Helene Engel

Hélène ENGEL is a singer, a musicologist, a composer, a lyricist and an arranger. Hélène's tours have taken her throughout France and to major folklore festivals in Europe and Northern America. She hosts a weekly radio-show about music at Radio-Shalom Montreal. She is also an accredited Music Therapist who graduated at UQAM in April 2000. Hélène ENGEL is an opera singer, musicologist, composer, lyricist and arranger. Specialist in Jewish folklore she sings in Yiddish, Hebrew, and Judeo-Spanish, as well as in English and French… and other languages! She has produced five recordings. Hélène's tours have taken her throughout France and to major folklore festivals in Europe and Northern America. Now based in Montreal, she sings occasionally as cantorial soloist and is a regular member of the Shaare Zion choir.
Through the Lyric Arts, Hélène Engel discovers her voice. Her talent is confirmed by a Masters Degree in Musicology from the University of Strasbourg and a diploma from the Conservatory of Cergy-Pontoise. She makes her professional debut singing supporting roles and choir parts in many operas : The marriage of Figaro, Carmen, The Magic Flute, Traviata...
Through her research, she discovers her path. No slave of tradition, Hélène Engel rejects classical elitism, allows no barriers or boundaries to stand in her way. A citizen of the World, she designs her own itinerary along the signposts of international folklore. From the traditions of Alsace, Berry, Brittany... she went to the folklore of Russia, America, Spain, England ... and then, the sounds of Persian and Swahili become familiar friends! She finds her way through Jewish folklore, in which Judeo-Spanish, Yiddish, Hebrew and all the other languages of exile are mingled. These multiple voices and melodies convey the joie de vivre , the humor, the playfulness, the sensitivity and the warmth that distinguish Hélène Engel.