Festival International du Domaine Forget

Jonathan Cohen has forged a remarkable career as a conductor, cellist and keyboardist. Well known for his passion and commitment to chamber music Jonathan is equally at home in such diverse activities as baroque opera and the classical symphonic repertoire. He is the new Artistic Director of the Handel and Haydn Society, in addition to continuing as Artistic Director of Arcangelo, Music Director of Les Violons du Roy and Artistic Director of Tetbury Festival.

Throughout the 23-24 season, Jonathan continues to have a strong presence on both sides of the Atlantic. In Europe he guest conducts Budapest Festival Orchestra, Kammerorchester Basel, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liege and Hessischer Rundfunk Sinfonieorhcester. In his first season as their new Artistic Director, Jonathan leads the Handel & Haydn Society in Baroque masterpieces including Handel’s Israel in Egypt and Messiah. He conducts further performances of Messiah with San Francisco Symphony whilst projects with Les Violons du Roy include Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and a US tour with Milos Karadaglic.

Jonathan founded Arcangelo in 2010 to create high quality bespoke projects. The ensemble was the first named Baroque Ensemble in Residence at Wigmore Hall, where it enjoys a continuing close association, and has toured to exceptional halls and festivals including Philharmonie Berlin, Vienna Konzerthaus, Barbican Centre, Kölner Philharmonie, Salzburg Festival, MA Festival Bruges, with three appearances at the BBC Proms including the premiere of Handel Theodora (2018) and a televised performance of Bach St Matthew Passion (2021).

Arcangelo’s founding commitment to the recording studio has produced 28 critically lauded albums including Arias for Guadagni and Bach Cantatas with Iestyn Davies (Hyperion; Gramophone Award 2012 and 2017), Mozart Violin Concertos with Vilde Frang (Warner; ECHO Klassik Award 2015) C.P.E. Bach Cello Concertos with Nicolas Altstaedt (Hyperion; BBC Music Magazine Award 2017), Buxtehude Trio Sonatas Op.1 (Alpha Classics; GRAMMY Nominee 2018), Tiranno with Kate Lindsey (Alpha; Sunday Times Records of the Year 2021). Arcangelo’s latest recordings include Sacroprofano with Tim Mead (Alpha; released 2023), Handel Theodora and Buxtehude Opus Posthumous (Alpha; releasing 2024), Handel Chandos Anthems (Alpha; releasing 2025) and a landmark project with Nicolas Altstaedt to make the first survey on period instruments of Boccherini’s Cello Concertos (Alpha).

Recognized for her work in the baroque repertoire, Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin also sings Mahler, Bach, Beethoven, Britten, and the music of the late 20th and 21st centuries with equal success. The prestigious distinctions she has received include the title of “Soloist of the Year” awarded by the Communauté internationale des radios publiques de langue française, first prize in the CBC Radio competition for young performers, and the Virginia Parker Prize and Maggie Teyte Memorial Prize in London. . Her 2021-21 season includes dates with the Orchestre Metropolitain, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, and a recital for the Ladies’ Morning Musical Club of Montreal.

Ms. Gauvin has sung with the world’s greatest symphony orchestras, including the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic and Rotterdam Philharmonic, as well as baroque orchestras such as Les Talens Lyriques, the Venice Baroque Orchestra, Accademia Bizantina, Il Complesso Barocco, the Akademie Für Alte Musik Berlin, the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, and Les Violons du Roy. She has performed under the direction of maestros Semyon Bychkov, Charles Dutoit, Bernard Labadie, Kent Nagano, Sir Roger Norrington, Helmuth Rilling, Christophe Rousset, and Michael Tilson Thomas. In addition, she has sung in recital with pianists Marc-André Hamelin, Angela Hewitt, Michael McMahon, and Roger Vignoles.

Notable opera successes include Vitellia in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées; Vénus in Rameau’s Dardanus with Opéra National de Bordeaux; L’Eternità/Giunone in La Calisto with the Bayerische Staatsoper; the title role in Armide with De Nederlandse Opera; Armida in Handel’s Rinaldo at the Glyndbourne Festival; the title role of Handel’s Alcina with Les Talens Lyriques; and Ariadne in Georg Conradi’s Die Schöne und getreue Ariadne for the Boston Early Music Festival. She performed in Vivaldi’s Tito Manlio in Brussels and at the Barbican in London; Fulvio in Handel’s Ezio in Paris and Vienna; the title role in Giulio Cesare in Paris and Vienna; and the title role in Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans with Andrea Marcon at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. She has also sung Seleuce in Handel’s Tolomeo with Alan Curtis, with whom she recorded Handel operas on ARCHIV/Deutsche Grammophon, Virgin and Naïve labels, among others. Her recorded performances with the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra have earned her two nominations from the Grammy Awards.

On the concert stage, memorable performances include the Princess in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges with the Rotterdam Philharmonic under Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Bach’s St. John Passion and Handel’s Solomon with Les Violons du Roy; Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Debussy’s The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.

Karina Gauvin has an extensive discography – over 30 titles – and she has won numerous awards, including a Chamber Music America Award for Fête Galante, with pianist Marc-André Hamelin, and several Opus Prizes. Other recording projects include a European tour and a recording of Handel’s Ariodante for EMI Virgin Classics; a European tour and a recording of Giulio Cesare for the Naïve House, both with Alan Curtis and Il Complesso Barocco; and Britten’s Les Illuminations with Les Violons du Roy, under the direction of Jean-Marie Zeitouni. In addition, she has completed an album in honor of Anna Maria Strada del Po, with Alexander Weimann and the Arion Ensemble.

It is no wonder that Marie-Nicole Lemieux shines today in the world of singing: the singer like the woman radiates an aura that belongs only to the greatest. Her vocal talents were revealed to the public in 2000 when she won the Queen Fabiola and Lied Prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium.

She then began an international career that has led her to the world’s most famous stages: Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Paris National Opera, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, La Monnaie in Brussels, Staatsoper of Berlin, Munich and Vienna, Opernhaus Zürich, Theater an der Wien, Teatro Real in Madrid, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Salzburg Festival, Glyndebourne Festival, Chorégies d’Orange, Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, Montreal Opera.

Her powerful voice, her superb sense of line and a faultless virtuosity as well as her sense of nuance and drama allows her to triumph in various repertories. The beginning of her career is marked by baroque music (Orphée et Eurydice by Gluck, Giulio Cesare, Ariodante, Orlando Furioso, Salomon, Theodora). The evolution of her voice soon allowed her to take on the French repertoire of the 19thcentury (Les Troyens, Pelléas et Mélisande, Samson et Dalila, Carmen), Rossini (Guillaume Tell, Tancredi, L’Italiana in Algeri) and also Verdi (Mrs. Quickly in Falstaff, Azucena in Il Trovatore, Ulrica in Un Ballo in maschera)

Alongside her stage career, Marie-Nicole Lemieux is invited to sing the great symphonic repertoire with prestigious orchestras (New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Métropolitain, Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Les Violons du Roy, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestra dell’Accademia Santa Cecilia, London Philharmonia, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine) under the baton of renown conductors such as: William Christie, Myung-Whun Chung, Paul Daniel, Charles Dutoit, Ivan Fischer, Mikko Franck, Daniele Gatti, Bernard Haitink, Daniel Harding, Paavo Järvi, Bernard Labadie, Louis Langrée, Kurt Masur, Kent Nagano, John Nelson, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Gianandrea Noseda, Antonio Pappano, Mikhaïl Tatarnikov, Michel Plasson, Michael Schønwandt, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Pinchas Steinberg, Pinchas Zukerman.

Born in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Québec (Canada), Jean-François Lapointe is considered one of the best baritones of his generation. Since his debut on stage in 1983, he has sung on the major European stages (Paris, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Vienna, Zurich, Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Glasgow, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Berlin, Liège, Toulouse…) as well as in America and Japan. Critics have been unanimous in their praise of his rich voice, his fine interpretation, and his acting skills.

Among his favorite parts, the title role in Pelléas et Mélisande, which he has notably performed in Peter Brook’s famous production, appears as a landmark in his career. He has also been heard in this work in Toronto, Bonn under Marc Soustrot’s baton, in Cincinnati, at Grand Théâtre in Bordeaux, in Marseille, at Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, in Toulon, and more recently at la Scala conducted by Georges Prêtre. He has also sung the same part at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with Bernard Haitink conducting. The evolution of his voice has recently led him to make his debut as Golaud in Nantes, Helsinki and Strasbourg to great public acclaim.

Besides his opera career, Jean-François Lapointe regularly appears in concerts, singing melodies as well as oratorios. A renowned interpret of Duparc, Fauré, and Poulenc, he can also be heard in symphonic pieces with the most prestigious orchestras. He has sung Benvenuto Cellini (Fieramosca) conducted by John Nelson and La Chute de la maison Usher by Debussy conducted by Juraj Valcuha with the Orchestre National de France, Béatrice et Bénédict under the baton of Sir Colin Davis, L’Enfance du Christ with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Les Pêcheurs de perles (Zurga) at the Concertgebouw with the Dutch Radio Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Michel Plasson, Les Mamelles de Tirésias (Le Mari) and Fauré’s Requiem with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He recently sang L’Enfant et les Sortilèges by Ravel, L’Enfant prodigue by Debussy, Monsieur Beaucaire by Messager and Fauré’s Requiem with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, L’Enfant prodigue with the Orchestre national de Lorraine, Fauré’s Requiem at the Nice Opera, in Lille, with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo and with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, I Puritani (Riccardo) at the Opéra de Marseille.

Jean-François Lapointe has been artistic director of the Opéra de Québec since 2020 and Knight of the National Order of Quebec.

Silver medalist and laureate of the Krystian Zimerman Prize at the 2015 International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Canadian pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin is standing out today as one of the most important musicians of his generation. In 2014, he also won the second prize at the Montreal International Musical Competition and the third prize at the Seoul International Music Competition in South Korea. Charles is the recipient of the Order of Arts and Letters of Quebec and the prestigious Career Development Award offered by the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto.

He has appeared in various prestigious festivals including La Roque d’Anthéron in France, the Prague Spring Festival, the “Chopin and his Europe” Festival in Warsaw and the Lanaudière Festival in Canada. As a soloist, he has performed with more than fifty ensembles including the main symphony orchestras of Canada (Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Métropolitain, Québec, Edmonton, Calgary…) as well as with the Warsaw Philharmonic, Sinfonia Varsovia, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Korean Symphony Orchestra, OFUNAM (Mexico), les Violons du Roy and I Musici de Montréal. He has played under the baton of renowned conductors such as Kent Nagano, Antoni Wit, Vasily Petrenko, Jacek Kaspszyk, Aziz Shokhakimov, Peter Oundjian, Jacques Lacombe, Fabien Gabel, Carlo Rizzi, Alexander Prior, Giancarlo Guerrero, Christoph Campestrini, Lan Shui and Jean-Marie Zeitouni. Charles Richard-Hamelin is a graduate from McGill University, the Yale School of Music, the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal and has studied with Paul Surdulescu, Sara Laimon, Boris Berman, André Laplante et Jean Saulnier.

His first solo recording, which features late works by Chopin, was released in September 2015 on the Analekta label and received widespread acclaim from critics throughout the world (Diapason, BBC Music Magazine, Le Devoir) as well as a Felix Award (ADISQ). A second album, recorded live at the Palais Montcalm in Quebec City with music by Beethoven, Enescu and Chopin, was released in the fall of 2016 and also had a very positive welcome (Gramophone, La Presse, The WholeNote). The first volume of the complete Beethoven violin sonatas with Andrew Wan was released in the fall of 2018 and his next projects include both Chopin Concertos with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Kent Nagano.