The year 1685 was remarkable with the birth of these two giants of music, both in Germany—Bach in Eisenach and Handel in Halle. Bach was a third choice, after Telemann and Graupner, when hired in Leipzig, revealing his employers’ lack of recognition of his genius; however, he would forever earn the admiration of other composers. Handel, in contrast, achieved immense fame in his adopted country, England, enjoying absolute and uninterrupted success with his masterpiece, The Messiah.

We bring these two illustrious musicians side by side in arias, drawn from sacred cantatas for Bach and operas for Handel, thus reflecting the two worlds in which they practiced their art.

Ensemble Mirabilia

Myriam Leblanc soprano

Grégoire Jeay flute

Olivier Brault violin

Andrea Stewart cello

Christophe Gauthier organ

Details

• The size of the church allows social distancing
• No tickets required

BIOGRAPHIES

The young coloratura soprano Myriam Leblanc is the recipient of several prizes: first prize and Audience Choice Award at the Trois-Rivières Symphony Orchestra Competition, Young Lyric Ambassador 2014 (Québec Bavaria prize), winner of an Audience Choice Award in the Center Stage competition of the Canadian Opera Company, third prize in the Auditions Nouvelles Découvertes competition of the Ottawa Choral Society, winner of the excellence grant awarded annually by the Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal and the first prize at the Mathieu Duguay Early Music Competition at the Lamèque International Baroque Music Festival in 2017. Myriam Leblanc is a versatile artist who works as much in the classical world as in the bel canto, as in the baroque. She is recognized for her timbre of great purity, for her supple and warm voice and her great mastery in both technical and musical expressiveness.

She has shone in the roles of Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto (Opéra de Montréal), Micaëla in Carmen by Bizet (Opéra de Québec), Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (Opera in Saskatoon), Milica in Svadba by Sokolovic (Opéra de Montréal) , Fille-Fleur in Parsifal by Wagner (Orchester Métropolitain), the High Priestess in Aïda by Puccini (Opera de Montréal) and Juliette in Roméo et Juliette by Gounod (Jeunesses Musicales du Canada). She also specializes in oratorios, concerts: Christmas Oratorio by Bach (Ensemble Caprice), Dixit Dominus by Vivaldi (I Musici), the Magnificat by Bach (Les Violons du Roy), Symphony No. 2 “Lobgesang” by Mendelssohn (Orchestre Métropolitain), several cantatas by Bach including Ich habe genug and several other works.

Formerly a member of the Atelier lyrique of Montreal Opera, Myriam Leblanc has been a guest soloist of prestigious: Montreal Symphonic Orchestra, Trois-Rivières Symphonic Orchestra, Québec Symphonic Orchestra, Saskatoon Symphonic Orchestra and Metropolitain Orchestra.

Her future projects include a Mozart Requiem with Les Violons du Roy, Handel’s Messiah with Le Festival Classica (tour), a recital of Medtner’s music with Charles-Richard Hamelin and several concerts with groups such as Early Music Vancouver, La Nef, the Mirabilia Ensemble and the Symphonia Nova Scotia.

Grégoire Jeay

Baroque flute specialist Grégoire Jeay performs regularly throughout Quebec and Canada, France, Belgium, Mexico, Turkey, England, and the United States. He is recognized for his musicality and expressiveness, and for his sense of ornamentation and improvisation. He also brings his virtuosity on the transverse flute to the recorder and to flutes from various other cultures. He performs and records regularly with internationally renowned musicians and conductors, including Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Clavecin en concert, La Nef, Theatre of Early Music, L’Harmonie des saisons, Les Voix humaines, Myriam Leblanc, Karina Gauvin, Suzie Leblanc, Emma Kirkby, Marie-Josée Lord, Hélène Guilmette, Daniel Taylor, Luc Beauséjour, Sylvain Bergeron, and many others.

In addition to his regular activities as a flutist, Grégoire Jeay composes and arranges for various ensembles such as Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra; he also produces music for European and Chinese circuses.

Olivier Brault

Olivier Brault has enjoyed an international career for more than thirty years. Baroque violin teacher at McGill University, he is the director of Sonate 1704 (Québec) and of the ensemble Les Goûts Réunis (Luxembourg), principal violin with the Four Nations Ensemble (New York) and Les Boréades de Montréal and has been concertmaster of Apollo’s Fire Baroque Orchestra (Cleveland) from 2011 to 2018. He can be heard on more than seventy recordings. In 2007, he completed a doctorate at the Université de Montréal on French music for violin and figured bass, an expertise that leads him to be invited to give lectures and masterclasses in prestigious institutions such as the Conservatoire royal de musique de Bruxelles and the Conservatoire de musique et de danse de Paris. In 2011, he was awarded the medal of the Assemblée Nationale du Québec. In 2016, an article from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation placed him among the ten Canadian violinists that must be known.

Canadian cellist and gambist Andrea Stewart is a versatile musician and artistic instigator whose explorations span from historical performance to the sounds and techniques of contemporary music. As a performer of historical and modern instruments, she is equally at home playing with electronics as she is playing basso continuo. Various solo recitals and ensemble collaborations have brought Andrea to venues across North America, Europe, and Asia.

Andrea is a founding member and the Associate Director of chamber ensemble collectif9, with whom she has created and performed in numerous creative projects and initiated the commissioning of new music. collectif9’s innovative programmes and educational productions have been toured worldwide. As a member of the early music ensemble Infusion Baroque, Andrea has performed across North America presenting the ensemble’s interactive and engaging programming, and has recorded several albums. The ensemble is dedicated to championing the music of historical women composers and performers with their multi-year project, Virtuosa. Andrea regularly gives workshops and masterclasses in chamber music and solo repertoire. Since 2023, she has been co-director of the chamber music course run by collectif9 at the Orford Music Academy. She is a member of Arion Baroque Orchestra and is regularly invited to perform with ensembles such as Space Time Continuo, Les Violons du Roy, Innovations en concert, Ensemble Caprice, and Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal. In June and July 2024, Andrea will be in residence at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris to work on a new artistic collaboration.

Andrea holds the degrees of Doctor of Music and Master of Music from McGill University. Her doctoral research was devoted to the expansion of cello technique in relation to works in the contemporary repertoire. In the domain of early music, she explores 18th century music for cello and viola da gamba from a multi-instrumentalist point of view.

Andrea performs on the 1824 McConnell Nicolaus Gagliano II cello, on loan from the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank.

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