Par une nuit de chevaux volants

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. He was recently named principal guest conductor of Les Violons du Roy.

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.

Hailed for her generous stage presence and expressive voice, Montreal-born soprano Andréanne Brisson Paquin is equally devoted to several different musical genres, singing baroque, classical, operatic and even contemporary repertoire with the same commitment, rigour, and excitement.

Andréanne has sung with many of the great chamber music and baroque ensembles, including montreal based I Musici, Pallade Musica, Arion, Ensemble Caprice, Voix humaines and also Musica Angelica (Los Angeles), Musica and Rhenum (Amsterdam), Ensemble Masques (Paris), Ensemble Odyssee (Amsterdam), with whom she recorded a debut recording (Serenate Napoletane, PanClassic) She was heard at Festival de Lanaudière, Lufthansa Baroque Festival, Berliner Tage für Alte Musik, Festival de musique baroque de Pontoise, Festival Classica, Montréal Baroque, Festival Bach and Festival Classica. She has worked with conductors and instrumentalists such as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jory Vinikour, Jed Wentz, Jean-Marie Zeitouni, Lorenzo Coppola, Martin Haselbock, Nicolas Ellis, and performed with Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Métropolitain de Montreal, Grand Ballets de Montreal Orchestra and Orchestre de l'Agora.

A fine recitalist, Andréanne's sensitivity shines in the intimacy of chamber music repertoire. She has given many recitals, and has won national and international prizes in collaboration with pianists Michel-Alexandre Broekaert, Matthieu Fortin, and Francis Perron. These awards include the Audience Prize award at Mary Trueman Art Song Competition in New York, Guy-Soucie Excellence Award, 2nd Prize at Concours International de Musique de Chambre de Lyon, 2nd Prize at Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition for Canadian and Contemporary Music, and 2nd Prize and Duo Prize at the New York Joy in Singing Competition. She was also a finalist at the prestigious Montréal International Musical Competition 2012, where she performed with Montreal Symphony Orchestra.

In 2013, Andréanne founded Rendez-vous Baroque Français, a group of musicians that specializes in French baroque music from the 17th and 18th centuries. She also recently performed the title role in the French opera Lakmé and the role of Mélisande in Projet Pelléas, two productions created by Montréal’s collective 1 Opera/ 1 Heure.

Andréanne completed her vocal studies at Université de Montréal before pursuing a Masters degree in the Netherlands at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, graduating in October 2010.