Jacqueline Dubreuil was born in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, to singer parents: mother specialising in operetta, father being a baritone in the Choir of Radio France.

Two years later, Gabriel Dussurget, founder of the Aix-en-Provence Festival, introduced her to conductor Bernard Thomas, who engaged her in Great Mass in C minor and the entire oratorio repertoire after a simple audition.

[3] Her stage career began at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse in 1991, and in the same season she performed in Mozart's La finta giardiniera as the title role at the Opéra de Nantes, which brought her to public attention.

She performed in Blonde in Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Festival de Castres, after which she entered the Conservatoire Francis Poulenc in Paris and obtained the First Prize in singing in two years.

[7] In 1997/98, she starred in Laurent Pelly's new production of Orphée aux enfers,[8] opening the season, and performed Marie in La fille du régiment at the Grand Théâtre de Genève.

In 1998, she stepped in for Ruth Ann Swenson at short notice as Ophélie in Hamlet at the Washington Concert Opera,[9] followed by Lucia di Lammermoor and her first Leïla in Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles in Toulouse.