About Sharon Azrieli
Originally from Montréal, soprano Sharon Azrieli has enjoyed international success at world-famous venues including Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Opera, the Opéra Bastille de Paris, and with leading organizations such as the Canadian Opera Company, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, and the New Israel Opera, among others.
In 2019, she was awarded the National Order of Quebec (Chevalière du Québec) for her remarkable achievements as a performer.
Known for her versatility as a singer, Sharon has released several albums, including Sharon Azrieli Sings Broadway (with arranger Marvin Laird), The Gift of Joy, Rare French Arias of the 19th Century, and Fiddler on the Roof (in Yiddish). Blogcritics praised her most recent album, Frankly Sharon with Tony Award-winning composer Frank Wildhorn, saying, “"Azrieli’s softly impassioned phrasing is exquisite... She has, always, a naturalistic freshness in her voice, which makes it easy – or sound easy – for her to shunt aside opera’s tendency to call forth the mannered and the over-the-top, and sing with balance and grace." Translations for the album were done in French, Italian, and Hebrew by Sharon herself. Upcoming recording projects include original songs and jazz standards with the virtuosic pianist & composer Matt Herskowitz, a disc of lullabies, an unusual collection of Canadian Broadway Broadway numbers by Canadian Composers, as well as an album about Jewish Divas of the 19th century which is in the works with renowned conductor Steven Mercurio.
Sharon sang the title song of the Canadian film Stand! and her vocals were also featured in the Hollywood film Stage Mother, starring Lucy Liu, and the film Shepherd: The Story of a Jewish Dog, directed by Lynn Roth. Upcoming films to include her debut acting performances are SHTTL, a drama about a Yiddish village at the border of Poland during WWII, and Irena’s Vow, a Canadian film being made in 2022.
Sharon created the advisory council of the Azrieli Music Prizes for the Azrieli Foundation in 2014 and is devoted to arts education and philanthropy. She sits on the boards of several philanthropic organizations including the Azrieli Foundation, National Arts Centre of Canada, Orchestre Classique de Montréal (where she holds the title President Emeritus), McCord Museum, the Canadian Vocal Arts Institute, The Opera Cares Foundation, the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, Sharon Azrieli Foundation for the Arts as well as on the honorary board of Camp Tutti and Camp Kinneret Biluim.
For more information about Sharon and her performances, visit her website at sharonazrieli.com.
Jazz vocalist Sharon Azrieli enchants us with this romantic Michel Legrand songbook. Tracks include Legrand classics such as the Oscar-winning “Windmills from your Mind” and…