Artists of the season

It is no wonder that Marie-Nicole Lemieux shines today in the world of singing: the singer like the woman radiates an aura that belongs only to the greatest. Her vocal talents were revealed to the public in 2000 when she won the Queen Fabiola and Lied Prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium.

She then began an international career that has led her to the world’s most famous stages: Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Paris National Opera, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, La Monnaie in Brussels, Staatsoper of Berlin, Munich and Vienna, Opernhaus Zürich, Theater an der Wien, Teatro Real in Madrid, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Salzburg Festival, Glyndebourne Festival, Chorégies d’Orange, Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, Montreal Opera.

Her powerful voice, her superb sense of line and a faultless virtuosity as well as her sense of nuance and drama allows her to triumph in various repertories. The beginning of her career is marked by baroque music (Orphée et Eurydice by Gluck, Giulio Cesare, Ariodante, Orlando Furioso, Salomon, Theodora). The evolution of her voice soon allowed her to take on the French repertoire of the 19thcentury (Les Troyens, Pelléas et Mélisande, Samson et Dalila, Carmen), Rossini (Guillaume Tell, Tancredi, L’Italiana in Algeri) and also Verdi (Mrs. Quickly in Falstaff, Azucena in Il Trovatore, Ulrica in Un Ballo in maschera)

Alongside her stage career, Marie-Nicole Lemieux is invited to sing the great symphonic repertoire with prestigious orchestras (New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Métropolitain, Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Les Violons du Roy, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestra dell’Accademia Santa Cecilia, London Philharmonia, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine) under the baton of renown conductors such as: William Christie, Myung-Whun Chung, Paul Daniel, Charles Dutoit, Ivan Fischer, Mikko Franck, Daniele Gatti, Bernard Haitink, Daniel Harding, Paavo Järvi, Bernard Labadie, Louis Langrée, Kurt Masur, Kent Nagano, John Nelson, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Gianandrea Noseda, Antonio Pappano, Mikhaïl Tatarnikov, Michel Plasson, Michael Schønwandt, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Pinchas Steinberg, Pinchas Zukerman.

The counter-tenor Philippe Jaroussky has established himself as one of the major singers in the international musical world as confirmed by the French Victoires de la Musique (Revelation Artiste Lyrique in 2004, Artiste lyrique de l'année in 2007 and 2010) and at the Echo Klassik Awards in Germany in 2008 in Munich (Singer of the Year) and in 2009 in Dresden (with L’Arpeggiata).

An impressive mastery of vocal technique allows performances full of nuance and vocal acrobatics. Philippe Jaroussky’s vast repertoire of the Baroque era ranges from the refinements of the Italian Seicento with Monteverdi, Sances and Rossi to the staggering brilliance of Handel and Vivaldi; the latter being one of the most performed composers by Philippe recently in addition to performing Johann Christian Bach’s works.

Lately, he has also explored very different repertoire of French melodies accompanied by the pianist Jerôme Ducros. Increasingly captivated by contemporary works, Jaroussky performed a song cycle composed by Marc André Dalbavie from the sonnets of Louise Labbé. He did the creation of the opera Only the Sound remains of Kaija Saariaho at Nederlande Opera Ballet in Amsterdam on March 2016.

Philippe Jaroussky has had the pleasure of collaborating with some of the best baroque ensembles.
He has performed to high acclaim in the most prestigious festivals and concert halls around the world.

In 2002 he founded l'Ensemble Artaserse, which currently performs throughout Europe.

Already having an impressive discography, Philippe collaborated with the Edition Vivaldi de Naïve with Jean-Christophe Spinosi and the Ensemble Matheus. Philippe Jaroussky has been an exclusive artist with Erato-Warner Classics for many years and has received many awards for his recordings.

Mélisande McNabney performs keyboard music of all periods, on harpsichord, piano and fortepiano. In August 2015, she received the third prize at the International Competition Musica Antiqua in Bruges. She is a graduate of the Amsterdam Conservatory where she studied harpsichord, continuo and fortepiano in the classes of Bob van Asperen and Richard Egarr. She was granted her Doctorate degree at McGill University in May 2017, under the guidance of Hank Knox and Tom Beghin, thanks to the support of the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarships Program.

Mélisande McNabney is regularly invited to play with ensembles such as Les Violons du Roy, Arion Orchestre Baroque, Les Idées heureuses, Theater of Early Music and Ensemble Caprice. She is a member of Pallade Musica and Les Songes, with whom she took part in numerous tours of Canada and the USA. Mélisande McNabney has received scholarships from Canada Council for the Arts, Banff Centre, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, and Fonds de recherche société et culture du Québec.

The “Paganini [of the recorder],” “magician of the recorder,” and “the world’s leading recorder player”—these are just a few of the descriptions of Maurice Steger to appear in the press. To live up to such high praise, one requires not only astonishing technique, but also charisma, intellect, and a special sensitivity for music.

As a soloist, conductor, or both at once, he regularly performs with the foremost period instrument ensembles, including the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, La Cetra, the Venice Baroque Orchestra, the English Concert, Les Violons du Roy, and I Barocchisti. He also performs with leading modern orchestras such as the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, the Musikkollegium Winterthur, the Berlin Baroque Soloists (Berlin Philharmonic), and the NDR Radiophilharmonie.

Chamber music is at the forefront of Maurice Steger’s rich and varied artistic endeavours. Working with fellow musicians and friends such as Hille Perl, Avi Avital, Daniele Caminiti, Lee Santana, Naoki Kitaya, Mauro Valli, Sebastian Wienand, Fiorenza de Donatis, Diego Fasolis, Sol Gabetta, and the young French harpsichordist Jean Rondeau, he explores a continuously updated repertoire of Early music.

As a concert artist, teacher, and juror in Europe and throughout the world, Maurice Steger loves meeting people from different cultures and being exposed to other interpretive approaches and ways of working. Tours of Asia and Australia have led to performances with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, the Malaysia Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Taipei Symphony, among others. He was the first recorder player from the West to perform with the Traditional Taipei Chinese Orchestra. He also regularly performs in North and South America.

Maurice Steger is deeply committed to musical education. He has been the director of the Gstaad Baroque Academy at the Menuhin Festival Gstaad since 2013, gives numerous masterclasses, and invented a character, “Tino Flautino,” to help young children engage with classical music in a playful way.

Equally at home on the concert and opera stages, Carolyn Sampson has enjoyed notable successes in the UK as well as throughout Europe and the US.

On the opera stage her roles have included the title role in Semele and Pamina in The Magic Flute for English National Opera, various roles in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen for Glyndebourne Festival Opera (released on DVD) and both Anne Truelove The Rake’s Progress and Mélisande Pelléas et Mélisande in Sir David McVicar’s productions for Scottish Opera. Internationally she has appeared at Opéra de Paris, Opéra de Lille, Opéra de Montpellier and Opéra National du Rhin. She also sang the title role in Lully’s Psyché for the Boston Early Music Festival, which was released on CD and was subsequently nominated for a Grammy in 2008.

Carolyn’s numerous concert engagements in the UK have included regular appearances at the BBC Proms, and with orchestras including the BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, English Concert, Hallé, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, The Sixteen, and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. In the US Carolyn has featured as soloist with the Boston, Cincinnati, Detroit, Minnesota Orchestra and San Francisco Symphonies, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the St Paul Chamber Orchestra, and is a regular guest at the Mostly Mozart Festival.

Alongside her longstanding relationship with the BIS label she has released multi award-winning discs for Decca, Harmonia Mundi, and Hyperion, receiving accolades including the Choc de l'Année Classica, Gramophone Magazine Editor’s Choice, BBC Music Magazine’s Record of the Month, an ECHO Award, and a Diapason D’Or. Her recording with Ex Cathedra for Hyperion, A French Baroque Diva won the recital award in the 2015 Gramophone Awards. Carolyn was also nominated for Artist of the Year in the 2017 Gramophone Awards, and her recording of Mozart’s Mass in C minor and Exsultate Jubilate with Masaaki Suzuki and Bach Collegium Japan won the Choral Award. Their subsequent recording together of Bach St Matthew Passion also won the Choral Award in the 2020 Gramophone Awards.

Counter-tenor Tim Mead is praised for his “alluring” and “consistently excellent” interpretations (New York Times). With his “rich, mellifluous sound” (Guardian), he is recognized as one of the finest across the generations of counter-tenors.

Recent operatic highlights include Goffredo in Rinaldo at Glyndebourne; Endimione in La Calisto for Teatro Real, Madrid, and at the Bayerische Staatsoper; Bertarido in Rodelinda for Opéra de Lille; Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Opera Philadelphia, Glyndebourne, and Bergen National Opera; Hamor in Jephtha at the Opéra National de Paris; the title role in Akhnaten and Ottone in Agrippina for Opera Vlaanderen; the Boy/Angel in Written on Skin at the Bolshoi; Bertarido in Rodelinda at the English National Opera; and Arsamene in Cavalli’s Xerse with Le Concert d’Astrée at Opéra de Lille, Theater an der Wien, and Théâtre de Caen.

On the concert platform, recent highlights include Handel’s Jephtha with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at the BBC Proms; a European recital tour with Le Concert d’Astrée; Bach’s St. John Passion with Jonathan Cohen and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; an appearance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and Walt Disney Concert Hall; a tour of Asia with The English Concert; Athamas in Semele with the CBSO and the Handel and Haydn Society; Didymus in Theodora with Akademie für Alte Musik; the world premiere of Theo Loevendie in Spinoza at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam; Handel’s Messiah with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the New York Philharmonic, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE), Gabrieli Consort, the Handel & Haydn Society, the Academy of Ancient Music, and Le Concert d’Astree; the Bach B Minor Mass with The English Concert and Les Arts Florissants; Bach’s Magnificat with Le Concert d’Astrée; Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at the London Handel Festival and with the Netherlands Bach Society; Handel’s Theodora with the English Concert; Handel’s Solomon with Akademie für Alte Musik; Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus with the OAE; and Handel’s Joseph and his Brethren at the Internationale Händel-Festspiele Göttingen.

Nicolas Ellis is the Artistic Director and Founder of the Orchestre de l’Agora and currently serves as Artistic Partner to the Orchestre Métropolitain and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Mr. Ellis has been invited as guest conductor with Les Violons du Roy, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, the Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil, the Orchestre symphonique de Québec, the Orchestre Métropolitain, Symphony Nova Scotia, the McGill Chamber Orchestra, the Ottawa Symphony and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and has had the opportunity to perform with artists such as cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras, countertenor Anthony Roth Constanzo and pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin.

He completed his Master’s Degree at the McGill University in conducting with Alexis Hauser and was a conducting fellow at the Aspen Music Festival where he studied with Robert Spano. During the summer of 2019, he was part of the Verbier Festival Academy where he acted as assistant conductor to Music Director Valery Gergiev on a production of Die Frau ohne Schatten.

In 2013, he founded the Orchestre de l’Agora, an orchestra whose mission is to position the classical musician as an agent of social change within the community. The ensemble has built collaborations with the music program of the Share the Warmth Foundation and Les Porteurs de musique, giving workshops to kids coming from underprivileged neighbourhoods and to people who don’t have access to music such as psychiatric centres, prisons and shelters for women. Their recent production of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw in collaboration with the Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal was recorded by ICI Musique and CBC Music and has been broadcasted nationally. During the 2019-2020 season, the orchestra underwent its first tour across Québec, presenting 16 concerts as a string ensemble. On April 22nd 2020, the Orchestre de l’Agora donated $138,000 to Earth Day Canada, the Sierra Club Canada and Nature Conservancy of Canada through the Gala de la Terre, an important fundraising event to protect the St-Laurent River’s estuary. In February 2020, the Orchestre de l’Agora was also the resident orchestra of the Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal during a two week intensive clinic on Bel canto repertoire.

Nicolas Ellis is the recipient of the 2017 Bourse de carrière Fernand-Lindsay and the Heinz Unger Award 2015 delivered by the Ontario Arts Council and was recently named Revelation of the year 2018-2019 by Radio-Canada.

Lydia Teuscher was born in Freiburg, Germany and studied at the Welsh College of Music and Drama and at the Hochschule für Musik in Mannheim.

Highlights in her 2019/20 season include Ännchen Der Freischütz for the Opernhaus Zurich, Eurydice in Gluck’s Orfeo with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Laurence Cummings, Caliste in Telemann’s Pastorelle en musique with Ensemble 1700, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem with the Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie/Guillermo García Calvo, Mozart’s Requiem in the Wiener Konzerthaus with the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich/Heinz Ferlesch and Fauré’s Requiem with the Los Angeles Philharmonic/Bernard Labadie.

In opera, Lydia has sung Pamina Die Zauberflöte at the Salzburg Mozartwoche, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, the Bolshoi, the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich and Deutsche Staatsoper, Berlin; Susanna Le nozze di Figaro at the Glyndebourne Festival, Dresdner Semperoper, Staatstheater Karlsruhe, at the Hyogo Performing Arts Center in Japan; Hero Béatrice et Bénédict at the Saito Kinen Festival in Japan; Zerlina Don Giovanni for the Bolshoi and Gretel Hänsel und Gretel for the Glyndebourne Festival, Dresdner Semperoper and Saito Kinen Festival.

She collaborates regularly with conductors such as René Jacobs, Jonathan Cohen, Emmanuelle Haïm, Sir Roger Norrington, Helmuth Rilling, Markus Stenz and Bernard Labadie and recent highlights have included Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire with the Ensemble of the Bayerische Staatsoper; Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with the London Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding; Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Sylvain Cambreling and Handel’s Messiah with the Orchestre National de Lille and Jan Willem de Vriend.

A native of Jupiter, Florida, Avery Amereau studied at Mannes College of Music and The Juilliard School, where she was the proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship and the Shoshana Foundation 2017 Richard F. Gold Career Grant. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 2016 as the Madrigal Singer in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut. The New York Times praised her performance as “captivating…. [Amereau] stood out for the unusually rich, saturated auburn timbre of her voice.”

She has since made her house and role debut for the Hannover Staatsoper (Alcina/Bradamante) and appeared at Glyndebourne Festival (Dryad/Ariadne), Santa Fe Opera (Olga/Eugene Onegin), Seattle Opera (Ursula/Beatrice et Benedict), Opera Columbus (Carmen), Grand Théâtre de Genève (Cherubino/Nozze di Figaro), the Salzburg Festival (Page/Salome), as well as her house and role debut as Eduige/Rodelinda at Opera de Lille, reprising the role for Opera de Lyon.

Exceptional in baroque repertoire, whilst at Juilliard she performed with the school’s historical performance department under such conductors as William Christie and Maasaki Suzuki, and sang at Bachfest Leipzig and the Boston Early Music Festival.

Recent concerts include the world premiere of The Listeners by Caroline Shaw on a U.S. concert tour with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the Messiah with Bernard Labadie and the National Arts Centre Orchestra, her debut with the Early Opera Company in Dido and Aeneas at Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Vivaldi arias with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in New York, Mozart’s Requiem with the Rhode Island Philharmonic under Bramwell Tovey, and Bach’s St. John Passion and Duruflé’s Requiem with the Voices of Ascension, New York. Among her many Messiah performances, she has sung with the Phoenix Symphony, Nashville Symphony, University Musical Society of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Saint Thomas Church Choir. Elsewhere, she has sung Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été and Brahms’s Alto Rhapsody with the American Classical Orchestra under Thomas Crawford, and concerts of Handel and Vivaldi with Santa Fe Pro Musica.

A prolific concert performer, Andrew Staples has appeared with Berliner and Wiener Philharmoniker, Akademisten Berlin, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with Sir Simon Rattle; Orchestre de Paris, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra with Daniel Harding; Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; the Gävle Symphony with Robin Ticciati; Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest, Orcherstre Métropolitain, and the Philadelphia Orchestra with Yannick Nézet-Séguin; and Accademia Santa Cecilia with Semyon Bychkov.

Andrew Staples made his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Jacquino (Fidelio), returning for Flamand (Capriccio), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Tichon (Katya Kabanova), and Narraboth (Salome). He has also appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, the National Theatre in Prague. La Monnaie in Brussels, Salzburger Festspiele, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Theater an der Wien, the Lucerne Festival, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Recent and future engagements include his Metropolitan Opera debut as Andres (Wozzeck), Nicias in concert performances of Thais with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Das Lied von der Erde with the New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and Budapest Festival Orchestra. Further future engagements include returns to Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Bayerischer Rundfunk Munich.

Matthew Brook has appeared as a soloist throughout Europe, Australia, North and South America, and the Far East. His operatic roles include Polyphemus (Acis and Galatea), Aeneas (Dido and Aeneas), Papageno (The Magic Flute), Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), Leporello (Don Giovanni), Ned Keene (Peter Grimes), Vicar (Albert Herring), Noye (Noye's Fludde), John Bunyan and Lord Hategood in Vaughan Williams’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, Melchior in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, Young Sam in the British premiere of Bernstein’s A Quiet Place, Jupiter in Rameau’s Castor et Pollux in Paris with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Stárek and Mayor (Jenůfa), Antenor and Calkas in Walton’s Troilus and Cressida with the Philharmonia and Hickox for the BBC, Zuniga in Carmen at the Opéra Comique in Paris with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Argenio (Imeneo) at the Göttingen International Handel Festival, and Seneca in L’incoronazione di Poppea at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

Recent and future highlights include Purcell’s The Fairy Queen and Dido and Aeneas with the Handel and Haydn Society, Bach’s St John Passion with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Haydn’s Creation with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Bach’s Magnificat and Brahms’ Triumphlied with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Il Rè di Scozia (Ariodante) with the Staatstheater Stuttgart and on tour with the English Concert, Bach’s B Minor Mass at the Al Bustan Festival in Beirut and with Les Violons du Roy in Quebec, Fauré’s Requiem with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem with the Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw, a tour of Bach cantatas with the Monteverdi Choir and Sir John Eliot Gardiner and with the Nederlandse Bachvereniging and Early Music Vancouver, a tour of Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and with Gli Angeli Genève, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Tippett’s A Child of Our Time at Festival de Saint Denis, and the roles of Herod and Father in Berlioz’s L’Enfance du Christ with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Sir Andrew Davis.

Violist Marina Thibeault’s “plangent tone and expressive phrasing” (The Strad) foreground a great richness in her playing that is on display across various styles. Named Radio-Canada's classical "Revelation" for 2016-2017, she has delighted audiences across Canada, the United States, and Europe with her elegant, spellbinding performances and engaging presence. 

An accomplished soloist, Marina Thibeault’s has performed with the North Czech Philharmonic, Mariánské Lázně Symphony Orchestra, the Santiago Chamber Orchestra, the Verbier Festival, the Orchestre Métropolitain, the Sinfonia Toronto, to mention a few. An avid chamber musician, she has collaborated with members of the Guarneri Quartet, the Cleveland Quartet, Charles-Richard Hamelin, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, and Johannes Moser, amongst other renowned chamber musicians. Her interest in new music has led her to work with composers such as John Corigliano, Joan Tower, and Krzysztof Penderecki.

Marina Thibeault’s first album, Toquade, was released in April 2017 on the Atma label, and was nominated by the ADISQ and Prix Opus for Album of the Year. Her 2020 Juno Award-nominated album Elles honours groundbreaking women composers from Clara Schumann to the present day. A passionate advocate for women’s rights, Marina Thibeault has utilized the broad-ranging Elles project in various iterations to reach out to at-risk women and raise awareness for organizations that support this important cause. The concert adaptation of Elles presents a wide-ranging program of works for solo viola by Ana Sokolović, Dorothy Chang, and Melody McKiver.

Marina Thibeault holds numerous honours and distinctions, including prizes from the Père-Lindsay Foundation (2017), "Révélation Radio-Canada" (2016-2017), CBC’s “30 hot classical musicians under 30” (2016), and the Sylva Gelber Foundation (2016). She won first prize in the string category of Prix d’Europe (2015), the McGill Concerto Competition (2015), the Radio-Canada “Young Artist” prize (2007) as well as a special prize at the Beethoven Hradec International Viola Competition (2008).

Recognized for her work in the baroque repertoire, Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin also sings Mahler, Bach, Beethoven, Britten, and the music of the late 20th and 21st centuries with equal success. The prestigious distinctions she has received include the title of “Soloist of the Year” awarded by the Communauté internationale des radios publiques de langue française, first prize in the CBC Radio competition for young performers, and the Virginia Parker Prize and Maggie Teyte Memorial Prize in London. . Her 2021-21 season includes dates with the Orchestre Metropolitain, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, and a recital for the Ladies’ Morning Musical Club of Montreal.

Ms. Gauvin has sung with the world’s greatest symphony orchestras, including the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic and Rotterdam Philharmonic, as well as baroque orchestras such as Les Talens Lyriques, the Venice Baroque Orchestra, Accademia Bizantina, Il Complesso Barocco, the Akademie Für Alte Musik Berlin, the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, and Les Violons du Roy. She has performed under the direction of maestros Semyon Bychkov, Charles Dutoit, Bernard Labadie, Kent Nagano, Sir Roger Norrington, Helmuth Rilling, Christophe Rousset, and Michael Tilson Thomas. In addition, she has sung in recital with pianists Marc-André Hamelin, Angela Hewitt, Michael McMahon, and Roger Vignoles.

Notable opera successes include Vitellia in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées; Vénus in Rameau’s Dardanus with Opéra National de Bordeaux; L’Eternità/Giunone in La Calisto with the Bayerische Staatsoper; the title role in Armide with De Nederlandse Opera; Armida in Handel’s Rinaldo at the Glyndbourne Festival; the title role of Handel’s Alcina with Les Talens Lyriques; and Ariadne in Georg Conradi’s Die Schöne und getreue Ariadne for the Boston Early Music Festival. She performed in Vivaldi’s Tito Manlio in Brussels and at the Barbican in London; Fulvio in Handel’s Ezio in Paris and Vienna; the title role in Giulio Cesare in Paris and Vienna; and the title role in Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans with Andrea Marcon at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. She has also sung Seleuce in Handel’s Tolomeo with Alan Curtis, with whom she recorded Handel operas on ARCHIV/Deutsche Grammophon, Virgin and Naïve labels, among others. Her recorded performances with the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra have earned her two nominations from the Grammy Awards.

On the concert stage, memorable performances include the Princess in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges with the Rotterdam Philharmonic under Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Bach’s St. John Passion and Handel’s Solomon with Les Violons du Roy; Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Debussy’s The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.

Karina Gauvin has an extensive discography – over 30 titles – and she has won numerous awards, including a Chamber Music America Award for Fête Galante, with pianist Marc-André Hamelin, and several Opus Prizes. Other recording projects include a European tour and a recording of Handel’s Ariodante for EMI Virgin Classics; a European tour and a recording of Giulio Cesare for the Naïve House, both with Alan Curtis and Il Complesso Barocco; and Britten’s Les Illuminations with Les Violons du Roy, under the direction of Jean-Marie Zeitouni. In addition, she has completed an album in honor of Anna Maria Strada del Po, with Alexander Weimann and the Arion Ensemble.

With repertoire ranging from Purcell, Handel and Mozart to Donizetti’s Adina (L'elisir d'amore), Verdi’s Gilda (Rigoletto) and Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen, she has sung with opera companies throughout the world, including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Glyndebourne Festival, English National Opera, the Teatro Real Madrid, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Bavarian State Opera, Munich, and the Metropolitan Opera, New York. Recent opera highlights include her debut at Dutch National Opera in the title role Rodelinda and a return to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden for Poppea Agrippina. Highlights this season include Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro) at the Metropolitan Opera and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) at Liceu Barcelona.

In concert, she has performed with many of the world’s finest conductors and orchestras including City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Monteverdi Orchestra/Gardiner, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and the London Symphony Orchestra. Highlights in concert this season include Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Bayerischer Rundfunk, US and European tours of Handel’s Alcina and Serse, both with The English Concert, Macmillan’s Christmas Oratorio with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with the London Symphony Orchestra and Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri with the Staatskapelle Berlin

A committed recitalist she has appeared at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, New York’s Carnegie Hall, and the Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Mostly Mozart and Salzburg Festivals, and is a regular guest at the BBC Proms and Wigmore Hall.

Her recordings include Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang with the LSO; Handel’s Il Pastor Fido and Handel & Vivaldi with La Nuova Musica for Harmonia Mundi; Lutoslawski with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Handel’s Alceste with the Early Opera Company and Eccles’ The Judgement of Paris all for Chandos; a solo Handel disc ll Caro Sassone and Handel’s Rodelinda with the English Concert, and Handel’s Queens with London Early Opera for Hyperion. Her debut recital recording featuring Berg, Strauss, and Schoenberg songs was released by Linn Records in August 2021.

Praised for her “dulcet-toned mezzo-soprano” by the Wall Street Journal, Kayleigh Decker is fast becoming a name to watch in Europe and her native USA.

Kayleigh recently finished as an ensemble member of The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago where roles included her debut as Second Cretan Woman/Idomeneo, Kate Pinkerton/ Madama Butterfly and a number of notable cover roles, including Le Prince Charmant/Cendrillon, Rosina/The Barber of Seville, Laura/Luisa Miller and Donna Elvira/Don Giovanni conducted by James Gaffigan. Future plans include her return to Glyndebourne Festival in Summer 2022 as Ruggiero/Alcina.

An alumna of University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the Oberlin Conservatory, Kayleigh’s roles at CCM Opera include Fox/The Cunning Little Vixen, Le Prince Charmant/Cendrillon, Idamante/Idomeneo and the title role of Ariodante. Other opera highlights include the title role in La Cenerentola for Queen City Opera, Peggy in Jack Perla’s Shalimar the Clown for Cincinnati Opera, and Fox in Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince for Cincinnati Chamber Opera.

A passionate song interpreter, she was named one of Caramoor’s 2018 Schwab Vocal Rising Stars and was a participant in the inaugural season of Renée Fleming’s SongStudio at Carnegie Hall. She has given recitals produced by the Cincinnati Song Initiative, and recently performed a solo recital at Carnegie Hall and the Chicago Cultural Center.

In 2019, Kayleigh was the recipient of three prestigious scholarships: the Luminarts Fellowship, first place in the Musicians Club of Women Scholarship Competition, and a Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation. Further accolades include first place in the Three Arts Scholarship Fund Competition and The Macdowell Society Scholarship Award in Cincinnati, second place in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions-Great Lakes Region, first place in the CCM Corbett Competition, and the Encouragement award in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions-Cincinnati District in 2016.

Stuart Jackson won prizes at both the Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition and at the International Hugo Wolf Lied Competition in Stuttgart and has since given recitals for Staatsoper Stuttgart, at Wigmore Hall, at the Oxford Lieder Festival and at the Albertina Musensaal in Vienna.

In 21/22 season, Stuart sings his first Evangelist Bach St Matthew Passion with Arcangelo and Jonathan Cohen at the BBC Proms; Haydn The Creation at the Barbican with the Academy of Ancient Music; Handel Samson with The English Concert at the London Handel Festival; Mozart Mitridate, re di Ponto at the Royal Danish Opera, and returned to Glyndebourne Festival for Handel Alcina.

Recent appearances have included Junger Seeman in a semi-staged performance of Tristan und Isolde for Glyndebourne Festival; Prologue and Quint The Turn of the Screw for Opéra National de Lorraine; Bach Christmas Oratorio with the Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia with Trevor Pinnock, and his role and house debut as Jupiter Semele for Komische Oper, Berlin.

Stuart has sung Purcell The Fairy Queen with RIAS Kammerchor; Bach St John Passion on a European tour with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and with Chapelle Harmonique in Versailles, as well as on tour with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century and Daniel Reuss, with whom he has also performed St Matthew Passion; Mendelssohn Lobgesang with the Royal Northern Sinfonia; Martin Le Vin herbé with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra; Bruckner Te Deum with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra; and many performances of Messiah including with the Hallé Orchestra and John Butt, and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Nicholas McGegan. 

Past opera engagements include Narraboth (Salome) for his debut at English National Opera; Vašek (Bartered Brid) in his debut for Garsington Opera; Jonathan in Handel Saul for Glyndebourne Tour and High Priest/Abner/Amalekite/Doeg (Saul) for Glyndebourne Festival. Further afield he has repeated his roles in Handel Saul for the Adelaide Festival, sung Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) for Stuttgart Opera and Nettuno in Legrenzi La Divisione del Mondo for Opéra national du Rhin.

A “tall, majestic bass” with “impeccable technique” and “a palpable presence on stage,” Canadian bass-baritone Nathan Berg has enjoyed a career spannning a vast range of repertoire on the concert and operatic stage. He has recently earned worldwide acclaim for his portrayals of the title role in Der fliegende Holländer in his Bolshoi Theatre debut, Alberich in Das Rheingold with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and Minnesota Opera, Doktor in Wozzeck with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Houston Symphony, for which he won a Grammy Award, and his company debut at Teatro alla Scala in Robert Carsen’s world-premiere production of Battistelli’s CO2.

In the 2021-2022 season, Mr. Berg makes his Metropolitan Opera stage debut as The Father in the New York premiere of Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, returns to Theater Basel as Philippe in Don Carlos, and debuts the role of Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde with the Taiwan Philharmonic. He will also lead a residency with Opera Lafayette in Taos, New Mexico, culminating in peformances of Grétry’s rarely-performed Silvain in both New York and Washington, DC.

As a Grammy, Juno, and Echo Award-winning recording artist, Mr. Berg has performed on over 30 recordings of works ranging from the 17^th to 20^th centuries with both period and modern orchestras. Early in his career, alongside building a solid reputation in major Mozart roles, Mr. Berg established his name as an outstanding interpreter of baroque and pre-classical music in both concert repertoire and opera. Notable among his many early recordings with Les Arts Florissants are Mozart’s Requiem and Handel’s Messiah, as well as video recordings of Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes (Opéra de Paris) and Lully’s Armide (Théâtre des Champs-Elysées). Other noteworthy early recordings are Dvořák’s Stabat Mater with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Glyndebourne Festival production of Rossini’s La Cenerentola, and several lieder recordings. Recent releases include Wozzeck (Doktor) with the Houston Symphony, Dvořák’s Requiem with the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the San Francisco Symphony, and Les Indes Galantes with Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse.

Yorkshire born soprano Rowan Pierce was awarded the President’s Award by HRH Prince of Wales at the Royal College of Music in 2017. She won both the Song Prize and First Prize at the inaugural Grange Festival International Singing Competition in 2017, the first Schubert Society Singer Prize in 2014 and the Van Someren Godfery Prize at the RCM.

Rowan has appeared in concert throughout Europe and South America. She performs regularly with ensembles including the Academy of Ancient Music, Gabrieli Consort, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Royal Northern Sinfonia.

Rowan made her BBC Proms debut at the Royal Albert Hall in 2017 with the OAE and returned in 2019 for Handel Jephtha with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. She made her Wigmore Hall debut with the London Handel Players and returned with Florilegium in the 2019/20 season.

On the opera stage Rowan has performed Drusilla in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, Susanna in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Miss Wordsworth in Britten’s Albert Herring and Princess in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges. Her future and recent operatic roles include Galatea (Acis and Galatea), Iris (Semele), Dorinda (Orlando), Belinda (Dido and Aeneas), Elsie (Yeoman of the Guard), Papagena (The Magic Flute) and Barbarina (The Marriage of Figaro). In 2019 she made her debut at the Buxton Festival in the role of Papiria (Lucio Papirio Dittatore by Caldara) with La Serenissima and performed the roles of Quivera and Orazia (The Indian Queen) with Opéra de Lille. Other recent and future engagements include various roles in performances of both Purcell’s King Arthur and The Fairy Queen with the Gabrieli Consort and also with Ensemble Alia Mens in France, more performances of the Indian Queen with Opéra de Luxembourg, Opéra de Caen and Antwerp Opera as well as concerts and a recital with Philharmonia Baroque. In 2022 she makes her Glyndebourne Festival debut singing Oberto (Alcina).

After studying piano in Argentina, Leonardo García Alarcón moved to Europe in 1997 and entered the Geneva Conservatory in the class of harpsichordist Christiane Jaccottet.

It was under the aegis of Gabriel Garrido that he embarked on the Baroque adventure. He created his ensemble Cappella Mediterranea, a responsibility that he combined shortly afterwards with that of the Millenium Orchestra, which he founded to accompany the Namur Chamber Choir, of which he became artistic director in 2010. He divides his time between Geneva, where he teaches the class of Maestro al cembalo at the Haute Ecole de Musique, France, notably as a regular pillar of the Ambronay Festival and artist in residence at the Dijon Opera, Belgium, but also sporadic returns to his native South America. We owe him the rediscovery of Cavalli's operas: Elena and Erismena at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2013 and 2017, Eliogabalo, to open the 2016 Paris Opera season, Il Giasone in Geneva, Antonio Draghi's El Prometeo in 2018 at the Dijon Opera, and again in Dijon La Finta Pazza by Francesco Sacrati, the very first opera imported from Italy to Paris. As a conductor or harpsichordist, he is invited to festivals and concert halls all over the world. In 2018, he conducts Monteverdi's Orfeo in the staging of Sacha Walz at the Berlin Staatsoper. In 2019, he triumphed with Rameau's Les Indes Galantes at the Opéra Bastille on the occasion of the 350thanniversary of the Royal Academy of Music.

He was recognized as the best conductor in Forum Opéra's 2019 Palmarès. He is in residence at Radio France during the 2019-2020 season. In 2020, he conducted, among others, Alcina at the head of his ensemble Cappella Mediterranea in Nancy. But many of the projects initially planned for 2020 have been turned upside down. Leonardo García Alarcón adapts his concert programmes and takes an active part in virtual festivals before returning to public concerts whenever possible. In December 2020, the Rossi’s opera Il Palazzo Incantato is maintained at the Opéra de Dijon, despite of the absence of the public, and its video recording, that was broadcast online, was a great success.

His discography is unanimously acclaimed by critics. In 2016, Leonardo García Alarcón recorded for Alpha Classic I 7 Peccati Capitali: an imaginary programme of Monteverdi arias, hailed by the press. In 2018, Joan Manuel Serrat's recording De vez en cuando la vida and a box set dedicated to Jacques Arcadelt were released, winning numerous awards. Critics hailed the release of El Prometeo in which he composed the 3rd act, the original score having disappeared. In March 2021 was released on Sony classical Rebirth, the collaboration of Leonardo García Alarcón and the soprano Sonya Yoncheva. Three other albums will be published this year: Lamenti & Sospiri, a collection of madrigals by Sigismondo d’India with the sopranos Mariana Flores and Julie Roset, on Ricercar, then for Alpha classics Monteverdi’s Orfeo, and finally Le violon selon Bach with the violinist Chouchane Siranossian.

A versatile musician and a piano wizard, Louise Bessette is much in demand as a concert artist in Europe, America, and Asia. She has recorded a wide variety of repertoire both as a soloist and with chamber ensembles, appearing the world over with distinguished orchestras and by invitation to many first-rate festivals. She premieres works specially written for her and her reviews are consistently laudatory.

In April 2019, she received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award for Classical Music. The GGPAA are Canada’s highest honour in the performing arts. In June 2016, Louise Bessette was honoured by the University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario) where she received the degree of Doctor of Music, honoris causa, to celebrate her accomplishments as an internationally recognized performer and leading light in the interpretation of 20th and 21st century music and for her significant impact in the contemporary world of classical piano.

Louise Bessette received her eighth Opus Prize in 2016. In January 2015, she was listed as one of Canada’s top 25 pianists by CBC Music. Louise Bessette has received many honors and prizes marking the importance of her musical contributions. These include : First Prize, Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition (1981); First Prize, Concours International de Musique Contemporaine (Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 1986); First Prize, International Gaudeamus Interpreters Competition (Rotterdam, 1989); Femme de l’Année at the Salon de la Femme de Montréal (Arts category, 1989); Prix Québec-Flandre (1991); Member of the Order of Canada (2001); Officier de l’Ordre national du Québec (2005), and Canadian Music Centre Ambassador (2009). She has been a professor of piano at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal since 1996.

Mariana has now become established as a key interpreter of the Baroque repertory. She performs and records regularly with such leading figures as Leonardo García Alarcón, John Eliot Gardiner, Christina Pluhar, Manfred Kraemer.

Since her Australian tour of 2015, she has now sung on every continent, in the most prestigious venues and festivals of the Baroque universe.

In March 2016, Mariana Flores made her debut at the Teatro Zarzuela de Madrid in two operas by Sebastían Duron. The press greeted her performances with dithyrambic reviews.

In September 2016 she appears on the stage of the Palais Garnier in Paris in Cavalli’s Eliogabalo.

She is Alinda in Cavalli’s Il Giasone, at the Opera of Geneva and Versailles in 2017. Then Tétis in the world premiere of Draghi’s El Prometeo at the Dijon Opera in 2018. In 2019 she once again won over audiences and critics as Deidamia in Sacrati’s La Finta Pazza in Dijon, Geneva and Versailles.

The release of Francesco Cavalli’s CD: Teatro dei Sensi, his great solo recital, in autumn 2015 received the highest press awards (Classica’s Choc of the Year and Diapason d’or). In 2016, she signed with Cappella Mediterranea, Monteverdi’s Peccati Capitali which was nominated for the 2017 Victoires de la musique and won several awards, including the Diamant d’Opéra Magazine.

Mariana regularly gives her successful programs: Monteverdi a voce sola and L’Arte di Amare, a concert around Strozzi and Cavalli, released on CD.

She participates in recordings of Cappella Mediterranea such as Arcadelt’s Madrigals, (Diapason d’or) in 2018, De vez en Cuando la Vida, Joan Manuel Serrat y el siglo de oro.

In 2017, Monteverdi’s Orfeo tour brought her back to Argentina at Teatro Colón where she also sang Falvetti’s Il Diluvio Universale.

Named “Canada’s next big cello star” by CBC Music and selected 2019-20 Classical Révélation artist of ICI-Musique Radio-Canada, cellist Cameron Crozman is making a name for himself both at home and internationally. Performing recitals and chamber music across Canada and the USA as well as over in Europe, engagements have taken him to such world-renowned venues as the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, Berliner Philharmonie, Paris Philharmonie, Philadelphia's Mann Centre, and Canada's National Arts Centre. He has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras across Canada including the Montreal, Winnipeg, Quebec, Hamilton, and Vancouver Island Symphonies under the direction of conductors including Gemma New, Fabien Gabel, and Edwin Outwater. As the recipient of the Canada Council Michael Measure’s prize, he was the featured soloist with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada and conductor Alain Trudel during their 2012 tour of Canada and the USA. Current season highlights include appearances with I Musici, the Niagara Symphony, a tour of the Canadian Prairies, and a performance at America’s National Museum of Music.

An avid collaborator and chamber musician, Mr. Crozman regularly shares the stage with world-renowned artists including James Ehnes, Augustin Hadelich, Boris Giltburg, Martin Beaver, Inon Barnatan, James Campbell, Hue Watkins, Gerard Caussé, and members of the Ébène, New Zealand, and Penderecki String Quartets. He regularly appears at festivals around the world such as the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, Ottawa Chamberfest, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Montreal Chamber Music Festival, Helsinki Musica Nova, Birmingham Frontiers Festival, and Musique et Vin festival at Clos Vougeot in Burgundy. His performances have been broadcast on CBC/Radio-Canada, Radio France, Radio Classique, and Medici.tv.

Mr. Crozman’s debut album, Cavatine, recorded on the ca. 1696 “Bonjour” Stradivarius cello, was released to critical acclaim in 2019 and described by the France’s publication Classica Magazine as displaying “technical perfection with a personal style that leaves us wanting to hear more.” His most recent solo recording of the Britten Cello Suites, debuted in Monaco in the presence of Princess Caroline of Hannover, is already garnering similar praise, receiving highest marks from Diapason Magazine, one of the world’s leading classical music publications.

Antoine Tamestit is recognised internationally as one of the great violists - soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. In addition to his peerless technique and profound musicianship, he is known for the depth and beauty of his sound with its rich, deep, burnished quality. His repertoire is broad, ranging from the Baroque to the contemporary, and he has performed and recorded several world premieres.

In the 21/22 season, Tamestit is the subject of the London Symphony Orchestra’s Artist Portrait, performing 3 concerto programmes and 4 chamber music programmes throughout October. Tamestit is also Artist in Residence with the Dresden Staatskapelle, performing numerous concerts there throughout the season. Other orchestras that Tamestit will be performing with over the season include Vienna Philharmonic, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. In chamber music, Tamestit will embark on a European tour with pianist Cédric Tiberghien, performing at Wigmore Hall and the De Bijloke Center in Belgium.

Antoine Tamestit records for Harmonia Mundi and his most recent release was Bach’s Sonatas for Viola Da Gamba which he recorded with Masato Suzuki in 2019. His other most notable release was the Widmann Concerto, recorded with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding in February 2018. The recording was selected as Editor’s Choice in BBC Music Magazine and also won the Premier Award at the BBC Music Magazine Awards in 2019. His first recording on Harmonia Mundi was Bel Canto: The Voice of the Viola, with Cédric Tiberghien released in February 2017. Tamestit’s distinguished discography includes Berlioz’s Harold en Italie with the London Symphony Orchestra and Valery Gergiev for LSO Live; for Naïve he has recorded three Bach Suites, Hindemith solo and concertante works with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and Paavo Järvi; and an earlier recording of Harold en Italie with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre. In 2016 he appeared with Frank Peter Zimmermann and the Chamber Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra on a new recording of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante (Hännsler Classic).

Magali Simard-Galdès is a young Canadian soprano renowned for her shimmering tone, refined musicality, and magnetic stage presence.

Magali has appeared in opera, recital, and with orchestra. Most recently, she appeared with I Musici de Montréal in Vivaldi’s Dixit dominus, RV 807, ECM+ in Gonneville’s Bonhomme de chemin, and Harmonie des saisons in Handel’s Messiah. She also portrayed Agnès in George Benjamin's Written on Skin with Opéra de Montréal, where she previously sung Constance in Dialogues des Carmélites, and Frasquita in Carmen. In past seasons, on the orchestral stage, she has performed with ensembles including Atelier lyrique de Tourcoing in Dubois’s Paradis Perdu, Opéra Grand Avignon in Charpentier’s Pastorale sur la nativité, Orchestre Métropolitain with Yannick Nézet-Séguin in Parsifal at the Festival de Lanaudière, as well as Orchestre Philharmonique du Nouveau Monde, Ensemble Novello, and Orchestre symphonique de l’Estuaire.

In 2019, Magali recorded three new song cycles by Deirdre Gribbin, Ailis Ni Riain, and Fuhong Shi, with the Tionscadal na nAmhrán Ealaíne Gaeilge/Irish Language Art Song Project. On the ATMA Classique label, she can be heard in Berlioz’s 25 Romances for Voice and Guitar and Ana Sokolovic’s Sirens. She also self-produced her first recital album Muses, which made Radio-Canada’s 2017 “50 Albums of the Year” list.

Neal Davies studied at King's College, London, and the RAM, and won the Lieder Prize at the 1991 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. He has appeared with the Oslo Philharmonic under Jansons, the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Boulez, the Cleveland and Philharmonia orchestras under Dohnanyi, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Harnoncourt, the OAE under Brüggen, the English Concert with Harry Bicket, the Gabrieli Consort under McCreesh, the Hallé Orchestra with Elder, Concerto Koeln under Bolton, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra with Adam Fischer, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra with Edward Gardner, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin with David Zinman, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra with Sir Andrew Davis, and the London Symphony and Vienna Philharmonic orchestras under Harding. He has been a regular guest of the Edinburgh Festival and BBC Proms.

Recent concert appearances include Shostakovich 14 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Kirill Karabits, a return to Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin for King Arthur, concert performances of Peter Grimes with the Bergen Philharmonic, and Messiah with the Lucerne Symphony. Previous seasons highlights include the Edinburgh Festival with Edward Gardner (Creation) and the BBC Proms (Vaughan Williams’ Dona nobis pacem), as well as concerts with David Afkham and the Spanish National Orchestra, and with Maxime Pascal conducting the Hallé Orchestra. The 2018/19 season saw appearances with Les Violons du Roy and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra (Jonathan Cohen), the Bach Collegium Japan (Masaaki Suzuki), Music of the Baroque (Jane Glover), and the Philadelphia Orchestra (Bernard Labadie).

Neal Davie’s wide discography includes Acis and Galatea under Christian Curnyn (BBC Music Magazine Award, 2019), Messiah, Theodora, Saul and Creation (Gramophone Award, 2008) under McCreesh, Jenufa and Makropulos Case under Sir Charles Mackerras, Barber’s Vanessa under Leonard Slatkin, Messiah under René Jacobs, the Hyperion Complete Schubert Edition with Graham Johnson, and Britten’s Billy Budd with Daniel Harding (Grammy Award, 2010).

“A performer of near-superhuman technical prowess” (The New York Times), pianist Marc-André Hamelin is known worldwide for his unrivaled blend of consummate musicianship and brilliant technique in the great works of the established repertoire, as well as for his intrepid exploration of the rarities of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries – in concert and on disc – earning his place as a true icon of the piano. He regularly concertizes around the globe with the leading orchestras and conductors of our time and performs recitals for the major concert venues and festivals worldwide.

Mr. Hamelin is an exclusive recording artist for Hyperion Records where his discography spans more than 70 albums, with notable recordings of a broad range of solo, orchestral and chamber repertoire. In January 2022, they released a two-disc set of CPE Bach Sonatas & Rondos that received wide critical acclaim and chart success.

Mr. Hamelin has composed music throughout his career, with nearly 30 compositions to his name. The majority of those works – including the Études and Toccata on L’Homme armé, commissioned by the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition – are published by Edition Peters. His other most recent work, Suite à l’ancienne (Suite in the old style), was premiered in February 2021 by pianist Rachel Naomi Kudo with funding from her Gilmore Young Artist Award.

Mr. Hamelin makes his home in the Boston area with his wife, Cathy Fuller, a producer and host at Classical WCRB. Born in Montreal, he is the recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the German Record Critics’ Association and has received seven Juno Awards and eleven Grammy nominations, the 2018 Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance awarded by Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music and in December 2020 was awarded the Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award for Keyboard Artistry from the Ontario Arts Foundation. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Chevalier de l’Ordre du Québec, and a member of the Royal Society of Canada.