Handel Messiah with NAC Orchestra

Bernard Labadie, an internationally recognized specialist in 17th-, 18th-, and early 19th-century repertoire, is the founding conductor of Les Violons du Roy. He was the ensemble’s music director from 1984 to 2014 and remains the music director of La Chapelle de Québec, which he founded in 1985.

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.

In 2017, Bernard Labadie was named principal conductor of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in New York. He conducts the orchestra’s annual concert series at Carnegie Hall.

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 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 Academy of Ancient Music, The English Concert, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Handel and Haydn Society, and Ensemble Arion.

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 and Cincinnati 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.

Magali Simard-Galdès is a young Canadian soprano renowned for her shimmering tone, refined musicality, and magnetic stage presence.

Magali has appeared in opera, recital, and with orchestra. Most recently, she appeared with I Musici de Montréal in Vivaldi’s Dixit dominus, RV 807, ECM+ in Gonneville’s Bonhomme de chemin, and Harmonie des saisons in Handel’s Messiah. She also portrayed Agnès in George Benjamin's Written on Skin with Opéra de Montréal, where she previously sung Constance in Dialogues des Carmélites, and Frasquita in Carmen. In past seasons, on the orchestral stage, she has performed with ensembles including Atelier lyrique de Tourcoing in Dubois’s Paradis Perdu, Opéra Grand Avignon in Charpentier’s Pastorale sur la nativité, Orchestre Métropolitain with Yannick Nézet-Séguin in Parsifal at the Festival de Lanaudière, as well as Orchestre Philharmonique du Nouveau Monde, Ensemble Novello, and Orchestre symphonique de l’Estuaire.

In 2019, Magali recorded three new song cycles by Deirdre Gribbin, Ailis Ni Riain, and Fuhong Shi, with the Tionscadal na nAmhrán Ealaíne Gaeilge/Irish Language Art Song Project. On the ATMA Classique label, she can be heard in Berlioz’s 25 Romances for Voice and Guitar and Ana Sokolovic’s Sirens. She also self-produced her first recital album Muses, which made Radio-Canada’s 2017 “50 Albums of the Year” list.

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.

Canadian tenor Andrew Haji is one of the most sought-after voices on both the operatic and concert stages across North America and Europe. Recent highlights include his debut at the Edinburgh International Festival as Jonathan in Handel’s Saul, Beethoven’s Ninth with the Milwaukee Symphony, and a program of Bach Cantatas with l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and Boston’s prestigious Handel + Haydn Society.

Other recent engagements include Mozart’s Requiem for Orchestra St. Luke’s, Les Violons du Roy, and National Arts Centre Orchestra; Handel’s Messiah with the Houston Symphony and the National Arts Centre; La bohème with Edmonton Opera, La traviata with Calgary Opera; Beethoven’s Ninth with the Victoria Symphony; Bach’s B Minor Mass with the Elora Festival.

Andrew’s 20/21 season pivoted due to the COVID-19 pandemic and saw him star in various digital and streaming productions. This included starring as Satyavan in Against the Grain’s acclaimed production of Holst’s Sāvitri. Haji also performed as the tenor soloist in the digital Mozart’s Requiem for the Canadian Opera Company, and appeared as Rinuccio in the company’s streamed production of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi. When live performances returned, he took to the stage for Opéra de Québec’s Barber of Seville, reprising the role of Count Almaviva.

Haji’s 2019/20 season began with Alfredo in La traviata for Vancouver Opera, followed by Messiah for the Edmonton Symphony, Pollione in Norma for Calgary Opera, Rossini’s Stabat Mater with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 for the Victoria Symphony. Appearances during the 2018/2019 season included Rodolfo in La bohème and Cassio in Otello for the Canadian Opera Company (COC), Bach’s Mass in B minor for the Amadeus Choir and Alfredo in Die Fledermaus for Saskatoon 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.