Les muses de Mozart

Nicolas Ellis is Music Director of the Orchestre National de Bretagne, Principal Guest Conductor of Les Violons du Roy and Artistic Director of Orchestre de l’Agora, which he founded in Montreal in 2013.

The 25/26 season sees Nicolas Ellis debut with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Hamburger Symphoniker, the Orchestra of the Opéra National de Lorraine and the Baltimore and Seattle Symphony Orchestras; he returns for subscription concerts with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. 

Highlights of the previous season include performances with the Tampere and Luxembourg Philharmonics, San Diego Symphony, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and with the Orchestre Métropolitain, with whom he is a regular favourite.  

Now in his second season as Music Director of the Orchestre National de Bretagne, he directs Mozart, Brahms, Schumann, Stravinsky, Bartok and Shostakovich, a programme centered around Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, collaborating with a local Youth Theatre, and an evening of folk music, featuring traditional folk musicians from Québec.

Acclaimed for his approach to the baroque and classical repertoire, his recent performance of Mozart Symphony No. 25 with Les Violons du Roy was described by Le Devoir as “one of the most beautiful Mozart symphonies heard in Montreal in the last 20 years”.

At the Opéra de Montréal, Nicolas has led productions of Le nozze di Figaro, The Turn of the Screw, L'incoronazione di Poppea and L’enfant et les sortilèges. Elsewhere, he conducted Die Fledermaus at Opéra de Québec, Britten’s War Requiem at Graz Opera, and a new production of Die Zauberföte at Opéra de Rennes.

Canadian soprano Sarah Dufresne has been celebrated for her “style and elegance” (Bachtrack), “richness of tone… angelic high notes and admirable control” (ArtsDesk). Sarah’s recent debut as Ophélie in Thomas’ Hamlet with Opéra de Montréal garnered acclaim for her “spellbinding… extraordinary vocal agility” and “superbly honed dramatic” (Bachtrack) performance of the heroine, with critics noting that this debut was, “unlike anything… heard on this stage in twenty-years” (Le Devoir).

Upcoming in the 2025/2026 season, Sarah debuts with Vancouver Opera (Gilda/Verdi’s Rigoletto), Teatro Alla Scala (Frasquita/Bizet’s Carmen), Tiroler Festspiele (Lisa/Bellini’s La sonnambula), alongside concert debuts with Les Violons du Roy, the Victoria Symphony, Orchestre symphonique de Québec, and Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. She subsequently returns to Royal Opera House for Wagner’s Siegfried as the Waldvogel under the baton of Antonio Pappano and director Barrie Kosky. At the start of 2026, Sarah makes her Canadian Opera Company debut, jumping into their production of Verdi’s Rigoletto.

The 2024/2025 season saw Sarah make role debuts as Ophélie in Thomas’ Hamlet with Opéra de Montréal, Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto with Pacific Opera Victoria, and Semele in Strauss’ Die Liebe der Danae with Bayerische Staatsoper. On the concert stage, she debuted Yvette/Georgette in Puccini’s La Rondine with the London Symphony Orchestra. The 2025 Summer season saw Sarah debut at the Edinburgh Festival and the BBC Proms with the London Symphony Orchestra for a concert version of Puccini’s Suor Angelica, and a return to both Festival de Lanaudière for Orff’s Carmina Burana and Bayerische Staatsoper to reprise her role in Die Liebe der Danae.

The 2023/2024 season included concert debuts with both the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Toledo Symphony, as well as in both Cadogan and Wigmore Halls as an associate artist of The Mozartists. She finished her two-year residency with Royal Opera House’s Jette Parker Program, appearing on stage at Covent Garden in Bizet’s Carmen (Frasquita), Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’amore (Giannetta), and Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel (Dew Fairy), all to much critical acclaim. To close out her season, she appeared as the High Priestess in Verdi’s Aida under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Orchestre Métropolitain at the Festival de Lanaudière.

Sarah debuted on the stage of Covent Garden as Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), Lucia (The Rape of Lucretia), Der Hirt (Tannhäuser), Voce dal Cielo (Don Carlo), Barbarina (Le nozze di Figaro), and Tusnelda (Arminio). She had the great pleasure of working under the batons of Joana Mallwitz, Bertrand de Billy, Maxim Emelyanychev, and Sebastian Weigle, and the direction of Sir David McVicar, Oliver Mears, and Tim Albery.

Recently praised for her vocal technique and ease on the stage, Sarah’s 2021/2022 season included various concert performances with the l’Atelier lyrique, appearing with Chorus Niagara for Handel’s Messiah, as Anne for Ottawa Choral Society’s performance of Whitbourn’s Annelies, and covering various roles at l’Opéra de Montréal through her resident artist position. Sarah appeared on the mainstage at Place des Arts as Nora in Opéra de Montréal’s season opening production of Vaughn-William’s Riders to the Sea. In June of 2022, Sarah placed second in the Aria Division of the prestigious Concours Musical International de Montréal, garnering praise for her “tremendous dramatic presence,” and “astonishing clarity and vocal dexterity” (Opera Canada).

Founded in 2013 and led by Nicolas Ellis, l’Orchestre de l’Agora (OA) stands out for its resolutely committed artistic vision: using music as a tool for lasting social change while presenting innovative and audacious concerts.

Its musicians, among the most promising young artists in the country, are deeply involved in the orchestra’s social, educational, and environmental initiatives. Together, they form a collective where artistic excellence and social impact reinforce one another.

A Juno Award winner for the album Viola Borealis with violist Marina Thibeault, and an Opus Prize recipient for Musical Event of the Year for the 2022 Gala de la Terre, the OA has consistently combined artistic ambition with collective responsibility. Since its first edition in 2020, the Gala de la Terre has become a major biennial event for the Orchestra, raising more than $500,000 for environmental and humanitarian organizations, while offering an artistic reflection on the major issues of our time.

Over the seasons, the Orchestra has distinguished itself through multidisciplinary productions and bold collaborations: from Jean-Michel Blais to Philippe Brach, from Marie-Nicole Lemieux to Kerson Leong, and with artists such as Charles Richard-Hamelin, Andrew Wan, and Yukari Cousineau. Its close relationship with the Opéra de Montréal has also led to acclaimed projects, including L’Enfant et les sortilèges (Ravel, 2023 and 2025) and L’Incoronazione di Poppea (Monteverdi, 2024).

L’Orchestre de l’Agora is deeply invested in community and healthcare settings through participatory concerts and workshops, performances in care and living environments, and musical mentorship programs.

Between 2013 and 2024, the Orchestra collaborated with Partageons l’Espoir, providing music lessons and mentorship to hundreds of children from underprivileged backgrounds. Since 2024, this program has been taken over by Musique à l’Unisson, with whom we are continuing the collaboration.

Since 2021, the OA has also maintained a unique partnership in Canada with the Montréal Detention Centre (Bordeaux Prison), where its musicians lead monthly concert-workshops for incarcerated individuals, fostering emotional reconnection, well-being, and social reintegration.

The Orchestra also collaborates with Espace Transition and the CHU Sainte-Justine on the design and delivery of the Ateliers de création musicale, an innovative program in which youth facing mental health challenges create a collective musical work alongside the Orchestra’s musicians. This social-innovation initiative highlights the transformative power of music on the well-being, confidence, and sense of belonging of participating youth.

These projects embody our conviction that music can change lives and help build a more just, equitable, and empathetic society.