Collaborators

Marie-Annick Béliveau has been active on the Montreal musical stage for over 20 years. Her recent performance of Scelsi’s solo “performance opera” Les Chants du Capricorne, under the direction of Pauline Vaillancourt, was unanimously praised by critics, earning her an Opus Award for the Musical event of the year from the Conseil québécois de la musique.

She has made a name for herself as an accomplished performer of the contemporary repertoire, premiering over 30 works in Canada and Europe. She can regularly be heard on CBC and has made several award-winning recordings.

Equally active on the classical stage, she performs as a soloist with several ensembles and has participated in many soundtracks, such as The Red Violin and Paul à Québec.

Marie-Annick is also very active in her community, as a teacher in charge of classical vocal instruction at UQAM, at Camp musical Père Lindsay and CAMMAC music center, and as a performer for La Société pour les Arts en Milieux de Santé.

After studying the oboe and theatre, Jean-François Daignault earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in early music literature and performance from McGill University, with high distinction in voice.

Mr Daignault has for many years specialized in early music, with some incursions into the world of contemporary music. He has performed in North America and Europe with ensembles including Opéra de Montréal chorus, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal chorus and Chants Libres, under the direction of conductors such as Hervé Niquet, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and John Rutter.

He has sung the famous « roasted swan solo » from Orff’s Carmina burana more than 20 times, including at the Festival de Lanaudière and at the Maison Symphonique de Montréal.

He is the cofounder of Ensemble ALKEMIA, a vocal trio that explores a capella repertoire from the last millenium. He sings and plays wind instruments with Ensemble séfarade et méditerranéen, which was awarded an Opus prize for their first album.

Mr Daignault also composes and arranges music. His works are performed regularly by local ensembles. He also enjoys exploring Montréal’s underground art scene, where he has put together performances which explore phantasy, transformation and the voice. 

Montreal native Charles-Eric Fontaine is a conductor and oboist born in 1996, with a passion for contemporary music and composer-performer collaboration. His detailed attention to nuance in the score and devotion to collaborating musicians leads to vivid and intimate performances. He obtained his Master’s degree in conducting at McGill University in 2021 and learned alongside Alain Cazes, Guillaume Bourgogne, Lorraine Vaillancourt and Sandro Gorli. In March 2022, he was conducting Divertimento Ensemble and recording a CD released by Stradivarius. In 2023, he will make his conducting debut with the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne. The young conductor aspires to showcase the great works of the canon, while supporting the leading composers of the next generations.

Soloist, improviser, chamber and orchestra musician, Laurence Latreille-Gagné completed her studies in both Quebec, graduating with distinctions in horn and chamber music at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, and in Germany at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart.

Recipient of various academic scholarships and several first prizes in solo and chamber music competitions, her thirst for challenges and new knowledge has led her to continue perfecting her playing by participating in many master classes and training courses such as the National Arts Centre, Orford Centre for the Arts, Domaine Forget and the International Ensemble Modern Academy in Austria. She has also gained experience playing in various orchestras and festivals including the National Youth Orchestra of Canada and the National Academy Orchestra. Since 2007, she also distinguished herself playing as a soloist with the Symphony Orchestra and Wind Ensemble of the Montreal Conservatory of Music, as well as playing Robert Schumann’s Konzertstück for four horns twice as principal horn.

Laurence stands out for her curiosity, her commitment and her great versatility.  She is very active as a chamber musician in Montreal (being a member of Choros wind quintet, Ensemble Magnitude6 and Débonnaire Trio), performs regularly with several of the bests chamber ensembles and orchestras across Quebec, and is a passionate teacher.  She is very involved in the field of contemporary music, worked for the Montreal Contemporary Music Lab and Codes d’Accès, as well as regularly participating in the creation of new works as a member of the Ensemble Contemporain de Montreal and the Ensemble Magnitude6.

Since the age of 28, Jean-Michaël Lavoie enjoys an international career as a guest conductor and performed in more than 40 music capitals, among them Salzburg, Berlin, Vienna, Paris, Cologne, New York, Los Angeles, Prague, Milan, Venice.

After his studies in Montreal, he is appointed Assistant Conductor to the Ensemble intercontemporain (2008-2010) and one of the Resident Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic as part of the Dudamel Conducting Fellow program (2010). He deepens his musical training with Pierre Boulez (Ensemble intercontemporain, Lucerne Festival Academy) and Susanna Mälkki (Ensemble intercontemporain, Los Angeles Philharmonic) and Esa-Pekka Salonen (Orchestre de Paris).

Since 2010, he is guest conductor to the following orchestras : Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Orchestre philharmonique du Luxembourg, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre national de Bordeaux Aquitaine, Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestra national de Lille, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, NFM Filharmonia Wroclawska, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Métropolitain, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Victoria Symphony.

He made his opera debuts at Teatro alla Scala, Milan, co-conducting with Susanna Mälkki the world premiere of Luca Francesconi’s Quartett, at Opéra de Lyon and Opéra national de Bordeaux and is a regular guest to the specialized ensembles in contemporary music : Ensemble intercontemporain, Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Modern, Musikfabrik, Ensemble Resonanz, Ensemble L’Itinéraire, Ensemble Multilatérale, Israel Contemporary Players.

Winner of the Prix Opus 2010 New Artist of the Year, he recorded two piano recitals for La chaîne culturelle de Radio-Canada’s program Les Jeunes Artistes. In 2017, he was appointed Professeur adjoint at Faculty of music of Université de Montréal. In July 2020, he is appointed Music Director Associate of Ensemble Ars Nova (France) for the next three years.

During the 2020-21 season, Jean-Michaël Lavoie makes his debut at the Wiener Staatsballett – Volksoper Wien and returns conducting the SMCQ Ensemble at the Maison Symphonique de Montréal for the 10th edition of the Montreal New Musics Festival.

Frédéric Le Bel graduated in 2011 at the University of Montreal where he studied composition with Philippe Leroux. In 2013, he completed a master’s degree from the Conservatory of Music in Montreal under the supervision of Serge Provost. From 2014 to 2019, he attended both Ircam's cursus and obtained a PhD degree from the same institution for working on the development and the integration of ‘smart’ algorithms by and for sound design and music composition. Frédéric has also participated in several international academies such as the Impuls Academy in Austria and the ManiFeste Academy in France. His music has been awarded several times in Canada and has been performed in various international festivals such as the New Music Darmstadt in Germany, the Matera Intermedia in Italy and the Cluster New Music + Integrated Arts in Canada to name a few. His repertoire explores instrumental, acousmatic and mixed music. From soloist to symphonic orchestra, he has worked with numerous recognised artists such as Ricardo Descalzo, the TANA String Quartet, the Divertimento Ensemble, the Klangforum Wien and the CMM Orchestra. For him, composing is a mix of research, creation and confusion. Finally, the expression by the sound phenomenon through an architecture bearer of knowledge and meaning remains his greatest artistic preoccupation.

A graduate of McGill University, Myriam Leblanc obtained a master's degree in choral conducting direction from the University of Sherbrooke. She was a First Prize winner and People's choice Award winner at the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières Competition, a Jeune Ambassadrice Lyrique in 2014 (Prix Québec-Bavière), Audience Choice Award winner at the Canadian Opera Company Centre Stage Competition, Third Prize winner at the Ottawa Choral Society New Discoveries contest, holder of the Excellence grant given annually by l'Atelier lyrique de l'Opéra de Montréal, First Prize winner in the Mathieu-Duguay Early Music Competition at the 2017 Lamèque International Baroque Music Festival. She has been working in the world of music for few years. Leblanc is recognized for the purity of her tone, a flexible and warm voice and her mastery of both technique and musical expressiveness.

In 2016, she made her debut with the Opéra de Montréal in the role of the High Priestess in Verdi's Aida. La Presse music critic Caroline Rodgers described her voice as one of "rare beauty". Her more recent performances (2017-2018) include Milica in Sokolovic's Svadba with Opéra de Montréal, Micaela in Bizet's Carmen with Opéra de Québec and concerts with conductors such as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Kent Nagano, Matthias Maute and Jonathan Cohen. In 2018-2019, she sang a Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto, the soprano solos on Handel's Messiah with Ensemble Caprice, the Mendelssohn's Symphony No.2 "Lobgesang" with l'Orchestre Metropolitain under Yannick Nézet-Séguin's direction. Recently, she was a soloist with Les Violons du Roy under Jonathan Cohen's direction.

Pamela Reimer is a pianist based in Montreal, Canada.  She has performed extensively throughout Canada, as well as in the US and the UK. In 2016, she was nominated for an Opus prize with flutist Marie-Hélène Breault for their concert ‘Mes Hommages’.  She has also performed, toured and recorded numerous albums with Orford Six Pianos, Bradyworks, Ensemble Contemporain de Montreal, Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, Erreur de Type 27, Blue Rider Ensemble, KORE Ensemble, Quatuor Bozzini, Ensemble Paramirabo, flutist Marie-Hélène Breault, and percussionist Beverley Johnston.  In 2020 she was guest pianist with the London Sinfonietta (UK).  

Pamela is sought after as a collaborative pianist, in the summer at Orford Music Academy and Domaine Forget, and as official pianist for international competitions.  She has been on many festival and competition juries, in Montreal, Kingston, Moncton, Laval and Ottawa, and for the Musique Actuelle/Electronic Music category of the Opus awards.  She was Artist-in-Residence at Concordia University in Montreal from 2016-2018.

In 2019, Pamela created a solo piano theatrical recital entitled ’50 questions @ 50’ following a residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts, funded with an Exploration and Creation grant from the Canada Council for the Arts.  Other theatrical projects include the premiere of Yuliya Zakharava’s OJ-Tap song (2020), and Perspectives d’Hildegard (2016).

Praised for her colourful performances, Canadian soprano Catherine St-Arnaud is a promising young lyrical artist. Ms St-Arnaud received the First Prize in the voice category of the prestigious Prix d’Europe, was awarded Third Prize in the voice category of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Manulife Competition and was a Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions regional finalist (New England). She has also been named a Jeune Ambassadeur Lyrique by the L20 Theater, who awarded her the Québec-Bavière Prize.

Catherine’s versatile, luminous and warm timbre transposes itself beautifully in both baroque repertoire as well as opera. In 2019, she made her debuts with Orchestre Métropolitain and with Kosice Philharmonic Orchestra in Slovakia. We also heard her as a soloist with Les Idées Heureuses, Clavecin en Concert, the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, the Montreal Bach Festival, the Montreal Baroque Festival, the Société d’Art Vocal, and the Arte Musica Foundation.

During season 2019-2020, Catherine sung the role of Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro at the Quebec Opera Festival, show which went on a Canadian tour with Jeunesses Musicales du Canada. In October 2020, she sung the role of Lucia in Lucia di Lamermoor in a Jeunesses Musicales production, which should also have been presented at the Quebec Opera Festival and gone on a Canadian tour.

Catherine has many ongoing projects, please visit her website for some future announcements.

A conductor and pianist, born in 1947, Lorraine Vaillancourt is the founder and Music Director of the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (NEM), the ensemble-in-residence at the Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Music since 1989. A full professor at this same school since 1990, she led its Contemporary Music Workshop from 1974 until retiring from teaching in 2016.

Vaillancourt is regularly invited by different ensembles and orchestras, both at home and abroad. In Canada, she has conducted the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec and the Orchestre Métropolitain; overseas, she has led the Orchestre de Cannes, the Gulbenkian Orchestra (Lisbon), the RAI National Symphony Orchestra (Turin), the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, the Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain (Lyon), the Ensemble Sillages (Brest, France), the Plural Ensemble (Madrid), and Les Percussions de Strasbourg. Vaillancourt is a founding member, along with composers José Evangelista, John Rea and Claude Vivier, of the Montreal concert society Les Événements du Neuf (1978 to 1989). In 1990, she was the driving force behind the creation of Circuit, a North American journal dedicated to 20th-century music. She was the president of the Conseil Québécois de la Musique (CQM) from 1998 to 2001 and subsequently sat on the board of directors of the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec (CALQ) until 2006.
 
Vaillancourt is also a member of the Royal Society of Canada and the Ordre du Bleuet. The recipient of an honorary doctorate from Université Laval in Quebec City in June 2013, she was named a Member of the Order of Canada (C.M.) in February 2016, in recognition of her considerable contribution to contemporary music. That same year, she received the Homage Award at the Opus Awards ceremony, as well as the Prix Denise-Pelletier granted by the Government of Quebec in honour of her outstanding career in the performing arts. In 2018, Vaillancourt was named a Knight of the Order of Quebec and, in 2019, was awarded the Medal of the National Assembly of Quebec, a prestigious distinction recognizing her major contribution to Quebec’s cultural life.