“Field’s sumptuous mezzo is a rare treat, harkening back to classic recordings of Maureen Forrester and Janet Baker.”
Canadian Contralto Leah Giselle Field is noted for her versatility as a vocalist and the strength of her dramatic presence. Praised for “soaring tone and spectacular low notes” in her “sumptuous” instrument, she is a graduate of Vancouver Opera’s Yulanda M. Faris Young Artists Program, a Vancouver Opera Foundation Amatori bursary recipient and regional winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She holds degrees from the University of Western Ontario and the University of British Columbia.
Performance highlights include Cavalleria Rusticana, Eugene Onegin, Le Nozze di Figaro and Hansel and Gretel with Vancouver Opera, recitals with pianists Leslie Dala and Richard Epp, Handel’s Messiah, Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Vancouver Bach Choir, appearances in the Vancouver Opera Chamber Music Festival, and productions of Luisa Miller, Suor Angelica, Cendrillon, and Aida in Nova Scotia, Ontario, and British Columbia. Upcoming engagements include oratorio and recording projects with BC composers.
Leah has sung in North America, Europe, and China in opera, recital, and with orchestras and chamber ensembles. She has performed with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra, the Vancouver Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, the Sea to Sky Symphony, the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Toronto, the West Coast Symphony Orchestra, and the UBC Symphony Orchestra, and as a recitalist throughout British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario.
Repertoire
Opera
Oratorio & Concert
Artsong
Musical Theatre
Benjamin Britten
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Hippolyta
- Albert Herring - Mrs. Herring, Florence
- The Rape of Lucretia - Lucretia (excerpts)
Lloyd Burritt
- Miracle Flight 571 - Eugenia
Gilbert and Sullivan
- HMS Pinafore - Little Buttercup
Engelbert Humperdinck
- Hansel and Gretel - Gertrude, Witch
Oliver Knussen
- Higglety Pigglety Pop! - Jennie
Igor Stravinsky
- The Rake’s Progress - Baba the Turk (excerpts)
Georg Friedrich Handel
- Giulio Cesare - Cesare, Cornelia
Pietro Mascagni
- Cavalleria Rusticana - Mama Lucia
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Le Nozze di Figaro - Marcellina
Giacomo Puccini
- Madama Butterfly - Suzuki
- Suor Angelica - La Zia Principessa
Giuseppe Verdi
- Aida - Amneris
- Otello - Emilia
- Luisa Miller - Federica
Léo Delibes
- Lakmé - Malika
Charles Gounod
- Faust - Marthe
Jules Massenet
- Manon - Rosette
- Cendrillon - Madame de la Haltière
Francis Poulenc
- Dialogues des Carmélites - Old Prioress
Harry Somers
- Louis Riel - Julie Riel
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Die Zauberflöte - Dritte Dame
Richard Strauss
- Salome - Herodias
Richard Wagner
- Das Rheingold - Erda, Flosshilde
- Der fliegende Holländer - Mary
Piotr Illyich Tchaikovsky
- Eugene Onegin - Larina, Filipyevna
Johann Sebastian Bach
- “Ich habe genug,” BWV 82
- Mass in B Minor, BWV 232
- Magnificat, BWV 243
- “Erbarme dich, mein Gott” from Matthäus-Passion, BWV 244
- Weihnachtsoratorium, BWV 248
Ludwig van Beethoven
- Choral Fantasy
- Symphony No. 9
Johannes Brahms
- Alto Rhapsody, Op. 53
Edward Elgar
- Sea Pictures
Maurice Duruflé
- Requiem
Malcolm Forsyth
- Three Métis Folksongs
Srul Irving Glick
- …I never saw another butterfly
Georg Friedrich Handel
- Messiah
Johann Adolf Hasse
- Miserere in C moll
Gustav Mahler
- Symphony No. 8
- Fünf Rückert-Lieder
- “Von der Schönheit” from Das Lied von der Erde
Felix Mendelssohn
- St. Paul, Op. 36
- Elijah, Op. 70
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Vesprae Solemnes
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
- Stabat Mater
Dmitri Shostakovich
- From Jewish Folk Poetry, Op. 79
Giuseppe Verdi
- Messa da Requiem
Antonio Vivaldi
- Gloria in D Major, RV 589
- Nisi Dominus, RV 608
Keith Bissell
- Six Maritime Folksongs
William Bolcom
- Cabaret Songs, Volume 1 & 2
Lloyd Burritt
- Winter Words in a Dark Love Song
Jean Coulthard
- Spring Rhapsody
Edward Elgar
- Sea Pictures
Gerald Finzi
- Let Us Garlands Bring, Op. 18
Srul Irving Glick
- ... I Never Saw Another Butterfly
Florence Price
- Forever
- Night
- Songs to the Dark Virgin
- Travel’s End
Sylvia Rickard
- Requiem for Judith
- River Woman
Ralph Vaughn Williams
- The House of Life
- Songs of Travel
Antonin Dvořák
- From Cigánske Melodie, Op. 55
- Když mne stará matka
- Široké rukávy
Hector Berlioz
- La Mort d’Ophélie
- Les Nuits d’été, Op. 7
Claude Debussy
- Trois Chansons de Bilitis
- Nuit d’étoiles
Claire Delbos
- L’âme en bourgeon
Henri Duparc
- Extase
Gabriel Fauré
- Après un Rêve
- Chanson d’amour
- Claire de Lune, Op. 46, no. 2
- Mandoline, Op. 58, no. 1
Reynaldo Hahn
- A Chloris
- Le Rossignol des lillas
- Rêverie
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Dans un Bois Solitaire, K.295b
- Oiseaux, si tous les ans, K.284d
Francis Poulenc
- La Courte Paille
- Tel Jour, Telle Nuit
Maurice Ravel
- Deux Mélodies Hébraïques
Kurt Weill
- Je ne t’aime pas
- Youkali
Johannes Brahms
- Von ewiger Liebe, Op. 43, no. 1
- Op. 61
- Sapphische Ode, Op. 94, no. 4
- Wie Melodien zieht es mir, Fünf Lieder, Op. 105, no. 1
Franz Liszt
- Die Lorelei, S. 273
Alma Mahler
- Vier Lieder
- Fünf Lieder
Gustav Mahler
- Fünf Rückert-Lieder
- from Das Lied von der Erde
- Von der Schönheit
Felix Mendelssohn
- Op. 63
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel
- Drei Duette auf Texte von Heinrich Heine
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Abendempfindung an Laura, K. 523
- Als Luise die Briefe, K. 520
- An Chloë, K. 524
- Das Veilchen, K. 476
Franz Schubert
- Erlkönig, Op. 1, D. 328
- Gretchen am Spinnrade, Op. 2, D. 118
- Heidenröslein, Op. 3, D. 257
- Die Abgeblühte Linde, D. 514, Op. 7, no. 1
- Der Tod und das Mädchen, D. 531, Op. 7, no. 3
- Ganymed, D. 544, Op. 19, no. 4
- An die Musik, D. 547, Op. 88, no. 4
- Frühlingsglaube, D. 686, Op. 20, no. 2
- Suleika I, D. 720, Op. 14, no. 1
- Der Musensohn, D. 764
- Wanderers Nachtlied II, D. 768, Op. 96, no. 3
- Du bist die Ruh, D. 776, Op. 59, no. 3
- Lachen und Weinen, D. 777, Op. 59, no. 4
- Ellens Gesang III (Hymne an die Jungfrau), D. 839, Op. 52, no. 6
- Lied der Mignon, D. 877, Op. 62, no. 4
- An Sylvia, D. 891, Op. 106, no. 4
- Der Lindenbaum, D. 911, Op. 89, no. 5
- Der Leiermann, D. 911, Op. 89, no. 24
- Ständchen, D. 920, Op. 135
Clara Schumann
- Drei Gedichte aus Rückerts Liebesfrühling
Robert Schumann
- Frauenliebe und Leben, Op. 42
- Widmung, Myrthen, Op. 25, no. 1
- Du bist wie eine Blume, Myrthen, Op. 25, no. 24
- Die Lotosblume, Op. 25, no. 7
- Im wunderschönen Monat Mai, Dichterliebe, Op. 48, no. 1
- Erste Begegnung, Op. 74
Arnold Schoenberg
- Selected Brettl-Lieder
Richard Strauss
- Zueignung, Op. 10, no. 1
- Die Nacht, Op. 10, no. 3
- Allerseelen, Op. 10, no. 8
- Ständchen, Op. 17, no. 2
- Befreit, Op. 39, no. 4
- Heimliche Aufforderung, Op. 27, no. 3
- Morgen, Op. 27, no. 4
- Schlagende Herzen, Op. 29, no. 2
- Schlechtes Wetter, Op. 69, no. 5
Carl Winter
- Todesfuge
Hugo Wolf
- Verborgenheit, Mörike Lieder, no. 12
- Der Gärtner, Mörike Lieder, no. 17
- Mignon IV “Kennst du das Land,” Goethe Lieder, no. 9
- Ich esse nun mein Brot nicht trocken mehr, Italienisches Liederbuch, Book II, no. 2
- Benedeit die selige Mutter, Italienisches Liederbuch, Book II, no. 13
- Verschling’ der Abgrund, Italienisches Liederbuch, Book II, no. 23
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Ridente la calma, K. 152
Maurice Ravel
- Deux Mélodies hébraïques
Luigi Zaninelli (arr.)
- Rachav ha yam (The water is wide)
Other
- Folksongs and liturgical repertoire
Sergei Rachmaninoff
- Op. 4, no. 3, 4, and 6
- Op. 14, no. 1, 2, and 11
- Op. 21, no. 5
Dmitri Shostakovich
- From Jewish Folk Poetry, Op. 79
Jason Robert Brown
- Songs for a New World – Woman 2
Alain Boubil/Claude-Michel Schönberg
- Les Misérables – Madame Thénardier
Stephen Sondheim
- Into the Woods – Witch
- Sweeney Todd – Mrs. Lovett
Benny Andersson/Bjorn Ulvaeus
- Chess – Someone Else’s Story
Leonard Bernstein
- West Side Story – Somewhere
- West Side Story – Tonight Ensemble
- 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue – Take Care of This House
- Peter Pan – Who Am I?
- Peter Pan – My House
Jerry Bock
- The Apple Tree – Gorgeous
John Kander/Fred Ebb
- Cabaret – So What?
Marvin Laird
- Ruthless! The Musical – Teaching Third Grade
Andrew Lloyd Webber
- Tell Me on a Sunday – Tell Me on a Sunday
- Tell Me on a Sunday – Take That Look Off Your Face
Mary Rogers/Marshall Barer
- Once Upon a Mattress – Shy
Richard Rogers/Oscar Hammerstein II
- Cinderella – Stepsister’s Lament
- Carousel – You’ll Never Walk Alone
Richard Rogers/Lorenz Hart
- Babes in Arms – I Wish I Were in Love Again
Lucy Simon
- The Secret Garden – If I Had a Fine White Horse
- The Secret Garden – Hold On
Stephen Sondheim
- A Little Night Music – Send in the Clowns
- Follies – Losing My Mind
- Company – The Ladies Who Lunch