BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
David Bontemps
piano
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DAVID BONTEMPS is a Montreal composer and pianist. He studied music with Serge Villedrouin in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and successfully participated in piano competitions in the Caribbean. In 2007, he recorded Offrandes Vodouesques, a cycle of 24 melodies by Werner Jaegerhuber with Chantal Lavigne, soprano. He is the founder of Makaya, a Creole Jazz quintet nominated for the 2010 TD Grand Jazz Award. In 2012, he received grants from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Canada Council for the Arts to release Vibrations, a disc dedicated to his best piano works, followed by Gede Nibo in 2017. In 2015, he composed and recorded the music of Through Positive Eyes - Haiti, UCLA, a project of 12 short films to counter discrimination against HIV-positive people. In 2021, his suite Traces was selected by choreographer Kevin Ormsby for a creation by the National Ballet of Canada. In 2020, he arranged 10 Haitian folk songs for string quartet baritone Wilbert Chancy’s album, Envitasyon. In 2021, the Tulsa Opera in Oklahoma programmed two of his art songs, Il a neigé and Secret, at the Greenwood Overcomes memorial concerts. His opera ‘La Flambeau’, based on a play by Faubert Bolivar, was premiered in February 2023 by the Orchestre classique de Montréal and Hamilton’s BrottOpera. The recording of the work will be released in 2024 on the ATMA Classique label.
Adam Cicchillitti
guitar
There were several media accolades over the past years for Montreal-born guitarist ADAM CICCHILLITTI. The renowned American magazine Classical Guitar called him “a virtuoso at the top of his game” and CBC Music described him as an “ardent ambassador for classical guitar.” Adam has commissioned over two dozen new works since 2019 and recorded three albums with the Analekta record label. His album Focus, dedicated to new Canadian music for two guitars, was awarded “Classical Recording of the Year” at the East Coast Music Awards in 2021. In 2022, his album Intimate Impressions was nominated in the same category. Adam has set a benchmark in classical guitar with his award-winning recordings, competition performances, arrangements, and teaching. He regularly collaborates with many of Canada's most esteemed soloists and orchestras, including flutist Lara Deutsch, baritone Philippe Sly, bandoneonist Denis Plante, the Orchestre classique de Montréal and Forestare. He has toured Canada several times under the auspices of Prairie Debut, Debut Atlantic, and Jeunesses Musicales. In 2022, his duo with guitarist Steve Cowan commissioned six new concertos for two guitars, which they then premiered with the Thirteen Strings chamber orchestra. In 2021, the duo was awarded third prize in the Guitar Foundation of America's most prestigious international guitar ensemble competition, and they will compete in the finals in New York again in summer 2023.
Adam is only the second guitarist to win the grand prize of the Canimex Concerto Competition in Sherbrooke, Québec, and he has been a finalist and prize winner in over a dozen national and international competitions. He is a specialist in child pedagogy, is the founder of the guitar school at Ottawa Suzuki Strings, and holds a doctorate in music performance from McGill University. Adam is sponsored by Augustine Strings and plays a guitar by Sergei de Jonge.
Bertrand Cuiller
harpsichord
French harpsichordist and organist BERTRAND CUILLER began studying the harpsichord at the age of 8 with his mother, Jocelyne Cuiller. After the Music Conservatory of Nantes, he joined the National Superior Music Conservatory of Paris in the class of Christophe Rousset, where he obtained the Unanimous First Prize in 2001. He also studied with Pierre Hantaï for several years. In 1998, he was a laureate of the International Harpsichord Competition of Bruges.
Bertrand Cuiller is one of the world’s most exciting harpsichordists. Nowadays, he spends most of his time as a recitalist and as a continuist for chamber music ensembles such Les Basses Réunies (Bruno Cocset), La Rêveuse (Benjamin Perrot, Florence Bolton) and Les Lunaisiens (Jean-François Novelli, Arnaud Marzorati). He also works with orchestras such as Les Arts Florissants (William Christie), Le Concert Spirituel (Hervé Niquet), Stradivaria (Daniel Cuiller), and Poème Harmonique (Vincent Dumestre) with whom he collaborates on recordings and concert tours in Europe, USA, Canada.
M. Cuiller has given recitals in numerous prestigious festivals and concert series, and he has created works by composers such as Jean-Yves Bosseur and Olivier Mellano (La chair des Anges, CD Naïve). His most regular partners are violinist Hélène Schmitt, soprano Daphné Touchais, oboist Guillaume Cuiller, cellists Emmanuel Balssa and Alix Verzier, violinist Guillaume Humbrecht and harpsichordist and organist Frédéric Rivoal.
Bertrand Cuiller's first solo CD recording, dedicated to the English Virginalists William Byrd, Peter Philips and John Bull, was published in January 2006 (label Alpha) and received major European critical acclaim and most valuable critical rewards such as Diapason d'or, Choc of Monde de la musique, Joker of Crescendo, and 9 from Classica.
Matthieu Deveau
violin
A laureate of the 2021 Music International Grand Prix Competition, Fredericton-born violinist MATTHIEU DEVEAU has captivated audiences since his first concert at the age of 6. His playing has been described as ‘vivid, intense and rich in sonority’ (HunJu Sohnn, pianist, Verbier Festival). Matthieu is concertmaster of the Cantabile Chorale and Orchestra and plays regularly with the FILMharmonique, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Symphonique de Gatineau, the Orchestre Symphonique de la Côte-Nord and Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra. As an orchestral musician, Matthieu has performed on prestigious stages in Italy, China, South Korea and Canada.
An avid chamber musician, Matthieu has been invited to perform at various music festivals, including Music and Beyond, the Festival Intime de Musique Classique, the Barachois Summer Music, and the Festival Classica. Matthieu holds four music degrees. These include a Performance Associateship Diploma (ARCT) from Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music, a Bachelor of Music and Orchestral Studies diploma from the University of Ottawa, and a Master of Music degree from the University of Montreal. His teachers include Aida Tisler, Paul Campbell, David Stewart, Yehonatan Berick, Jonathan Crow, Annick Roussin, Mary-Elizabeth Brown, Olivier Thouin, Hélène Collerette and Robert Uchida.
A sought-after pedagogue, he teaches at the École de musique Vincent d’Indy and is a regular guest teacher at Camp musical Père-Lindsay.
Pierre-André Doucet
piano
Renowned for his vivid soundscapes and inventive texts, pianist and writer PIERRE-ANDRÉ DOUCET is a leading voice among Canada’s newest generation of artists.
He has been hailed for “the emotion of his playing and his impeccable control” (Audiophilia), and is a former CBC Radio 2 “Hot Canadian Classical Musician Under 30”. In recent years, he has performed in Canada, Europe, South Africa, and the United States, as well as across Asia, Europe and the South Pacific as one of the inaugural Lincoln Center Stage artists aboard Holland America Line ships. Several of his performances have been broadcast on Radio-Canada, CBC Radio and NPR.
Winner of the Knigge Piano Competition, as well as the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition (with soprano Alexandra Smither), Mr. Doucet has also been awarded top prizes for his performances of contemporary works, namely at the Prix d’Europe, and the Ibiza International Piano Competition. He is also the prize-winning author of two French-language books, both published by Éditions Prise de parole.
Mr. Doucet holds a doctoral degree from l’Université de Montréal, where he studied with Maneli Pirzadeh, and where he has also been a visiting professor. Further, he is a graduate of McGill University’s Schulich School of Music, and he has benefited from masterclasses at the Franz-Schubert-Institut, the Gijón International Piano Festival, Songfest, the Music Academy of the West, and the Tanglewood Music Center, among others. In 2022-2023, he was one of the inaugural fellows of the McGill-UdeM Piano-Vocal Arts Residency in Montréal, and alongside pianist Julien LeBlanc, he has been Co-Artistic Director of Barachois Summer Music since 2012.
Vincent Lauzer
recorder
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Hailed for his athletic and virtuoso playing and for his sensitive interpretations, recorder player VINCENT LAUZER leads an active career as a performer, artistic director, and teacher. He is the artistic director of the Lamèque International Baroque Music Festival, works with Arion Baroque Orchestra to develop programs for young audiences, and since November 2022, he has been the co-artistic director of the Montreal Baroque Festival. In October 2018, his recording of Vivaldi's concertos with Arion Baroque Orchestra was awarded a Diapason d'or by the famous French magazine, Diapason.
Winner of several prizes in national and international competitions, he has been awarded the 2015 Fernand Lindsay Career Award. He was named Révélation Radio-Canada in 2013-2014 and Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the 2012 Opus Awards. In 2012, he won the First Prize at the Stepping Stone of the Canadian Music Competition and the Career Development Award from the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto.
Vincent is a member of Flûte Alors!, and he regularly performs as a soloist with Arion Baroque Orchestra, La Bande Montréal Baroque, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, and Les Violons du Roy. He has played in various series and festivals in Canada and in the United States as well as in Mexico, France, Germany, Spain and Belgium.
Vincent teaches at McGill University, l’Université du Québec à Montréal, CAMMAC music camp, and for the Outaouais Recorder Society.
Julien LeBlanc
piano
A virtuoso whose enthusiasm is genuinely contagious, Canadian pianist JULIEN LEBLANC is renowned for his great musical sensibility and his talent as a communicator. Based in Montreal, Julien is a well sought-after soloist, chamber player and accompanist.
In 2015, he launched his first solo album “Mélancolies” which is dedicated a program of works by Dutilleux, Franck and Poulenc. The album was really well received: “LeBlanc proved a more than able interpreter, playing with warmth, clarity and flowing lyricism, all with a natural rhythmic sense. » (Ruthland Herald) . « He handles every twist and turn with brio, his phrasing is analytical, and his brilliant technique puts him in a class of his own. His interpretation is always true, played with care, and packed with warmth. » (La Scena Musicale) He has also recorded two albums as a member of Trio Arkaède and a new album of French and Spanish art song with soprano Marianne Lambert was released in May 2020.
Since 2012, Julien has been acting as co-artistic director of the summer concert series Barachois Summer Music in New-Brunswick. He has taken part in many concert tours across Canada for Jeunesses Musicales du Canada and Debut Atlantic. He is a part-time teacher at the University of Ottawa. He has given master classes in several universities across Canada and his frequently asked to sit on juries for music competitions.
Laura Loewen
piano
Praised for expressivity, virtuosity, and committed playing, Canadian collaborative pianist LAURA LOEWEN has appeared in concerts throughout North America and in Europe, Asia and South America. Dedicated to sharing her passion for ensemble playing and coaching, she is a professor of Collaborative Piano and the Vocal Coach at the University of Manitoba’s Desautels Faculty of Music. She is a founding faculty artist of VISI (Vancouver International Song Institute), and is also on the faculties of the NUOVA opera training program in Edmonton, Alberta, the Contemporary Opera Lab in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and RICE (Rio International Cello Encounter) in Brazil.
An extremely versatile pianist, Dr. Loewen has performed extensively with singers, instrumentalists and chamber ensembles, and is equally comfortable in traditional and contemporary idioms. She has appeared in concert with artists such as Charles Castleman, Tracy Dahl, Wendy Nielsen, Kimberly Barber, Jasper Wood, Eugene Rousseau, and William Bennett. She is a regular recital partner of fellow University of Manitoba faculty members baritone Mel Braun, tenor Robert MacLaren, violinist Oleg Pokhanovski, and cellist Minna Rose Chung.
Teaching and mentoring is an important element of Dr. Loewen's career. She shares her love of ensemble playing through teaching at the University of Manitoba, and at summer festivals and masterclasses. Her work as a vocal coach with both professionals and students is characterized by her philosophy of “Passionate Diction”. Her lectures on Diction and Ensemble are a yearly event at VISI, and she has spoken about Diction at NATS events and at Podium, the bi-annual Canadian Choral Conference. Dr. Loewen's articles on Health and the Collaborative Pianist and Diction can be found at Sparks and Wiry Cries.
Dr. Loewen has received several grants and awards, including the Rh Award for Creative Work, University of Manitoba; Creative Works Grants, University of Manitoba; a Special Opportunities Grant, Manitoba Arts Council; and grants for commissioning Canadian compositions through the Canada Council for the Arts and the Manitoba Arts Council. Dr. Loewen holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in Accompanying/Coaching from the University of Minnesota, where she was a fellowship student of Margo Garrett and Karl Paulnack.
Dion Mazerolle
baritone
Acadian baritone DION MAZEROLLE has established a solid reputation in Canada and Europe as an artist of the highest calibre. A former member of the Atelier lyrique de l'Opéra de Montréal, he is acclaimed for his musical finesse and strong stage presence in both opera and concert.
Dion recently debuted at the Opéra National de Lorraine in Nancy, France, as the King of Clubs in Prokofiev's surreal opera The Love of Three Oranges. In 2023, Dion sang Golaud in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, created by design team Barbe & Doucet at the Teatri di Piacenza in Italy, a co-production of the Teatro Regio di Parma, the Teatro Comunale Pavarotti Freni and the Fondazioni Teatri di Piacenza.
Dion has performed with numerous choirs, ensembles and orchestras across Canada, including the Elmer Iseler Singers, Musica Orbium, Grand Philharmonic Choir, Festival International de Musique Baroque de Lamèque, Newfoundland Symphony, Ensemble Caprice, Ensemble Boréades de Montréal, Chorus Niagara, Kitchener Waterloo Symphony and Regina Symphony.
A frequent guest artist with Chants Libres, Dion created the role of Soulayed in the world premiere of L'orangeraie (Tremblay/Moultaka), as well as a digital concert of works dedicated to Silvio Palmieri with the Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal.
Dion appears in several OperaBreaks videos, produced by Domoney Artists and directed by François Racine (www.domoneyartists.com/operabreaks).
Rose Naggar-Tremblay
contralto
A rich and original artistic personality, ROSE NAGGAR-TREMBLAY puts her creativity and love of languages to work in a variety of artistic creations, including writing librettos and children’s shows, as well as performing contemporary operas, a repertoire she is particularly fond of. In 2018, she played Zora in Sokolovic’s Svadba at the Montreal Opera, a production that won the Opus Prize for Musical Event of the Year. The following season, she performed the role of Gertrude Stein in Twenty-Seven (Gordon and Vavrek) and participated in the creation of the opera La nuit est ma femme (Côté and Ivy) as Gabrielle in the 2019-2020 season. An accomplished musician, she also puts her voice at the service of chamber music, participating in numerous concerts and recitals. In Canada, she recently performed as a soloist in Elgar’s Sea pictures, Palmeri’s Magnificat, Handel’s Messiah, Vivaldi’s Dixit Dominus, Mozart’s, Verdi’s and Duruflé’s Requiems, as well as numerous Bach Cantatas. Twice winner of the Young Lyric Ambassadors programme, she won the First Grand Prix Opera of the Georges Enesco International Competition in Paris, and the First Prize at the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal voice competition in the fall of 2021. In the following year, she won second prize at the Prix d’Europe competition and was awarded the prestigious career bursary by the Fondation Père Lindsay. Most recently, she sang the role of Carmen at the Sofia Opera and was named Revelation Radio-Canada 2022-2023.
Among her projects : the Second Elf in Rusalka at the Metz and Reims Operas, Schenkwirtin in Boris Godounov at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Carmen at Edmonton’s Opera and Erda in Das Rheingold at the Erfurt Theater.
Nathalie Paulin
soprano
Soprano NATHALIE PAULIN has established herself in North America, Europe and the Far East as an interpretive artist of the very first rank. Winner of a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Opera Performance, she has collaborated with a host of internationally renowned conductors, including Kent Nagano, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Bernard Labadie, and Mario Bernardi.
Critics have been lavish in their praise. From the Chicago Tribune, John van Rhein notes that “Paulin in particular is a real find; her rich, agile voice possesses great depth and allure, her manner radiates sensuous charm,” while Renaud Machart from Paris’s Le Monde writes: “Nathalie Paulin was impeccable in diction, musicality and style.” Charles T. Downey, in The Washington Post, observes: “Nathalie Paulin’s voice…has blossomed, retaining its beautiful qualities and gaining in power, a sense of authority coupled with a magnetic stage presence.”
Frequently heard on both the French and English CBC networks, Nathalie is a past winner of the Montreal Symphony Competition, and received prizes and recognitions from the George London Foundation, the Young Mozart Singers’ Competition and the Canadian Music Competition. An alumna of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio, Nathalie has performed with many opera companies, including the Opéra de Montréal; the Canadian Opera Company; Vancouver Opera and The Dallas Opera, and with orchestras such as the National Arts Centre Orchestra; Tafelmusik; the Rotterdam Philharmonic; the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Toronto, Seattle, and Vancouver Symphonies.
Nathalie teaches at the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto.
Nicolas Richard
bassoon
NICOLAS RICHARD joined the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony at the beginning of the 2022/23 season as Second Bassoon, having previously served as Principal Bassoon of the Niagara Symphony Orchestra. He has performed as guest principal bassoon with the National Ballet of Canada and the Windsor Symphony and has equally enjoyed performing as a substitute with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Kingston Symphony Orchestra, and the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra.
Beyond his orchestral pursuits, Nicolas has appeared as a soloist with the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, and the University of Ottawa Orchestra. He won the second prize in the OSM Competition and is the first prize winner of the National Arts Centre Orchestra Bursary Competition, the Ottawa Symphony’s Sénécal-Mozart Prize, and the University of Ottawa’s Concerto Competition. Nicolas is a recipient of awards from the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation and the O’Brien Foundation.
Nicolas has spent summers in the United States at the Music Academy of the West and the National Repertory Orchestra. In Canada, he has spent summers with the National Academy Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.
Originally from Fredericton, New Brunswick, Nicolas completed a Master of Music Degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, studying with Benjamin Kamins. He received his Bachelor of Music at the University of Ottawa, where he studied with Christopher Millard and Richard Hoenich. Away from the bassoon, he enjoys running, reading the given week’s New Yorker, and is a big opera fan.
Catherine St-Arnaud
soprano
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Soprano Catherine St-Arnaud is an emerging Canadian artist known for her brilliant timbre and colourful interpretations. The First Prize winner of the Voice category at the Prix d’Europe, Catherine has earned accolades from several national and international competitions, including the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Manulife Competition and the Festival International de Lamèque Competition. Catherine was also named a regional at the prestigious Metropolitan Opera New England National Council Auditions and a Jeune Ambassadeur Lyrique by the Théâtre Lyrichorégra L20, where she was awarded the Québec-Bavières prize.
A versatile artist, Catherine’s voice shines performing styles from bel canto to baroque repertoire. She has been featured as a soloist with a number of ensembles, festivals, and orchestras, including the Orchestre Métropolitain, Štátna filharmónia Košice in Slovakia, the Idées Heureuses, Clavecin en Concert, Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, Montréal Bach Festival, Montréal Baroque Festival, Société d’art vocal de Montréal, and the Fondation Arte Musica. Catherine has performed the role of Susanna(Le nozze di Figaro) and Lucia (Lucia di Lamermoor) with Jeunesses musicales du Canada and Festival d'opéra de Québec.
The 2022-2023 season will see her sing the soprano solo in Carl Orff's Carmina Burana with the Oregon Symphony Orchestra in Portland (USA), Albertine à 30 ans in Albertine en cinq temps at the Théâtre du Rideau Vert in Montreal and on a tour throughout Québec, Haydn's Creation with Telemann Ensemble, and works by Charpentier with Clavecin en concert, conducted by Hervé Niquet. Catherine also looks forward to making her debut at the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Taiwan) with the Kaohsiung Symphony Orchestra as Adina in Donizetti’s L'elisir d'amore.
This past season, Catherine debuted with l’Opéra de Québec in October as Adina in their production of Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’amore, and with Grands Ballets Canadiens in their revised Nutcracker production singing the soprano soloist for Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5. The soprano from Launaudière also originated the role of Albertine à 30 ans in the workshop of Albertine en cinq temps, an opera featuring the music of Catherine Major and libretto by Michel Tremblay. Along with this premiere work, she performed as Sophie de Palma in Maria Callas Masterclass (Festival d’opéra de Québec) and the Duchess Altisidore in Boismortier's Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse (Ensemble Caprice).
Kal Sugatski
viola
KAL SUGATSKI performs regularly with the New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, New York City Ballet, International Contemporary Ensemble, New Jersey Symphony, and on Broadway. They have also appeared with Stevie Wonder, Ben Folds, Norah Jones, Andrea Bocelli, and The National. Their playing can be heard on over 50 recordings and soundtracks, including Judas and the Black Messiah, and other grammy-winning albums.
Kal was named 2022 Mainer of the Year for their newest project Vigorous Tenderness, an experimental outdoor concert series centered around composers of color, queer composers, and other marginalized voices in classical music (ig: @vigorous.tenderness). A catalyst for radical change in the arts, Vigorous Tenderness presents relevant, powerful concert experiences that respond to immediate social, political, and environmental circumstances. These experimental performances resemble an art museum experience, with chamber music ensembles spread across the landscape while the audience forges a self-curated path through the installation. To date, more than 6,500 community members have attended.
Their season highlights include concerts with the New York Philharmonic, performances as principal violist of Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and international touring with American Contemporary Music Ensemble and Max Richter. Kal was a 2021-2022 season musician with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. They have been featured on NPR twice, both as a soloist and chamber musician. Kal is a native of Portland, Maine and holds degrees from Oberlin and Manhattan School of Music. In their spare time they are a long-distance hiker, ocean swimmer, and nature enthusiast.
Julie Triquet
violin
JULIE TRIQUET began studying violin at the age of three, first with professor Claude Létourneau and subsequently at the Conservatoire de musique de Québec. She then went on to study at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia with David Cerone and Aaron Rosand thanks to three consecutive fellowships from the Canada Council of the Arts. During her time in Philadelphia, Julie was awarded the Canada Council of the Arts’ prestigious Sylva-Gelber Prize and in 1982, she was the first-prize winner at the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition. This gave her the opportunity to perform as a soloist with the best orchestras in Québec. Her exceptional talent and passion for chamber music led her to join the Quatuor Arthur-Leblanc as first violinist in 1982. From 1993-1998, she served as co-concertmaster of the Violons du Roy de Québec and in September 2012 was appointed concertmaster of I Musici de Montréal. Julie plays on a Giusepe Odoardi violin from 1786, generously on loan by David B. Sela.
Guillaume Villeneuve
violin
A prolific concert artist, GUILLAUME VILLENEUVE plays and records regularly with the ensembles Arion Orchestre Baroque, the Studio de Musique ancienne de Montréal, Pallade Musica and the Montreal Bach Festival Orchestra.
Concertmaster for the Galileo Orchestra and first chair of the second violins of the Harmonie des Saisons, Guillaume has been guest concertmaster for the Ottawa Baroque Consort, Ensemble Caprice and the French ensemble Antiphona.
Opus Prize “Discovery of the Year” 2023, Guillaume is the winner of numerous competitions and prestigious scholarships, including the first prize and the public prize of the Mathieu Duguay Early Music Competition of the Lamèque International Baroque Music Festival in 2022. He was a soloist in a concert nominated for the Prix Opus 2020 with the Galileo orchestra, and is also a prizewinner in the OPMEM concerto competition.
A graduate of McGill University with a Master’s degree with highest distinction from the Université de Montréal, Guillaume created the Cobalt Quartet during his studies, an ensemble of which he is the artistic director.
Convinced of the centrality of the arts in society, Guillaume founded the concert series “Les ruelles musicales” with his colleagues of the Cobalt Quartet, an initiative supported by the Père-Lindsay Foundation to bring music closer to Montreal residents.
Guillaume Villeneuve plays a Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume 1858 violin generously lent by Olivier Pérot, owner of La Maison du Violon.
Monica Whicher
soprano
Style and musical elegance combined with an intuitive theatrical sense are the hallmarks of soprano MONICA WHICHER’s performances on the concert and opera stage. She has performed with orchestras, opera companies and at chamber festivals across Canada, the United States, Mexico, Europe and Asia with conductors including Helmuth Rilling, Peter Oundjian, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Franz Paul Decker, Steuart Bedford, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Duane Wolff, Pinchas Zuckerman, Trevor Pinnick, Hervé Niquet, Andrew Parrott, Harry Bicket, Timothy Vernon and Alexander Weimann.
Ms. Whicher was nominated for a Juno Award for “Singing Somers Theatre” (Centrediscs) and two Dora Mavor Moore Awards. Critically acclaimed for her portrayals of Mérope in Lully’s Persée (DVD) and Telaïre in Rameau’s Castor et Pollux (both Naxos), she is also featured on the Juno-Award winning CDs Mozart’s Magic Fantasy, Beethoven Lives Upstairs and Daydreams and Lullabies. Other recordings include Lullabies and Carols for Christmas, with harpist Judy Loman (Naxos), Hatzis’ Erotikos Logos (Marquis), and Centrediscs recently released, Juno-nominated Breathe: Music for Voices and Early Instruments by James Rolfe. Monica appears on The Art Songs of Mykola Lysenko, The Art Songs of Yakov Stepovyi, and The Galicians l and ll, all for the Ukrainian Art Song Project.
A former member of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, Ms. Whicher studied at the Banff School of Fine Arts, the Britten-Pears School of Music, and the Steans Institute, and was a recipient of the George London Award, Sullivan Foundation Grants, and a Canada Council Career Development Grant. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto, where she studied with renowned Canadian soprano, Lois Marshall.
Monica Whicher is a Lecturer in Voice at the University of Toronto and is on the Voice Faculty of the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music.