Bourgie Hall presents

French Romance

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of two great French composers, Gabriel Fauré and Théodore Dubois, the remarkable soprano Florie Valiquette and brilliant pianist David Jalbert share the stage with Nicolas Ellis to present all the nuances of a rich and seductive repertoire.

Artists
Les Violons du Roy
Nicolas Ellis, conductor
Florie Valiquette, soprano

“Soprano imaginative and committed with ravishing treble” – La Libre Belgique, Florie Valiquette is a young Canadian opera singer on the rise.

She will open the season 2023-2024 taking part in two new productions at the Opéra royal de Versailles: Giulietta & Romeo (Matilde) amongst Franco Fagioli and Adèle Charvet, Gilles Rico staging and Stefan Plewniak conducting, followed by Don Giovanni (Donna Anna) under Maestro Gaétan Jarry and a mise en scène by Marshall Pynkoski. She will reprise the role of Gabrielle (La Vie Parisienne) at the Opéra de Montpellier and will sing Gloire, Sidonie & Lucinde in Lully’s Armide at the Opéra comique de Paris. During spring 2024, Florie will return at the Opéra royal de Versailles for her debut as Konstanze in a french version of Mozart’s Abduction of the Seraglio with Michel Fau and Maestro Gaétan Jarry. In this season concert engagements, Florie will sing with orchestras such as the Paris Mozart Orchestra for the C Minor Mass, with le Concert de la Loge in the role of Blondchen (Die Entführung aux dem Serail) at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, with Les Violons du Roy (Fauré’s La Bonne Chanson), Ensemble Arion (Mozart’s Requiem) and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse (Franck’s 7 dernières paroles du Christ).

This past season, Florie sang Sidonie, Mélisse & Bergère in a new production of Gluck’s Armide at the Opéra Comique de Paris staged by Lilo Baur and under the baton of Christophe Rousset. She returned to the Opéra Royal de Versailles in the role of Pamina in a french version of Die Zauberflöte with Hervé Niquet conducting. Still on the opera scene, Florie made a remarquable debut during summer 2023 at the Glyndebourne Festival and the BBC Proms singing the role of Soeur Constance (Dialogues des Carmélites) in a new production signed by Barrie Kosky and Robin Tacciati conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra. We also heard Florie on many occasions on the concert scene; notably with Le Concert de la Loge for the program In Furore, at the Opéra de Rouen for Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream (1rst Elf), in Poland with Ensemble Capella Cracoviensis for a concert version of Mozart’s Lucio Silla (Giunia), in “Splendeurs Mozartiennes” with Orchestre de l’Opéra de Tours and in Mademoiselle Duval’s Les Génies in Versailles. She sang the role of Frasquita in a concert version of Carmen, amongst Joyce Didonato and Michael Spyres at the Philharmonie de Strasbourg and at the Royal Albert Hall in London under Maestro John Nelson.

During the season 2021-2022, she made her debut as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Grand Théâtre du Luxembourg under Maestro Jérémie Rhorer and at the Opéra Royal de Versailles under Maestro Gaetan Jarry. She was Gabrielle in a new production of La Vie Parisienne staged by Christian Lacroix and conducted by Romain Dumas. She also sang Sophie in Werther the Opéra National de Bordeaux under Pierre Dumoussaud, Zerlina (Don Giovanni) at the Opéra de Québec and appeared in the show Mozart, A particular journey with Laurence Equilbey and Insula Orchestra at the Seine Musicale in Paris

David Jalbert, piano

A virtuoso with a warm, elegant style and a wide-ranging repertoire, pianist David Jalbert has established himself among the elite of his generation of classical musicians: “Jalbert’s piano playing is remarkable for its sweep, confidence, sensitivity, power and colour, what more can we ask?” (Fanfare). Named by the CBC among the 15 best Canadian pianists of all time, Mr. Jalbert performs regularly as a soloist and recitalist in Canada and across the globe.

His solo recordings – of the Goldberg Variations, the Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues, of American, French and Russian piano music – have all garnered international praise in venues ranging from Gramophone to France-Culture. An accomplished chamber musician, he has collaborated with artists such as Nicola Benedetti, Joel Quarrington, Wonny Song and Yegor Dyachkov and is a member of Triple Forte (along with violinist Jasper Wood and cellist Denise Djokic). As a soloist, he has also performed with major orchestras and conductors Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Skitch Henderson, Christoph Campestrini, Bramwell Tovey and many more. A national and international prize-winner, David Jalbert has won six Opus Awards, was nominated four times for “Classical Album of the Year” at the Juno Awards and was the 2007 laureate of the prestigious Virginia Parker Prize of the Canada Council for the Arts. He holds degrees from the Juilliard School, the Glenn Gould School, Université de Montréal and Conservatoire de Musique du Québec, and is now a Professor of Piano and the Head of the Piano Sector at the University of Ottawa, as well as a faculty member at the Orford Music Academy.

Program
T. DUBOIS Suite for Piano and Strings in F minor
FAURÉ La Bonne Chanson, op. 61
RAVEL String Quartet in F major (version for string orchestra)

Friday, January 19, 2024 at 7:30pm
To purchase your tickets visit: www.mbam.qc.ca/en/bourgie-hall/