Bourgie Hall presents

Suzie LeBlanc: From the Court of Louis XIV to Shippagan!

Traditional Acadian songs and 17th-century French court songs

Their style is reminiscent of Renaissance and Baroque music: these songs from Shippagan are paired with airs de cour (French court songs) and Baroque instrumental works from France arranged for the first time for period instruments.

Artists
Suzie LeBlanc, soprano

Suzie LeBlanc is a world-renowned interdisciplinary artist. Curious, nuanced and passionate, she sings and conducts to discover and share the beauty and emotional charge of music. Known for her interpretation of baroque, classical, contemporary, and Acadian works, she is acclaimed for her eclectic and original projects.

The charismatic soprano sang in the choirs of her native Acadia and discovered her passion for early music while attending a concert of the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal in 1976. When she performed at the Wigmore Hall in 1985 with the New World Consort (Vancouver), a music critic from The Listener wrote: “I must listen to more early music especially when this lady is singing it.” She replaced soprano Emma Kirkby in the vocal ensemble The Consort of Musicke in 1987/88. After a concert with the Consort in Jerusalem, the title of the review read “A star is born” and Suzie’s international career was launched.” She lived in Europe for 12 years and worked with ensembles such as Tragicomedia, Musica Secreta, The Purcell Quartet, Fretwork and The Hilliard Ensemble.

She returned to Canada in the year 2000 singing the role of Poppea in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea with L’Opéra de Montréal, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Seguin. Suzie and Yannick then recorded a disc of Mozart lieder for ATMA Classique.

Over the years, Suzie has collaborated with several ensembles in Europe and North America and produced her own projects. A return to her Acadian roots gave birth to recordings La Mer Jolie (2004), Tout Passe (2007) and La Veillée de Noël (2014). She is interested in women’s music, particularly sacred music in the convents of the 17th century. In 2019, she directed the Studio de Musique Ancienne in a programme entitled L’Italie baroque au féminin. She will direct this ensemble again in 2022 in a programme centered around Christina of Sweden also known as the Girl King.

Appointed to the Order of Canada in 2015, Suzie has earned four honorary doctorates for her contribution to early music and Acadian culture. She is on the voice faculty at McGill University where she directs the early music vocal ensemble Cappella Antica. Artistic director of Le Nouvel Opéra, she is also the patron of the Elizabeth Bishop Society in Nova-Scotia.

Vincent Lauzer, flutes

Révélation Radio-Canada 2013-2014 and Breakthrough Artist of the Year (2012 Opus Awards), recorder player Vincent Lauzer graduated from McGill University where he studied with Matthias Maute. He is the artistic director of the Lamèque International Baroque Music Festival in New-Brunswick. In October 2018, his most recent recording of Vivaldi’s concertos with Arion Baroque Orchestra was awarded a Diapason d’Or by the famous French magazine Diapason.

Vincent  is a member of Flûte Alors! and Les Songes, two ensembles with whom he has toured Eastern Canada with Jeunesses Musicales Canada. Vincent regularly performs as a soloist with Arion Baroque Orchestra, La Bande Montréal Baroque, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, and Les Violons du Roy. He has played in various series and festivals in Canada and in the United States as well as in Mexico, France, Germany, Spain and Belgium.

Vincent teaches at the Université du Québec à Montréal, at CAMMAC music camp, for the Montreal Recorder Society, for the Toronto Early Music Players Organization and at Université de Montréal’s École des jeunes.

Marie Nadeau-Tremblay, Baroque violin

During the final session of her undergraduate degree in violin performance at McGill University, Marie Nadeau- Tremblay decided to try her hand at the Baroque. She joined the university’s Baroque orchestra and fell head over heels in love! Transported by the beauty of this music— and finding resonance with its mode of expression— she decided to plunge headfirst into the Baroque world. After obtaining a Licentiate Degree, she pursued further studies under the tutelage of Hank Knox, Lena Weman, and Olivier Brault, receiving a Master’s Degree in Early Music Performance. After being awarded numerous prizes and scholarships at McGill — including the prestigious Mary McLaughlin prize, which she won four years in a row — Marie Nadeau-Tremblay received an Early Music America grant in 2017. More recently, in 2019, she swept the honor roll of the Concours de musique ancienne Mathieu Duguay with an unprecedented four awards: First Prize, the People’s Choice Award, the Festival Montréal Baroque Prize, and the Été musical de Barachois Prize.

Sylvain Bergeron, theorbo and Baroque guitar

Considered “a supremely refined, elegant and cerebral musician” (Ottawa Citizen), Sylvain Bergeron is a master of the lute and family of plucked instruments, including the theorbo, archiluth and baroque guitar. He is in great demand on the North American music scene as a soloist and continuist. He is one of the pioneers of early music in Canada and has helped establish the lute as a viable instrument at the highest level of professionalism. His work has confirmed the importance of plucked instruments and helped validate their place in Baroque ensembles and orchestras in Canada. He has taught lute at McGill University and the Université de Montréal since 1992.

Program
Traditional Acadian songs and 17th-century French court songs

Sunday, March 13, 2022 at 2:30pm
To purchase your tickets visit: visit: www.mbam.qc.ca/en/bourgie-hall/