Janine Micheau was born in Toulouse, and studied voice at the Conservatoire de Paris. She made her professional debut at the Opéra-Comique on 16 November 1933, as la Plieuse in Louise, following this with Loys in Juif polonais by Camille Erlanger, the neighbour in Angélique by Jacques Ibert and small roles in Lakmé and Mireille. She later sang Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Olympia in Les contes d'Hoffmann, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Leila in Les pêcheurs de perles, Micaela in Carmen, and the title role in Lakmé at the Salle Favart. By 1935 her performances gained her invitations to Marseille, and then to Amsterdam and San Francisco. In Buenos AiresErich Kleiber conducted her in Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier. She created the role of Creuse in Darius Milhaud's Médée, for her debut at the Paris Opéra in 1940, where she also sang Gilda in Rigoletto, Violetta in La traviata and Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, among other roles. Once the war was over, her career became more international than it had been; she performed at La Scala in Milan, La Monnaie in Brussels, and the Royal Opera House in London. At these venues she sang nearly all the great French soprano roles: including Marguerite, Juliette in the Gounod opera, Massenet's Manon, and Mélisande in Pelléas. For French Radio she sang in Isoline and Madame Chrysanthème, by André Messager. Micheau was also active in concert especially in 18th century French works such as Rameau's Les Indes galantes and Platée. She made many recordings, of which some have been released on CDs. Concert works in her repertoire included Shéhérazade by Ravel, Le martyre de Saint Sébastien and La Damoiselle élue by Debussy, songs by Milhaud and Debussy, and À la musique by Chabrier. From 1961 she became a voice teacher at the Paris Conservatoire, and the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Her final performance was as Pamina in Rouen in May 1968. She died in Paris at the age of 62.
1951 – Massenet – Manon – Janine Micheau, Libero de Luca, Roger Bourdin, Julien Giovanetti – Choeur et Orchestre de l'Opéra-Comique, Albert Wolff – Decca
1953 – Thomas – Mignon – Geneviève Moizan, Janine Micheau, Libero de Luca, René Bianco – Choeur et Orchestre Nationale de Belgique, Georges Sébastian – Decca
1955 – Stravinsky – Le Rossignol – Janine Micheau, Lucien Lovano, Jean Giraudeau, Michel Roux, Bernard Cottret – Choeur et Orchestre de la Radiodiffusion Francaise, André Cluytens – EMI
1957 – Lalo – Le roi d'Ys – Pierre Savignol, Rita Gorr, Janine Micheau, Henri Legay, Jean Borthayre – Choeur et Orchestre de la Radiodiffusion Francaise, André Cluytens – EMI
1960 – Bizet – Les pêcheurs de perles – Janine Micheau, Nicolai Gedda, Ernest Blanc, Jacques Mars – Choeur et Orchestre de l'Opéra-Comique, Pierre Dervaux – EMI
On the lighter side, in 1958 Micheau recorded an LP with Paul Bonneau conducting the Chœurs Raymond Saint-Paul and orchestra, including "Fascination", "Oh! La troublante volupté" from La Reine s'amuse by Charles Cuvillier, Les chemins de l'amour, Les cent vierges, "Moulin rouge", Valse des souvenirs by Wal-Berg, and Messager's "Si j'avais vos ailes", among others.
