La chambre de Vivaldi

Noëlla Bouchard joined Les Violons du Roy in 1995. Since then, she has played in several hundred concerts, some 30 international tours, and numerous recordings with this chamber orchestra in residence at Palais Montcalm – Maison de la musique in Quebec City.

Noëlla Bouchard began learning the violin at the age of five with Lucille Johnstone and continued her studies at Conservatoire de musique de Montréal from 1982 to 1992 in classes taught by Johanne Arel, Raymond Dessaints, Robert Verebes, Denis Brott, and Raffi Armenian. She earned her first award there in 1992. From 1992 to 1995 she continued to hone her skills with Moshe Hammer in Toronto. In 1994 she was a finalist at the International Stepping Stone Canadian Music Competition in Vancouver.  She has participated in a number of workshops at Domaine Forget, Camp musical des Laurentides, and Orford Musique.

In recent years, Noëlla Bouchard has been invited to Concerts du Bic (2016) and the Music and Beyond Festival in Ottawa (2018) and has played on a recording of André Mathieu’s chamber music with pianist Jean-Michel Dubé (2019).

Véronique Vychytil began to take violin lessons at the age of 4 with her father, Vaclav Vychytil. After graduating from the University of Montréal where she was a student of Jean-François Rivest, she went on to study with Kathleen Winkler at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara.

With the support of a scholarship from Le Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec, Véronique Vychytil worked with various teachers in Germany, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. She was also a member of the Jeunesses Musicales world orchestra, performing in several European countries.

Véronique Vychytil won First Prize and the Janácek Prize at the Czech and Slovakian music competition in Montréal, and was invited to attend the Brno academy of music in the fall of 1998. She has won prizes in several national competitions, including the Canadian music competition.

Since July 2000, Véronique Vychytil has been a member of the chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy. She has also performed as a chamber musician in festivals around Québec.

Canadian violist Isaac Chalk has received a rich musical training. In addition to his education as an instrumentalist, Mr. Chalk also worked extensively as a choral singer and attended the Maîtrise des Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal in his earlier years. Mr. Chalk is a graduate of McGill University, where he was a recipient of many awards, including the Lloyd Carr-Harris String Scholarship and the prestigious Golden Violin Award, the largest privately funded music scholarship in Canada.

In February 2011, Mr. Chalk had his Koerner Hall debut performing Béla Bartók’s Viola Concerto with the Royal Conservatory Orchestra conducted by Julian Kuerti. Other recent highlights include a tribute concert for the late Italian double bassist and composer Stefano Scodanibbio, in the Solitär of the Mozarteum in Salzburg. In June 2013, he was named principal viola of Les Violons du Roy and since then has performed with the orchestra in their regular series in Quebec City and Montreal as well as at the Lanaudière Festival and on a tour in Europe. Mr. Chalk has been generously supported by the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation and the Canada Council for the Arts.

Raphaël Dubé is no stranger to the concert stage— as an orchestra member, chamber musician, or soloist. As a member of the Les Violons du Roy since 2008, he brings the same intensity to the repertoire of all periods and partakes in a wide variety of musical activities. He has been repeatedly hailed by critics and appeared several times as a soloist with Les Violons du Roy, the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and Montreal Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra. He has twice appeared at New York’s Carnegie Hall as a member of the Amity Players Piano Quartet and has released a recording of Brahms’ piano quartets with that ensemble. He can also be heard with harpist Valérie Milot in a chamber music recording on the Analekta label. Recently he appeared as a chamber musician at festivals in Bic and Sackville.

Raphaël Dubé knew from the first that he was destined to be a musician. His main instructors were Monique and Walter Joachim, Carole Sirois, and Timothy Eddy. Before joining Les Violons du Roy, he spent the 2007–2008 season with the New World Symphony.

Raphaël Dubé plays a cello made by Giovanni Grancino c. 1695–1700, generously provided by Canimex Inc. of Drummondville, Quebec.

Raphaël McNabney was born into a family of musicians in Montréal in 1982, but only began to play the double bass at the age of 19, after studying the cello between the ages of 7 and 14 with Monique and Walter Joachim and Denis Brott.

After this five-year break, a decisive meeting with Joël Quarrington rekindled his interest in music, this time as a double bass player. He quickly began a career as a chamber musician and soloist, and in June 2007 was appointed as principal bass with Les Violons du Roy.

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.