award-winning artist Isabel Leonard has built a career of rare breadth, whose Carmen the New York Classical Review found "effortlessly seductive," a reputation earned not only on the opera stage but in the concert hall, on film, and on screens worldwide.

Ms. Leonard made her Metropolitan Opera debut at twenty-five years old, having graduated from Juilliard just months before, and the New York Times noted that she sang "with the assurance of one who feels completely at home on the stage." That assurance has only deepened over nearly two decades at the company, where her roles have ranged from Mozart and Rossini heroines to contemporary works including the Met commission and world premiere of Nico Muhly's Marnie and the company premiere of Gabriela Lena Frank's El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego.

A trained dancer who studied at the Joffrey Ballet School before entering Juilliard, she brings distinctive physicality and theatricality to her performances. Her artistry extends naturally into musical theater and the American songbook, and she maintains regular collaborations with international artists including Andrea Bocelli.

Signature Roles

  • Cherubino · Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart)
  • Dorabella · Così fan tutte (Mozart)
  • Rosina · Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini)
  • Angelina · La Cenerentola (Rossini)
  • Carmen · Carmen (Bizet)
  • Charlotte · Werther (Massenet)

Management

Promethean Artists

Artistic Management · Adam Cavagnaro

Maison Talent

Business Management

Press

Carmen should not have to try to seduce, she should be so compelling that she is effortlessly seductive, and Leonard was.

with the assurance of one who feels completely at home on the stage

The New York Times, Anne MidgetteRoméo et Juliette, her Metropolitan Opera debut, 2007

the scope of her sultry mezzo, from its plummy lower notes to silvery higher range

supple, perfectly controlled, capable of great power, but with a lilt, purity and expressive warmth

Work with
Isabel Leonard.

Engagements and scheduling are with her artistic management. Contracts, commercial work and brand partnerships are with her business representation.

Write to management

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Artistic management

Promethean Artists

Adam Cavagnaro, General Management
adam@prometheanartists.com · +1.609.712.1009

Ben Schaefer, Assistant Artist Manager
ben@prometheanartists.com · +1.515.333.1093

Business representation

Maison Talent

Contracts, commercial and brand partnerships
info@maisontalent.com

Press

Press kit

Biographies in four lengths and approved photographs, with credits.
Open the press kit