Academy Chamber Orchestra and les Violons du Roy

Jean-Marie Zeitouni is recognized as one of the brightest conductors of his generation for his eloquent yet fiery style, in repertoires ranging from baroque to contemporary. He studied at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, most notably under Maestro Raffi Armenian, and graduated in conducting, percussion, and music theory. He is currently principal guest conductor of the Colorado Music Festival (where he served as music director from 2014 to 2018) and Artistic Partner of the Edmonton Symphony.

Jean-Marie Zeitouni was also artistic director and principal conductor of I Musici de Montréal (2011-2021), music director of the Columbus Symphony (2010-2015) in Ohio, music director of the Opera as Theatre program at the Banff Centre (2005-2007), and assistant conductor and chorus master of the Opéra de Montréal (and music director of its artist-in-residence program, the Atelier lyrique). He was also chorus master of the Orchestre symphonique de Québec and Opéra de Québec and music director of Université Laval’s opera workshop and symphony orchestra. While with the Violons du Roy, an orchestra with which he enjoyed a fruitful collaboration for a dozen years, he was alternately conductor in residence, assistant conductor and principal guest conductor.

Greatly appreciated as a lyrical director, he recently conducted the Opéra national de Montpellier and Orchestre national de Lorraine of Nancy. He has also conducted numerous productions at the Opéra de Montréal, Opéra de Québec, Glimmerglass Opera, Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse and Opéra national de Lorraine, as well as productions in Banff, Calgary, Edmonton, Cincinnati and St. Louis.

Among the many Canadian symphony orchestras Jean-Marie Zeitouni has conducted are those of Montreal, Toronto, Quebec City, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Halifax, Victoria, Kitchener-Waterloo and London, not to mention the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Arion Baroque Orchestra and Club musical de Québec. No stranger to the international stage, Mr. Zeitouni has conducted the symphony orchestras of Tucson, Houston, Oregon, Monterey, San Antonio, Omaha, Honolulu, Huntsville and Cincinnati, in addition to the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, Pacific Symphony, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonique de Marseille, Xalapa Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony of Mexico, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Arco Ensemble and Detroit Symphony. He is also a regular at the Festival international de Lanaudière, Festival international du Domaine Forget, Elora Festival, Parry Sound Festival and New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival. You may also have seen him at festivals in Round Top, Texas, and Grant Park, Illinois. He recently made his debut in Moscow with the Russian National Orchestra and at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées of Paris.

In 2021-2022, Jean-Marie Zeitouni will conduct at the Victoria Symphony, the Violons du Roy, the Opéra de Québec (Don Giovanni), Opéra de Montréal (La beauté du Monde) and will return at l’Opéra National de Lorraine (Ariane et Barbe-Bleue).

Recently appointed Artistic Director of Arion Baroque Orchestra, Mathieu Lussier has been associated with les Violons du Roy as Conductor-in-residence in 2012, and Associate Conductor from 2014 to 2018, Lussier has led the orchestra in concerts in Quebec, and on tour in greater Canada, the United States, Mexico and Brazil, collaborating with artists such as Marc-André Hamelin, Philippe Jarrousky, Alexandre Tharaud, Jeremy Denk, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Julia Lezhneva, Anthony Marwood and Karina Gauvin. Previous appointments include Artistic Director and Conductor of the Lamèque International Baroque Music Festival, where he served from 2008 to 2014. As a soloist, Mathieu Lussier has energetically and passionately promoted the modern and baroque bassoon as solo instruments for more than two decades throughout North America and Europe. He also devotes considerable time to chamber music as a member of ensemble Pentaèdre de Montréal. Since the summer of 2014, he has been Professor at Université de Montréal. His numerous solo recordings include over a dozen bassoon concertos (Mozart, Vivaldi, Fasch, Graupner, Telemann, and Corrette), a CD of bassoon sonatas by Boismortier, three CDs of music for solo bassoon by François Devienne, and two CDs of wind music by Gossec and Méhul. Mathieu Lussier is also a respected composer, with a catalogue of over 50 titles heard regularly in the concert halls of North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. In 2018, He composed the score for « La chute de l’empire américain » from Oscar winner Denys Arcand. In August 2009, his piece Bassango, in its version for bassoon and string orchestra, won the third prize in the Contemporary Classical Song category at the Just Plain Folks Awards of Nashville, Tennessee. Mathieu Lussier’s music has been recorded on numerous occasions and is broadcast all around the world. “Dos Tropicos,” a wind quintet written in 2001, has been performed over 100 times in Canada, Europe and the United Kingdom. His compositions are published by Trevco Music (USA), Accolade (Germany), June Emerson (UK) and Gérard Billaudot (France).