Fauré et Duruflé, deux Requiem

Bernard Labadie, an internationally recognized specialist in 17th-, 18th-, and early 19th-century repertoire, is the founding conductor of Les Violons du Roy. He was the ensemble’s music director from 1984 to 2014 and remains the music director of La Chapelle de Québec, which he founded in 1985.

As head of both ensembles, he has toured Europe and North America performing at some of the most illustrious concert halls and festivals: Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center (New York), Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles), Kennedy Center (Washington), the Barbican (London), Berlin Philharmonie, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (Paris), Brussels’ Centre for Fine Arts, and the Salzburg, Bergen, Rheingau, and Schleswig-Holstein festivals.

In 2017, Bernard Labadie was named principal conductor of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in New York. He conducts the orchestra’s annual concert series at Carnegie Hall.

A much sought-after guest conductor in North America, he makes frequent appearances with major American and Canadian orchestras: Chicago, New York, Cleveland, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Houston, New World Symphony, Montréal, Toronto and Ottawa. In Europe, he has conducted the orchestras of Lyon, Bordeaux-Aquitaine, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. He has also headed several radio orchestras, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Munich, the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as the radio orchestras in Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne, Hanover, and Helsinki.

Bernard Labadie regularly collaborates with some of the most prestigious period-instrument early music ensembles: Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, the Academy of Ancient Music, The English Concert, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Handel and Haydn Society, and Ensemble Arion.

At the opera, he served as artistic director of Opéra de Québec from 1994 to 2003 and as artistic director of Opéra de Montréal from 2002 to 2006. He has also appeared as guest conductor with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, and the Santa Fe and Cincinnati operas. In 2021, he made his debut appearance at the Glyndebourne Festival.

Both as a guest conductor and with Les Violons du Roy, Bernard Labadie has recorded some twenty albums for Virgin Classics (now Erato), EMI, Pentatone, Dorian, ATMA, Hyperion, and Naïve.

A tireless ambassador for music in his hometown of Québec City, Bernard Labadie was made an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Knight of the Ordre national du Québec, and Compagnon des arts et des lettres du Québec. He is also a recipient of the Medal of Honour of the National Assembly of Québec, the Banff Centre’s National Arts Award, the Samuel de Champlain Award, and honorary doctorates from Université Laval (Alma Mater) and the Manhattan School of Music.

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.

French-Canadian mezzo-soprano Julie Boulianne is acclaimed for the vocal agility and expressive power of her dark-hued tone, focusing on the works of Berlioz, Mozart, and Rossini. The Independent recently said, “Julie Boulianne’s Marguerite is gloriously sung, her sound replete with grace and power.”

In past seasons, Julie Boulianne has appeared as Marguerite in Berlioz’ La Damnation de Faust (Glyndebourne Festival, San Sebastián Music Festival, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Festival Opéra de Québec) Charlotte in Werther (Oper Frankfurt, Opéra de Québec, Ópera de Colombia), Juliette in Berlioz’ Roméo et Juliette (Opéra national de Paris, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin with Robin Ticciati, l’Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, BBC Proms with Sir John Eliot Gardiner), the title role in Béatrice et Bénédict (Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse), Aloès in Chabrier’s L’Étoile (Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, Dutch National Opera), Annio in La Clemenza di Tito (Opernhaus Zürich with Ottavio Dantone, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse), Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro (Vancouver Opera, Opéra de Montréal), the title role in La Cenerentola (Opéra-Théâtre de Limoges, Opéra de Montréal), the title role in Cendrillon (Opéra de Montréal, l’Opéra de Marseille), Sesto in Giulio Cesare (Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Theater an der Wien, Aalto-Musiktheater, San Sebastián Music Festival), Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni (Théâtre des Champs-Elysées), Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Opéra de Québec), The Cabaret Singer and Bad Pupil in Philippe Boesmans Pinocchio (Festival Aix-en-Provence, La Monnaie de Munt, Opéra de Dijon), Giunone in Legrenzi’s La divisione del mondo (Opéra National du Rhin, Opéra National de Lorraine, Opéra Royal de Versailles), and Concepción in L’Heure espagnole (Angers Nantes Opéra, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire).

At the Metropolitan Opera, Ms. Boulianne has appeared as Siébel in Faust, Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette conducted by Plácido Domingo, Diane in Stephen Wadsworth’s production of Iphigénie en Tauride, the Kitchen-Boy in Rusalka with Renée Fleming, and Ascanio in Francesca Zambello’s production of Les Troyens conducted by Fabio Luisi.

Jean-François Lapointe grew up in Quebec’s Saguenay–Lac-St-Jean area and is today regarded as one of the finest baritones of his generation. Since his debut in 1983 he has appeared on the great stages of Europe, including Paris, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Vienna, Zurich, Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Glasgow, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Berlin, Liège, and Toulouse, as well as in the Americas and Japan.

Among his signature roles is the title role in Pelléas et Mélisande, which he sang in the celebrated reworking by Peter Brook and in the Canadian Opera Company production in Toronto, that of Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, and at Opéra nationale de Bordeaux, as well as in Bonn, Cincinnati, Bordeaux, Marseille, Toulouse, Toulon, and most recently at La Scala in Milan. Other appearances in the role include Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Opéra Royal de Wallonie, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. He has also sung title roles in Hamlet with the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen, Eugene Onegin with Opéra de Quebec, Don Giovanni in Trieste and Marseille, and Werther at Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels.

In addition to his work on the stage, Jean-François is sought after as a concert artist. His interpretations of Duparc, Fauré, and Poulenc are highly regarded as are his appearances with some of the world’s great orchestras. Highlights were his performances with Orchestre National de France for Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini (as Fieramosca) and Béatrice et Bénedict (with Sir Colin Davis) and Debussy’s La Chute de la maison Usher. He joined Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg for L’Enfance du Christ, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra for Les Pêcheurs de perles (as Zurga at the Concertgebouw), and the BBC Symphony for Les Mamelles de Tirésias (as Le Mari) and Fauré’s Requiem. Recent performances include Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, Debussy’s L’Enfant prodigue, and Fauré’s Requiem with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.

Jean-François can be heard in a recording of Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini with Orchestre National de France and in other recorded productions such as Massenet’s Le Mage and Saint-Saëns’s Ascanio. Other releases include Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer and an album of Paul Verlaine’s poetry in settings by Fauré, Debussy, Reynaldo Hahn, and André Mathieu.

Thomas Annand was a student of Graham Steed, John Grew, and Marie-Claire Alain.  In 1987 he won First Prize at the RCCO National Organ Competition and since then has pursued an active career as a performer on organ, harpsichord and as conductor. He has been Director of Music at St. Andrew’s Church, Ottawa since 1992, giving over 200 recitals there including a series of weekly recitals where he performed a vast repertoire including the ten symphonies of Widor, the complete organ works of Liszt, Franck and Mendelssohn.  As harpsichordist he performed all the major works of Bach in 7 marathon recitals in 2004-2005. He has performed as a soloist with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and Les Violons du Roy, touring with them to Carnegie Hall on three occasions.  He has been a featured artist in the Boston Early Music Festival, the Carmel Bach Festival, the International Congress of Organists and the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival. As a conductor he was the founder of Capital BrassWorks with whom he recorded for the CBC SM5000 series, and a frequent guest conductor of the Thirteen Strings. He has appeared on film (Denys Arcand’s Le Règne de la Beauté), radio and television.  In addition he has had his choral music published and performed and has contributed continuo realizations to editions of early music.  Thomas Annand is a Fellow of the RCCO for which he has worked as an examiner and a jury member for the Organ Playing Competition, and is a past-Chair of the Ottawa Centre.

Created in 1985 by founding conductor and music director Bernard Labadie, La Chapelle de Québec is one of North America’s premiere voice ensembles. The group is made up exclusively of professional singers who are hand picked from all over Canada. This unique chamber choir specializes in the choral/orchestral repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries. The choir performs regularly with its other half, chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy, and as a guest choir with some of the finest orchestras in North America. Its  interpretations of the oratorios, requiems, masses, and cantatas of Bach, Handel, Mozart, and Haydn, as well as Fauré and Duruflé, are frequently hailed in the Canadian and international press.

La Chapelle de Québec is heard regularly at Palais Montcalm in Quebec City and Maison symphonique in Montreal, as well as at the Walt Disney Concert Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, at Carnegie Hall with Les Violons du Roy and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and in Ottawa with the National Arts Centre Orchestra. The choir’s concerts are often broadcast by the CBC and Radio-Canada in Canada and by National Public Radio in the United States.

La Chapelle de Québec is also known for its role in Chemin de Noël, an annual event that brings music lovers from throughout the Québec City region together every December.