Grammy winner Isabel Leonard teams with SF Symphony in ‘L’Enfant’

It’s been a banner year for Isabel Leonard, one that has seen the Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano singing a wealth of French repertoire.

“French music is my life right now,” says Leonard, who arrives at Davies Symphony Hall this week to sing the title role of Ravel’s “L’Enfant et les sortilèges” (The Child and the Magic Spells) with the San Francisco Symphony.

Indeed, Leonard has made a feast of French roles this year — including, most recently, a stunning performance as Blanche in the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Poulenc’s “Dialogues of the Carmelites.” The opera, which Bay Area audiences saw last month in a Met HD broadcast, found her in the harrowing role of a nun persecuted during the French Revolution.

“L’Enfant” is an altogether different kind of French opera. Ravel’s 1925 score, with a libretto by French author Colette, tells the story of a naughty boy who refuses to do his homework. When his mother gives him a time out, the everyday objects around him come to magical life. The semi-staged production, which originated at Opéra National de Lyon, is conducted by Martyn Brabbins and directed by James Bonas with dazzling lighting and visual projections. Works by Debussy and Fauré complete the program.

Leonard, who recorded the title role of “L’Enfant” in 2016 with the Saito Kinen Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa — the disc was awarded the Grammy for best opera recording — says she feels “incredibly lucky” to return to it in this production, which also features sopranos Anna Christy, Nikki Einfeld and Marnie Breckenridge, mezzo Ginger Costa Jackson, tenor Ben Jones and baritone Kelly Markgraf, along with the Young Women’s Chorus of San Francisco, The San Francisco Boys Chorus, and San Francisco Symphony Chorus.

The role of the Child, she says, is unique. “It’s a rare opportunity to be a character in an opera that actually gets to witness the opera. You’re sort of the catalyst for all the other characters, and you experience their stories the way the audience does. In the process, he learns and begins to grow up.”

Ravel’s music, she adds, is enchanting. “It’s so beautiful — he’s a master at painting sparkles. He creates these beautiful images, especially in the garden. But every scene is so well put-together. It’s like when you watch any great performance of opera or musical theater — you go ‘Oh, there’s the hit song — that’s the best song in the piece!’ Then the next song comes along, and you go ‘I love that song! It’s the best!”

Leonard is no stranger to playing boys — she often sings operatic “pants roles” such as Mozart’s Cherubino. She’s also the mother of a 9-year-old boy and says she draws on that experience as well. “It’s that type of energy — that curiosity — and that sense of being at a new stage of independence, and yet still being a child.”

There’s a great deal of humor in “L’Enfant,” but Ravel caps the opera with a poignant coda. “He just floods you with this beautiful, heart-wrenching chorus,” says Leonard. “It makes me cry every time. There’s just something about it, especially as you get older and have children of your own. You hear this chorus, and you realize how much you wish there could be nothing but goodness around you. I think that’s what he creates in that moment — a sense of hope. L’Enfant represents this young being who, instead of turning out to be a tyrant, can evolve into a loving, caring human being.”

Along with Blanche in “Dialogues of the Carmelites,” Leonard’s other triumph this year was in the title role of “Marnie.” Nico Muhly’s opera, based on the Alfred Hitchcock film, made its U.S. debut in a riveting Metropolitan Opera production. It was an unforgettable showcase for the singer’s artistry. “It was a great experience, with a great group of colleagues,” she says. “It was all-encompassing — I lived, breathed, ate and walked Marnie.”

In the coming months, however, she’ll continue to focus on French rep; her fall schedule includes a return to England’s Royal Opera, Covent Garden, in the role of Charlotte in Massenet’s “Werther.”

“It has been the majority of my year — and we’re not done yet,” she says, laughing. “There’s definitely a lot there. But I feel comfortable in the language, which is what I love. If you understand the beauty of the poetry, the beauty of the thoughts being communicated, you feel you can communicate them. For me, it’s always about telling a good story.”

Contact Georgia Rowe at growe@pacbell.net.

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Presents Ravel’s “L’Enfant et les sortilèges” and music by Faure and Debussy

When: 8 p.m. June 27 and June 29; 2 p.m. June 30

Where: Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness, San Francisco

Tickets: 35-$156; 415-864-6000; www.sfsymphony.org