After studying music at the University of Toulouse and the Conservatoire de Toulouse, Suhubiette started his career by singing with Les Arts Florissants and William Christie, then with Philippe Herreweghe’s two choirs: La Chapelle Royale in Paris, and Collegium Vocale Gent in Belgium. This was to be a decisive meeting for in 1990 Herreweghe gave him the role of assistant and over the following eight years, Suhubiette worked on a large repertoire representing four centuries of vocal music.

At the same time, in 1993, he succeeded Jean-Pierre Ouvrard as the conductor of the vocal and instrumental Ensemble Jacques Moderne in Tours, performing early European music spanning over two centuries, from Renaissance polyphony to Baroque vocal music.

In 1997, in Toulouse, he founded the Chamber choir Les Eléments, consisting of 16 to 40 singers, to perform contemporary creations, the 19th and 20th century a cappella repertoire, and masterpieces of baroque and classical oratorios. In 2006, Les Eléments was awarded Ensemble of the Year at the Victoire de la Musique Classique awards ceremony and today is recognised as one of France’s greatest choirs.

With his two ensembles, Joël Suhubiette has frequently appeared in the principal French regional venues and festivals, and in Paris (Cité de la Musique, Théâtre du Chatelet, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées…). He has toured throughout Europe (Spain, Portugal, Germany, UK, Switzerland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Latvia, Czech Republic…), Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco, Japan, and the Americas (USA, Canada, Colombia). He has recorded more than 25 albums with many labels such as Virgin Classics, Hortus, Caliope, Ligia, Naïve, l’Empreinte Digitale and more recently, Mirare.

In addition to his vocal work, he has also conducted several major French orchestras and instrumental ensembles (Café Zimmermann, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre de Chambre de Toulouse, Les Passions, Les Folies Françoises, Gli Incogniti, Concerto Soave, Les Percussions de Strasbourg, Ensemble Ars Nova…) and as well as performing on the concert stage, he has conducted operas in Opéra de Dijon and Festival de Saint-Céré (Mozart’s Don Giovani, Magic Flute, Marriage of Figaro, Abduction from the Seraglio, Opera Bouffa of Offenbach, and les Caprices de Marianne by Henri Sauguet.).  At the Opéra de Massy he conducted the French premiere of Kurt Weill’s "Silbersee".

Since 2006, he has also been the Artistic Director of the Festival Musique des Lumières de l’Abbaye-école de Sorèze and was recently awarded the prestigious Officier des Arts et des Lettres honour by the French Ministry of Cultural Affairs.