Event details
- Sunday | 18 February 2024
- 11:00
- Entrepot Concert Hall - 2901, Boul. St-Joseph, Lachine H8S 4B7
- $5 | Free for kids 12 and under
This concert features standout singers from the 2023 Lachine International Vocal Academy.
- Natacha Demers, Coloratura soprano (Conservatoire de musique de Montréal)
- Hubert Paré, baritone (McGill University)
- Evan Krieger, pianist (McGill University)
- Michel-Alexandre Broekaert, pianist
Access
Arrive at 10h30
About the Lachine International Vocal Academy
Every summer, the Academy welcomes 18 young singers and 4 accompanying pianists who work intensively with seven world-class teachers from Canada, France, Austria and Sweden and beyond. Through individual and group lessons and workshops, young musicians work on mastering the demanding crafts of the vocal artist and the collaborative pianist.
Donations
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Biographies
Natacha Demers, coloratura soprano
Natacha Demers is a Canadian coloratura soprano who stands out for her brilliant high notes, her charismatic stage presence, and her versatility, with a voice that blossoms in many styles. She made her professional stage debut with the Opéra Bouffe du Québec as Mastrilla/Ninetta (La Périchole, Offenbach) and also performed roles including Olympia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Offenbach), Tytania (Midsummer Night’s Dream, Britten), Belinda (Dido and Aeneas, Purcell), and Madam Herz (Der Schauspieldirektor, Mozart). In Concert, she was soloist in the creation of Les tableaux symphoniques du temps des Fêtes (Tremblay) with the Gatineau Symphony Orchestra, and of the Requiem pour Empédocle (Ackerman) at the Maison Symphonique. Natacha is pursuing her Master’s degree at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal.
Hubert Paré, baritone
Hubert Paré (22) is a French-Canadian baritone from Montréal. He studied with soprano Marie Danielle Parent for 2 years at Cégep Vincent-d’Indy and is now studying with Dominique Labelle at McGill University. He has worked with many vocal coaches such as Olivier Godin, Esther Gonthier and Michael McMahon. In 2019, he performed as soloist in Bach’s Magnificat and has performed in a series entitled Préludes with the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal. He has participated in masterclasses with mezzo-soprano Michèle Losier (2019), soprano Karina Gauvin (2020) and with baritone Johannes Held (2021). He participated in the 2023 edition of the Lachine International Vocal Academy where he worked with François Le Roux, Wolfgang Holzmair, Liz Upchurch and Lena Hellström-Färlöff amongst others. He won third place in Cégep Vincent-d’Indy’s 2020 edition of the competition Concours d’expression. In 2022, he won second place at the concours de Sorel (category – 23 years old and under). Since 2017, he has participated multiple times in the summer opera program at Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean’s music camp. In 2021, Hubert marked the occasion of his first professional engagement, singing in church in Montréal. In March 2022, he made his operatic debut, performing Masetto in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at Opera McGill. Hubert loves opera and lieder, particularly Schubert’s lieder.
Evan Krieger, pianist
Labeled as “strikingly sensitive” by the Baltimore Sun, Evan Krieger is an artist who strives to break the rules of classic pianistic norms. He has attended festivals and performed recitals in Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Australia, as well as all over the U.S. and Canada. Specializing in late Romantic era repertoire, he has received tutelage from Julian Martin of the Juilliard School and Boris Berman of Yale University. After being accepted to 12 Universities and Conservatories throughout North America, Evan chose to attend McGill University, where he is currently a fourth-year Bachelor of Music candidate on significant scholarship. He is guided at McGill by Professor Stéphane Lemelin, a student of the legendary Leon Fleisher. Evan draws much of his inspiration from Maestro Fleisher, as he grew up attending and performing in the monthly masterclasses offered by Fleisher at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, Evan’s hometown. He also has extensive art-song experience, performing multiple recitals of the music of Schubert, Schumann, and Duparc in the U.S., Canada, and Israel.
Michel-Alexandre Broekaert, pianist
Michel-Alexandre Broekaert is one of the most sought-after pianists on the Canadian music scene. A passionate chamber musician, he divides his time (with equal pleasure) between the instrumental repertoire and the world of opera and Mélodie.
He studied primarily at the Université de Montréal, earning a doctorate in piano performance (2014) under the tutelage of Jean Saulnier. A recipient of scholarships from numerous foundations, he honed his skills in the prestigious class of Avedis Kouyoumdjian at the University of Vienna, as part of a year-long exchange programme. He concluded the 2022-2023 season by completing a postgraduate diploma at McGill University as part of a residency in piano and vocal arts.
His years of study have also been marked by work with renowned teachers such as Marc Durand, Robert McDonald, Anton Kuerti, André Laplante, Menahem Pressler, Michael McMahon, Francis Perron, Helmut Deutsch, Graham Johnson, and Olivier Godin, among others.
Michel-Alexandre has won several prestigious national and international competitions, including the Lyon International Chamber Music Competition, the Nadia and Lili Boulanger International Piano-Vocal Competition (Paris), the Mary Trueman Vocal Art Song Competition (New York), and the Canadian Music Competition, in both the solo and chamber music categories. In 2001, he won first prize at the concerto competition of the Orchestre de Trois-Rivières, which invited him to perform Grieg’s piano concerto under the baton of Gilles Bellemare.
Michel-Alexandre tours regularly with Canada’s leading arts organisations, such as Jeunesses Musicales Canada and Debut Atlantic. He has been invited to collaborate with such illustrious organisations as the Canadian Vocal Arts Institute, the Opéra de Montréal, the OSM competition, the Festival del Lago in Mexico and the Heifetz Institute in the United States, to name but a few. Michel-Alexandre has accompanied the master classes of many internationally renowned artists, including: Yo-Yo Ma, Philippe Müller, James Ehnes, Warren Jones, Misha Maïsky, François Leroux, Pierre Génisson, Matthew Polenzani, and many others.
His activities as coach/pianist-collaborator at the Université de Montréal and McGill University fuel his passion for mentoring generations of young musicians. In 2021, alongside violinist Uliana Drugova, he launched a new chamber music session at the Camp Musical du Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, focusing on the art of the piano-violin sonata.
In 2018, he founded the Duo Cavatine with his long-time friend, cellist Noémie Raymond-Friset. The Duo was very active during the pandemic and attracted attention through the weekly publication of short videos, a project called Songs of Comfort. With two albums to their credit, Nuages and CellOpéra!, the duo has been making themselves increasingly known with many concert appearances in Canada, the United States and Mexico.
Programme
Hubert Paré, baritone
Evan Krieger, piano
|
An die ferne Geliebte |
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN |
|
Extraits de Songs of Travel
|
RALPH VAUGHAN-WILLIAMS |
Natacha Demers, soprano
Michel-Alexandre Broekaert, piano
|
Durch Zärtlichkeit und Schmeicheln |
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART |
|
Nixe Binsefuss Mausfallensprüchlein |
HUGO WOLF |
|
Les Elfes |
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
|
|
Come Now a Roundel |
BENJAMIN BRITTEN |
|
Lady with a Hand Mirror |
DOMINICK ARGENTO |
|
Spiel ich die Unschuld vom Lande
|
JOHANN STRAUSS |
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