Handel Messiah with NAC Orchestra

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.

Since 2017, Bernard Labadie is principal conductor of Orchestra of St. Luke's in New York, a position he will leave at the end of the current season after eight highly successful years. In particular, he leads the orchestra's annual concert series at Carnegie Hall, often accompanied by the Chapelle de Québec.

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 Mozarteum of Salzburg and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, 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 English Concert, Academy of Ancient Music, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and Handel and Haydn Society (Boston).

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, Cincinnati, and Glimmerglass 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.

Distinguished by a brilliant and crystalline timbre but also knowing how to adorn herself with heady colours according to the scores, the soprano Magali Simard-Galdès possesses a vocal mastery and a natural musicality which allow her to magnify a very wide repertoire ranging from baroque music, which she particularly likes, to contemporary music, for which she has all the precision required.

In opera, she imposes a marked presence and theatrical ease. Her ability to blend into each character allows her to tackle with great success roles as diverse as those of Agnès (Benjamin, Written on skin), Musetta (Puccini, La Bohème), Micaëla (Bizet, Carmen), Tytania (Britten, A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Gilda (Verdi, Rigoletto), Roxane (DiChiera, Cyrano de Bergerac), Constance (Poulenc, Dialogues des carmélites) and Nicette (Hérold, Le pré aux clercs). We have heard her in these works at the Vancouver and Montreal Operas, at Opera Carolina, at Toledo Opera, at Tapestry Opera and at the Wexford Festival Opera, not to mention the Cologne Opera and the Auditorium du Nouveau Siècle in Lille.

In concert, she asserts the same charisma, which has made her the guest, in recent years, of specialized ensembles such as Le Cercle de l'Harmonie, Les Violons du Roy, Arion Orchestre baroque or the Ensemble Caprice. With her considerable projection, she performs just as regularly with symphonic formations such as the WDR Sinfonieorchester, the Orchestre National de Lille, the Orchestre Classique de Montréal, the National Arts Center Orchestra of Ottawa, the Houston Symphony, the Orchestre symphonique de Québec, the Orchestre Métropolitain and the Orchestre du Festival Classica, under the direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jacques Lacombe, Jean-Marie Zeitouni, Bernard Labadie, Jean-François Rivest, Mathieu Lussier, François-Xavier Roth, Jonathan Nott, Jérémie Rhorer or Alexandre Bloch.

Since fall 2022, a committed woman, Magali Simard-Galdès has also made her voice and her words heard as an environmental columnist on ICI Première.

A unique vocal colour and commanding stage presence are the hallmarks of performances by mezzo-soprano Allyson McHardy. Hailed by Joshua Kosman of the San Francisco Chronicle as “a singer of enormous imagination and versatility,” she has appeared with the Paris Opera, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Chicago Symphony, Toronto Symphony, St. Louis Orchestra, Glyndebourne Festival, San Francisco Opera, Boston Symphony, Canadian Opera Company, Les Violons du Roy, Warsaw Philharmonic, and Théâtre capitole du Toulouse. Adam Fischer, Seiji Ozawa, Jeremy Rohrer, Kent Nagano, Emmanuelle Haim, Bernard Labadie, Trevor Pinnock, Ludovic Morlot, Carlos Kalmar, and Johannes Debus are among the conductors with whom she has collaborated for performances of works such as La clemenza di Tito, L'enfant et les sortilèges, Hippolyte et Aricie, Mozart’s C minor Mass, Matthäus Passion, Das Rheingold, The Dream of Gerontius and Messiah. Ms. McHardy is a Prix Opus winner for Opéra de Montréal’s Dead Man Walking and Opéra de Québec’s Der Fliegende Holländer, and she was nominated for a Juno Award for the Canadian Art Song Project’s disc, Summer Night, featuring the music of Healey Willan.

This coming season, Allyson McHardy looks forward to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Handel’s The Resurrection with Opera Atelier, Messiah with Nicholas Kramer for Music of the Baroque in Chicago, and Riders to the Sea in a co-production with BOP and Opéra de Montréal. In 2019–2020 her schedule included performances of Bach cantatas for Music of the Baroque, Messiah with the Florida Orchestra and Newfoundland Symphony, and Flight for Pacific Opera Victoria.

Allyson McHardy’s discography includes the Juno-nominated Summer Night-Healey Willan with the Canadian Art Song Project (Centrediscs). Other CDs include the Juno-nominated Orlando by George Frideric Handel with the Pacific Baroque Orchestra and Alexander Weimann (ATMA), the Juno- and ADISQ-nominated recording of Caldara’s La Conversione di Clodoveo, Re di Francia (ATMA), Bellini’s Norma with the Warsaw Philharmonic (Philharmonia Narodowa), two works by Harry Somers—Serinette and A Midwinter Night’s Dream (Centrediscs)—and Ukrainian art songs by composer Mykola Lysenko in a six-disc collection on the Musica Leopolis label.

Andrew Haji is one of the most sought-after lyric tenors whose effortlessly transcendent voice has been described as “bright yet warm, mellifluous yet ringing, used with grace”. The renowned Canadian lyric tenor is celebrated on concert and operatic stages with his musical rapture and silky clarion vocal prowess.

In 2024-25 season, the Canadian tenor makes his debuts with the Chicago Symphony in Haydn’s Missa in tempore belli with conductor Manfred Honeck, the Cleveland Orchestra in Bach’s Easter Oratorio and Magnificat as well as NDR Radiophilharmonie in Hanover, Germany for Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with conductor Bernard Labadie. He returns to Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke's in Bach's St. John Passion (Evangelist), Les Violons du Roy and Houston Symphony in Handel’s Messiah, and Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society in Haydn’s The Seasons and Beethoven’s Mass in C-Major. Other notable performances this season include Mozart’s Requiem with the Kansas City Symphony, the title role in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito at Pacific Opera Victoria, and Dompierre’s Requiem with the Festival Classica.

Recent orchestral engagement highlights throughout the United States and Canada include Beethoven’s Ninth with Milwaukee Symphony and National Arts Center Orchestra, Evangelist in Bach’s St. John Passion with the Seattle Symphony and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Bach Cantatas with Montreal Symphony and Handel and Haydn Society, Haydn’s The Creation with Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Verdi’s Requiem at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Bruckner’s Te Deum with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and Orff’s Carmina Burana at the Elora Festival. In Europe, Haji has performed with the English Concert and at the Salzburg Festival. He has performed with conductors including Bernard Labadie, Jonathan Cohen, John Butt, Rafael Payare, and Alexander Shelley.

Notable opera successes include Tamino in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata, Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, Rinuccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Ferrando in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème, and Cassio in Verdi’s Otello at Canadian Opera Company, Macduff in Verdi’s Macbeth and Pollione in Bellini’s Norma at Calgary Opera, Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème with Montreal's Orchestre Philharmonique et Choeur des Mélomanes and Edmonton Opera, Jonathan in Handel’s Saul at Edinburgh International Festival, Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore at National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts in Taiwan, Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at National Arts Center in Ottawa, Alfredo in Verdi’s La traviata with the Vancouver Opera, and Alfredo in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus with Saskatoon Opera.

During the 2020-21 season amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, Andrew starred in various digital and streaming productions including Holst’s Sāvitri for Against the Grain Theatre, Rinuccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Mozart’s Requiem both for the Canadian Opera Company, and finally returning to the stage as Count Almaviva in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia with Opéra de Québec.

Haji is an alumnus of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio. He has received awards from the Marilyn Horne Song Competition, the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble and was awarded the Grand Prix at the 50th International Vocal Competition in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, and the Oratorio Prize at the Montreal International Music Competition. Andrew received a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree from the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music where he performed in productions of Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Bernstein’s Candide, and Haydn’s Il mondo della luna, among others. He was invited to participate in young artist programs at the Salzburg Festival Young Singers Project, the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy, the Music Academy of the West and Accademia Europea dell’Opera.

British baritone Dominic Sedgwick was a member of the Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Young Artists Programme 2017–2019 where his roles included Kuligin in a new production of Káťa Kabanová, Novice’s Friend in a new production of Billy Budd, Moralès in a new production of Carmen, and Third Ghost Child in the world premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Coraline.

Recent roles include Melot in a new production of Tristan und Isolde for the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and English Clerk in David McVicar’s new production of Death in Venice for the Royal Opera.

His 2021/22 season sees a return to the Royal Opera House as Marullo in a new production of Rigoletto, his debut at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma as Anthony in the world premiere of Giorgio Battistelli's Julius Caesar, and his debut for the Opéra National de Bordeaux as Belcore in L'elisir d'amore.

Dominic’s recent concert engagements include his debut at the BBC Proms as Pilate in J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion with Arcangelo/Jonathan Cophen, Messiah with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE), and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as a number of concerts with the OAE featuring Bach Cantatas as part of their Bach, the Universe and Everything series at Kings Place.

Dominic studied at Clare College, Cambridge and is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama’s Opera School. He was awarded the Audience Prize in the inaugural 2017 Grange Festival International Singing Competition.

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. The Chemin de Noël was recorded on an ATMA disc released in November 2021.