ARTISTS
Ensemble Caprice
Founded by conductor and flutist Matthias Maute, Ensemble Caprice is a Baroque ensemble playing on period instruments, renowned for its innovative and daring spirit. In addition to its series of concerts in Montreal, the group performs several tours each year: a remarkable radiation, with dozens of concerts given in Quebec, Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia. He has regularly been invited to prestigious festivals, including the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music in London, Bruges (Belgium), Utrecht (The Netherlands), the Felicja Blumental International Music Festival in Tel Aviv and, in Germany, the Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci, the Regensburg Early Music Days, the Halle Festival Halle Festival and the Stockstadt Film Festival. In the United States, the group performs at the Metropolitan Museum of Arts in New York at the Frick Collection, as well as at the Miller Theater in New York, at the Boston Early Music Festival, and at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Heard at Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, Early Music Vancouver, Early Music Voices in Calgary, Edmonton Chamber Music Society, Elora Festival, Classica Festival and Domaine Forget International Festival. An impressive roadmap that places Caprice among one of the most important Baroque ensembles today. In November 2009, the New York Times also dedicated a long article, praising its innovative and refreshing approach, calling it "all that offers a first-rate service." The discography activities of the Ensemble Caprice are equally flourishing, with some twenty discs published by Analekta, ATMA Classique and Antes, distributed in some fifty countries. Critics have awarded these recordings numerous awards, including a 2009 Juno Award from the Canadian Recording Industry for Gloria! Vivaldi and his Angels, and four Opus Awards from the Quebec Music Council: for the "Concert of the Year" with Juditha Triumphans by Vivaldi "Performer of the Year", "Concert of the Year" for their interpretation of the B minor Mass of J.-S. Bach at the Montreal Bach Festival 2011, then again "Concert of the Year" for Le Faste de la France, given with the Montreal Early Music Studio.
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Ensemble Caprice has also been rewarded for its work and artistic approach by receiving the recognition "The choice of the public" (2008-2009) and as a finalist-music in 2009 at the Grand Prix de Montréal, awarded by the Conseil of the arts of Montreal. Let 's add some important appointments, including the Echo Klassik Prize in Germany, the Opus Awards and the Quebec Recording Industry Association. Note also that the Telemann record and the Baroque gypsies are among the recommendations of the famous Gramophone Magazine.
OktoEcho
Founded in 2001 by artistic director and composer Katia Makdissi-Warren and based in Montreal, OktoEcho is an ensemble with a flexible set-up, ranging from 3 to 30 musicians and specializing in bringing together the music from the Middle East and the Western hemisphere.
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Since 201 0, the ensemble has also contributed to the métissage with indigenous music. As Ensemble-in-Residence at the House of Culture Ahuntsic since 201 0, OktoEcho creates original works while exploring an aestheticism that embodies a fusion of different traditions and transcends borders.
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OktoEcho has recorded 7 soundtracks for documentaries in Quebec, France, Winnipeg, Singapore, Korea, for TedX Beirout and has also created the soundtrack of the Khalifa Tower in Dubai (9 original pieces for 22 instruments) which plays continuously during exhibition of the tour of the tower.
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The ensemble has toured in Canada, Spain and has performed at prestigious Beiteddin Festival in Lebanon (summer 201 6).
OktoEcho presents concerts at the Arab World Festivals, Présence Autochtone, Sefarad, the Off-Festival de Jazz, the Montreal Jewish Music Festival, Palais Montcalm in Quebec and Traditions du Monde in Sherbrooke. The ensemble plays regularly in the Maisons de la Culture in Montreal.
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OktoEcho collaborates with renowned artists such as Naseer Shamma (Egypt), Marcel Khalifé and (Lebanon), Peter Herbert (Austria), Rachid Zeroual (Morocco), Sergio Puccini (Argentina). OktoEcho recorded four CDs and will soon be releasing his Saimaniq album around Inuit throat singing.
Flûte Alors!
Dynamic and versatile, Montreal-based ensemble Flûte Alors! is composed of four new-generation recorder players. The ensemble has distinguished itself through the audacity of their programmes and the excellence of their performances. Through their masterful technique and extraordinary musicality, Flûte Alors! presents the recorder as an eloquent instrument capable of expressing the most extreme emotions and the subtlest of nuances.
Flûte Alors! has been awarded prizes and nominations at the national and international level. The ensemble has been featured in numerous music festivals, and has performed in France, Germany, and the United States. Flûte Alors! has performed extensively across Canada as part of the Jeunesses Musicales Canada 2012-2013, Debut Atlantic 2013-2014, and Prairie Debut 2016-2017 tour seasons. The ensemble is currently touring Eastern Canada with their show "Recorders on the Run", a co-production with Jeunesses Musicales Canada for young audiences.
Dedicated to pushing the limits of the recorder and expanding the instrument's repertoire, Flûte Alors! performs music from the Renaissance and Baroque eras, as well as contemporary, jazz, and pop works. The ensemble often collaborates with other artists from diverse backgrounds, and frequently commissions pieces for recorder ensemble from the new generation of composers, in addition to creating their own arrangements.
Flûte Alors!'s performances embark on an eclectic voyage that traverses the ages, offering a bouquet of sonorities and a palette of colours to the delight of every audience.
Vincent Lauzer, Marie-Laurence Primeau, Alexa Raine-Wright and
Caroline Tremblay, recorders
Lara Deutsch-flute
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Named one of 2015’s “Hot 30 Under 30 Canadian Classical Musicians” by CBC Music, flutist Lara Deutsch is a versatile soloist, orchestral and chamber musician. Lara recently filled the position of Assistant Principal Flute & Piccolo in the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra during the 2016-2017 season and has since returned to the Ottawa-Montreal area. As a freelancer, Lara performs regularly with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and has also performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, the Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra, the Niagara Symphony Orchestra, the National Academy Orchestra, the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, the Banff Festival Orchestra, and l’Orchestre de la francophonie.
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A passionate competitor, Lara was a first prize winner of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra’s 2014 Standard Life Competition, at which she was awarded a total of seven prizes. Additionally, she was the Grand Prize Winner of both the National Arts Centre Bursary Competition (2014) and the Canadian Music Competition (2010), as well as a prizewinner at the 2016 Concours Prix d’Europe.
In recognition of her promise, Lara was a past recipient of the Astral Artist Prize and of the Salsinger-Tani Gold Medal for Excellence in Performance.
Emil Belvedere-harp
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Recipient of the Hnatyshyn Foundation Classical Music Grant for Orchestral Instruments, harpist Emily Mariko Belvedere has been praised for her “crystalline technique” and her “ease in merging lyrical and dissonant sounds”. (MusicWeb International’s Worldwide Concert and Opera Reviews) An enthusiastic competitor, Miss Belvedere has won a number of bursaries and scholarships including claiming third prize at the American Harp Society’s 18th National Competition in Salt Lake City, Utah.
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More recently, Emily won the 2013 McGill Classical Concerto Competition as well as the prize for best performance of a Canadian work in the 2013 OSM Standard Life Competition in Montreal. Emily is an avid performer of chamber music and was also a prizewinner in the Glenn Gould School Chamber Music Competition at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. In February of 2014, Emily was featured as a soloist with the Mcgill Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Alexis Hauser.
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A native of Toronto, Emily has given many solo and chamber performances throughout the GTA, and has been invited to perform for organizations such as the Women’s Art Association of Toronto, the Mooredale Concert Series in Toronto and the Christ Church Beaurepaire Concert Series in Quebec. Although she loves to travel and has had the oppourtunity to perform on stages throughout North America and Europe, Emily also enjoys using music as a way to connect with the people in her own community. She often performs in hospitals, living rooms, classrooms, and other various venues throughout the city. Miss Belvedere is a member and co-founder of two award- winning chamber groups; Duo Novus, a harp duet based out of Toronto with Kristan Toczko and Flute and Harp Duo Kalysta with Montreal resident Lara Deutsch.
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Emily holds a Bachelor of Music Degree from the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music, where she studied with internationally acclaimed harpist Judy Loman. In 2014, she completed her Masters Degree in Harp Performance at McGill University under Montreal Symphony’s principal harpist, Jennifer Swartz. Miss Belvedere currently works and performs out of Toronto, Ontario.
Ensemble Vocale Arts-Québec
Ensemble vocal Arts-Québec
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Matthias Maute, conductor
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The Ensemble vocal Arts-Québec is a professional choir steeped in the grand tradition of choral music in Quebec. After having been led for nearly 40 years by its founder, Yves Courville, the choir has named Matthias Maute as its new artistic director.
Since Matthias Maute’s nomination, the choir has increased the number of its appearances in Quebec and Canada, having made a stellar impression with its performances during the Montreal Baroque Festival and Ottawa’s Music and Beyond festival.
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From its very beginnings, the Ensemble Vocal Arts-Quebec has chosen to perform works from the great masterpieces of the repertoire for choir and orchestra. Following upon the success of its performances of Handel’s oratorio The Triumph of Time and Truth, the choir was chosen to take part in Ensemble Caprice’s 30th anniversary celebration performances of Bach’s B minor Mass in Bourgie Concert Hall. Since the 2018 season began, the choir has performed with Ensemble Caprice in Saint-Jérôme, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, and Terrebonne, as well as in Westmount and Montreal. During one of its tours, the choir performed Handel’s Messiah in various regions of the province.
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For the 2019 season, the Ensemble Vocal Arts-Quebec has been invited to perform in the opening concert of the Montreal Baroque Festival as well as the Christmas Concert planned for the Théâtre Gilles Vigneault in Saint-Jérôme. The choir will also return to perform in Ottawa’s Music and Beyond festival.
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The choir’s director, Matthias Maute, received a Prix Juno award for his recording with choir entitled Vivaldi and his Angels. He has earned a solid reputation for his excellent work as artistic director of Ensemble Caprice, of the Minnesota Bach Society in the USA, of the Noncerto concert series, and as co-artistic director of the Montreal Baroque Festival.
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In 2019, the Ensemble Vocal Arts-Quebec will celebrate its 40th year of musical excellence.
MUSIQUE 3 FEMMES
MUSIQUE 3 FEMMES is a Montreal-based ensemble which supports future female leaders in opera. In 2018, they launched the Mécénat Musica Prix 3 Femmes, a biennial $25,000 award which supports the creation and development of operas written by emerging female and female-identifying composers and librettists in Canada. The 2018 prize enabled the creation of five new French and English language operas by teams from across Canada.
In March 2019, Musique 3 Femmes presents all winning works at the Canadian Opera Company’s Noon Concert Series, and Tapestry Opera’s Ernest Balmer Studio as part of the Next Wave Workshop - a groundbreaking collaboration with Toronto stage directors Anna Theodosakis, Jessica Derventzis, Amanda Smith, Aria Umezawa, and Alaina Viau. This event featuring 5 directors, 5 composers, and 5 librettists is the largest opera creation event ever scaled in Canada featuring exclusively all-female creative teams in the development of five new Canadian operas.
This season, Musique 3 Femmes is an Ensemble-In-Residence at Mount Allison University in Sackville, NB, as well in Kingston at Queens University's DAN School of Music, where they lead an International Women’s Day panel discussion on March 8 discussing “Women, Creative Leadership, and Opera”. In September 2018, Musique 3 Femmes launched a collaboration with Opera McGill which saw the initial musical workshop of the 5 winning works, and was featured ensemble at September 2018’s "Opera's Changing Worlds", a national summit co-hosted by Opera.ca, Opéra de Montréal, and Opera McGill with discussions on young artist training and gender equity in opera.
Musique 3 Femmes comprises coloratura soprano Suzanne Rigden, mezzo-soprano Kristin Hoff, and pianist Jennifer Szeto.
Noted for her “remarkable gift for stratospheric coloratura” and “witty comic genius”, coloratura soprano Suzanne Rigden was most recently seen in Ana Sokolovic’s Svadba at Opéra de Montréal, named “Musical Event of the Year 2018” by the Prix Opus. A graduate of the Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal and the Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera, Suzanne has won critical acclaim for her numerous performances with Orchestre Métropolitain, Vancouver Opera, Opéra de Montréal, Pacific Opera Victoria, Opera Nova Scotia, Jeunesses Musicales du Canada, Ensemble Caprice, and Victoria Symphony. Upcoming highlights include Countess Maritza with Pacific Opera Victoria and Gilbert and Sullivan’s Gondoliers with Opera Nova Scotia.
Mezzo soprano Kristin Hoff is a sought-after collaborator in opera, concert, and contemporary works. Recent premieres include works by composers Luna Pearl Woolf (One to One to One) and Dorothy Chang (White Wines), as well as a performance of Love Songs d'Ana Sokolovic at Salle Bourgie. A graduate of Vancouver Opera’s Yulanda M. Faris Young Artist Program, she has made notable solo appearances with MET Chamber Ensemble, Boston Pops Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood Symphony Orchestra, Mark Morris Dance Company, Chants Libres, and Nouvel Ensemble Moderne. Hoff created the title role in Carmen for Jeunesses Musicales du Canada on tour across central and eastern Canada and will be seen this December in Bach's Christmas Oratorio with Matthias Maute et Ensemble Caprice.
Pianist Jennifer Szeto is a recent graduate of San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Adler Fellowship and has been hailed “one of the most promising young collaborative pianists in Canada” by Scena Musicale. She received training from the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio, Merola Opera Program, and the Atelier Lyrique at Opéra de Montréal. Praised for her “rock-solid rhythm and a great variety of color” (Bachtrack), she served as head coach at the 2018 “Opera in the 21st Century” program at the Banff Centre for the Arts, and was Assistant Conductor for a revival of John Estacio’s Ours at Opera on the Avalon. Upcoming highlights include a recital with Canadian baritone Elliot Madore for Société d’art vocal de Montreal and Written On Skin at Opéra de Montréal in 2020.