Sur le chemin du rêve

Music Director of l’Orchestre Symphonique du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, British-American conductor Johann Stuckenbruck is a rising star on the podium known for his technical excellence, versatility, and musical vision. 

With his nomination as Music Director of l’Orchestre Symphonique du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean (OSSLSJ), Johann Stuckenbruck will begin his tenure in the 2025-26 season as the third Music Director in the orchestra’s history. Among his engagements with OSSLSJ, Johann will make guest appearances this coming season at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège, the Opéra National de Paris, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the Siletz Bay Music Festival, and the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra.

Previous seasons in the opera house have included multiple appearances at Glyndebourne. In the 2021-22 Season, Johann Stuckenbruck conducted the world premiere of Glyndebourne’s award-winning commission Pay the Piper and conducted Don Pasquale on the Glyndebourne tour. He has also assisted Glyndebourne music director Robin Ticciati on festival productions of Kát’a Kabanová and The Wreckers, including the subsequent performance at the BBC Proms. Johann Stuckenbruck has also worked at Opéra National de Paris, Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège, Opera North, Opera de Tenerife, the Royal Academy of Music, and gave a critically acclaimed performance of Kurt Weill’s rare opera The Tsar Has His Photograph Taken at the Bloomsbury Theatre.

In the concert hall, Johann Stuckenbruck has appeared regularly with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the San Diego Symphony, and the Romanian Radio Chamber Orchestra. Johann Stuckenbruck has also conducted the Orchestre National de Bretagne, the Hallé, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Conservatori Superior de Música de les Illes Balears, the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, Salomon Orchestra, Covent Garden Chamber Orchestra, the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre Victor Hugo Franche-Comté.

Johann Stuckenbruck has given numerous world premieres, including operas by Lewis Murphy, Joana Lee, Cecilia Livingston, Anna Appleby, Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade, and Ailie Robertson, and has collaborated on symphonic works with Ian Cusson, Ana Sokolovic, Maxime Goulet, Julien Bilodeau, Carlos Simon, Nancy Ives, and Samy Moussa.

Johann Stuckenbruck graduated with distinction in Orchestral Conducting from the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with Sian Edwards and participated in masterclasses with visiting conductors Martyn Brabbins and Mark Stringer. Abroad, he received mentorship from Daniele Gatti, Marin Alsop, Giancarlo Guerrero, Arvo Volmer, and Neil Thompson. Upon graduation, Johann Stuckenbruck went on to assist Sir Mark Elder, Rafael Payare, Robin Ticciati, Speranza Scappucci, and Bernard Labadie in both opera and concert. In 2023, Johann Stuckenbruck was conferred with an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) for his significant contributions to the musical landscape.

Acclaimed for her luminous tone, her refined musicianship and her remarkable stage presence, French Quebec soprano Hélène Guilmette has been leading a great international career since she won Second Prize at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition of Belgium in 2004. Holding a degree in musical education and piano from Laval University in Quebec, she did her vocal training with Marlena Malas in New York.

Over the years, she has been heard in the roles of Sœur Constance (Dialogues des Carmélites) in Munich, Bologna, Nice and at the Toronto’s COC, besides taking on the role of Blanche in Lyon and in Bologna, Princesse Laoula (L’Étoile by Chabrier) at Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam and at the London Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) in Brussels, Musetta (La Bohème) at the Quebec Opera, Servilia (La clemenza di Tito) and Zerlina (Don Giovanni) at the Montreal Opera, Pedro (Don Quichotte by Massenet) at the New-National Theater of Tokyo and in Avignon, Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande) in concert with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and at the Lyon Opera, Thérèse (Les Mamelles de Tirésias) in Lyon, at the Opéra Comique and in concert with the BBC Symphony orchestra, Amour (Orphée et Eurydice by Gluck) at the Paris National Opera and then Eurydice at the Angers-Nantes Opéra, at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, in Lausanne and at the Opéra Comique, Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro) in Lille, Montreal, Montpellier, Angers-Nantes and at the Paris Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Sophie (Werther) in Brussels, Strasbourg, Lille and at the Paris National Opera, Nadia (Die lustige Witwe) and Hélène (Le Timbre d’argent) at the Opéra Comique, Oriane (Amadis de Gaule) at the Opéra Royal de Versailles and at the Opéra Comique, Andromède (Persée by Lully) in Metz, Versailles and at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Hébé, Phani and Fatime (Les Indes galantes by Rameau) and Télaïre (Castor et Pollux) in Toulouse, Frasquita (Carmen) at the Chorégies d’Orange and in Avignon, Leila (Les Pêcheurs de perles) in Limoges and Reims, Alphise (Les Boréades by Rameau) in Dijon, title role in Cendrillon in Nancy, Clairette (La fille de madame Angot) at the Opéra Comique, the Opéra de Nice and the Opéra Grand Avignon.

Hélène Guilmette also sang in recital and in concert at the Palace for Fine Arts in Brussels, the Concertgebow in Amsterdam, the Teatro Colòn in Buenos Aires, the Schwarzenberg’s Schubertiade, the Istanbul Festival, the Auditorium Parco della musica in Rome, the London Barbican Center, the Sydney’s City Recital Hall, the Carnegie Hall in New-York, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, in works including Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with Andreas Scholl, Poulenc’s La Voix humaine, Gloria and Stabat Mater, Mozart’s Requiem and Great Mass in C minor, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Schöpfung, Fauré’s Requiem, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4.

She has sung under the baton of Alain Altinoglu, Sylvain Cambreling, Marcus Creed, Paul Daniel, Ottavio Dantone, Stéphane Denève, Richard Egarr, Sir Mark Elder, Patrick Fournillier, Fabien Gabel, Paul Goodwin, Emmanuelle Haïm, Sigiswald Kuijken, Bernard Labadie, Jacques Lacombe, Ludovic Morlot, Kent Nagano, Kazushi Ono, Raphaël Pichon, Giuseppe Pietraroia, Michel Plasson, Jérémie Rhorer, François-Xavier Roth, Christophe Rousset, Andreas Scholl, Masaaki Suzuki, Marcello Viotti, and has collaborated with several renowned stage directors, such as Aurélien Bory, Robert Carsen, Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser, Mariame Clément, Piero Faggioni, Christophe Honoré, Benoît Jacquot, Guy Joosten, Macha Makeïeff, Jacques Leblanc, Laurent Pelly, Bernard Pisani, Olivier Py, Laura Scozzi, Jean-François Sivadier, Guillaume Vincent or Dmitry Tcherniakov.

Her discography includes Airs chantés, French songs by Poulenc, Hahn and Daunais on Ambroisie Label, Il Duello Amoroso (Handel) alongside Andreas Scholl and the Accademia Bizantina and Dixit Dominus / Ode for the anniversary of Queen Anne (Handel) with the Akademie Für Alte Musik Berlin on Harmonia Mundi, Poulenc’s songs on ATMA, Les Amants trahis (Rameau) and L’Heure rose, French songs by women composers both on Analekta Label, L’Aiglon (Thérèse) by Honneger and Ibert with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Kent Nagano on Decca label and Reynaldo Hahn’s L’Ile inconnue by Palazzetto Bru Zane Editions. We can also see her on DVD in Dialogues des Carmélites (Soeur Constance) in Dmitry Tcherniakov’s production on Bel-Air media and Les Boréades on Erato.

Bringing his musical expertise and creativity to every field in which he engages, Canadian harpist Antoine Malette-Chénier plays a repertoire ranging from the Renaissance and the Baroque, on period instruments, to contemporary creations. An active orchestral musician, he holds the Principal Harp chair with the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières, and has played with many ensembles in Canada, France, and the United States, including the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Les Violons du Roy, the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, and Les Voix humaines.

Antoine Malette-Chénier has won many awards, including the 2014 Michael Measures prize from the Canada Council for the Arts, a first prize at the 2013 Orchestre symphonique de Montréal Competition, and two scholarships from the National Arts Centre Orchestra. As the winner of top prizes in several concerto competitions, he was awarded soloist appearances with orchestras in Canada, Hungary, France, and the United States. He was a guest artist at the 2007 Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, and at the 11th World Harp Congress in 2011, in Vancouver. He received the prize for the best interpretation of a work in any style at the Prix d’Europe Competition in Montréal in 2012, as well as the Second Prize, and the Jury’s Prize in 2017.

Antoine Malette-Chénier, a graduate of McGill University and the Université de Montréal, holds master’s degrees in harp performance from Yale University, and in historical harp performance from the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Lyon.