Händel : Acis and Galatea

Following its premiere in London in 1716, the pastoral opera Acis and Galatea by G.Fr. Handel became a major success with more performances than any of his other operas.

The libretto relates a typical story of the Baroque era where passion and tragedy rub shoulders: Galatea, a demi-divine nymph loves the shepherd Acis with a shared passion. Their idyll is interrupted by the Cyclops Polyphemus, also in love with Galatea. Polyphemus crushes Acis under a rock. Galatea, broken by pain, transforms Acis into a stream.

Ensemble Caprice under the direction of Matthias Maute collaborates with Ensemble ArtChoral and Ensemble OpéraBaroque in a concert version of the opera. Soprano Magali Simard-Galdès will sing the role of Galatea, tenor Laurence Kilsby (London, UK) will play Acis.

Ensemble Caprice

Ensemble vocal Arts-Québec 

Director: Mathias Maute

Acis: Laurence Kilsby, Tenor

Galatea: Magali Simard-Galdès, Soprano

Damon: Thomas Vinals, Tenor

Polyphemus: Matthew Li, Bass

Program

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Introductory Talk: Spinelli

Concert: Spinelli

Biographies

Matthias Maute

Matthias Maute has established a solid national and international reputation as a conductor, choirmaster and composer, and as one of the finest recorder and flute players of his generation. In recent years, Mr Maute has devoted a large part of his work to choral and orchestral conducting, notably with Ensemble Caprice (which he co-founded with his wife, Sophie Larivière). Matthias’s compositions occupy an important place in the world of contemporary flute and recorder music, and his discography includes over twenty remarkable recordings. He also teaches at Université de Montréal and McGill University in Montreal. Matthias Maute, who won a Juno Award for his recording with choir recording of Vivaldi an

d his Angels, has earned an enviable reputation for excellence as artistic director of Ensemble Caprice, the Bach Society of Minnesota in the United States, and the Concerts noncerto series, as well as co-artistic director of the Festival Montréal Baroque.

Laurence Kilsby, tenor

In the 2022/2023 season, Laurence joined the opera studio of Opéra national de Paris and was recently awarded first prizes at the 2023 “Das Lied” Competition at the Heidelberger Frühling Festspiele, the 2022 Wigmore Hall / Bollinger International Song Competition and the 2022 Cesti Competition at the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik. This season sees Laurence in the Paris Opera studio’s production of La Scala di Seta at the Théâtre Athénée, and his consecutive debuts at the Salzburger Festspiele, the Berliner Festspiele and the BBC Proms in Les Troyens, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner. 

He is an alumnus of the the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, Renée Fleming’s Song Studio at Carnegie Hall, the Curtis Institute of Music and the Royal College of Music (in which, during his studies, he received the Kathleen Ferrier Society Bursary for Young Singers). 

His recent engagements include Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, an opera gala with the studio of Paris Opera at the Palais Garnier, L’incoronazione di Poppea at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and the Royal Opera of Versailles, European tours of Bach’s Johannes Passion with both Ensemble Pygmalion and the OAE, A Little Night Music with Opera North and L’Orfeo with the Nederlandse Reisopera. He has given recitals at the International Lieder Festival Zeist, Snape Maltings (with Roger Vignoles), Leeds Lieder Festival (as a Momentum Young Artist), the Akademie der Künste and the Cheltenham Music Festival. 

A former chorister with the Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum, Laurence was titled BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year in 2009. He appears as a soloist on a number of recordings, including the critically-acclaimed recording of Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Solemn Vespers (Schola Cantorum / Delphian), as well as the Grammy nominated album, Handel’s L’Allegro, Penseroso ed il Moderato (Gabrieli Consort / Signum Records). He appears on a new release from Stone Records, The Call, in collaboration with pianist, Malcolm Martineau.

Magali Simard-Galdès, soprano

Acclaimed for her crystalline timbre, great musicality and magnetic personality on stage, soprano Magali Simard-Galdès has achieved success in a vast repertoire ranging from baroque to contemporary music.

She has appeared at the Opéra de Montréal in Dialogues des Carmelites (Constance), Carmen (Frasquita) and Written on Skin (Agnès), a role she reprised at the Oper Köln in December 2020. At Opera Carolina she sang in Rigoletto (Gilda) and Di Chiera’s Cyrano (Roxane). She has also appeared at Opéra de Québec in Werther (Sophie), at Vancouver Opera in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Tytania) and The Overcoat (Mad Chorus), and at Wexford Festival Opera in Le pré aux clercs (Nicette). This summer she will be Isabelle in Christian Thomas’ new opera, Messe solennelle pour une pleine lune d’été at the Festival d’opéra de Québec.

In concert, she has sung with Les Violons du Roy, the National Arts Center Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, the Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Arion Orchestre baroque, the Harmonie des saisons, the Atelier lyrique de Tourcoing, the Opéra Grand Avignon, the Festival Classica and the Festival de Lanaudière, under the direction of renowned conductors such as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, François-Xavier Roth, Bernard Labadie and Alexander Shelley.

On ATMA Classique, Magali can be heard in Berlioz’s 25 romances for voice and guitar, Ana Sokolović’s Sirens and the complete melodies of Massenet. She has also recorded for myrios classics the role of Agnes in Written on Skin with the Gürzenich Orchester under the direction of François-Xavier Roth (forthcoming release).

In parallel to her operatic career, Magali completed a Master’s degree in management and sustainable development at HEC Montréal during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since the fall of 2022, she can be heard as an environmental columnist on the program Feu Vert on ICI première.

Thomas Vinals, tenor

Born in Quebec City, tenor Thomas Vinals began his vocal studies with mezzo-soprano Sonia Racine. He then continued his studies at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal in Donna Brown’s class, where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree with great distinction in 2021. He distinguished himself by his warm and lyrical tone as well as his great musicality in roles such as Ferrando (Cosi Fan Tutte, Mozart), Tamino (Zauberflote, Mozart), Alfred (Die Fledermaus, Strauss), Prince Charmant (Cendrillon, Massenet) and Nemorino (L’elesir d’amore, Donizetti). In 2021, he is Laureate of the Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques and wins a place in the Orfeo Foundation, based in Amsterdam. In 2022, he was the recipient of the prestigious Hnatyshyn Foundation Scholarship in the category of classical vocal performance. During his studies, Thomas has had the opportunity to study with Olivier Godin, Martin Dubé, Liz Upchurh, Marie-Ève Scarfone, Francois Leroux, Wolfgang Holzmair, Lena Hellström Färnlöf, Nicola Beller Carbone, Rainer Trost, Jacques Lacombe and Alain Trudel.

Matthew Li, basse

Hailing from Ottawa, bass Matthew Li is currently a resident artist with the Atelier lyrique at Opéra de Montréal. Favourite operatic highlights include a Il Commissario Imperiale in Madama Butterfly, Le Fauteuil and Un Arbre in L’enfant et les sortilèges, Colline in La Bohème, Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, Masetto and Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni. During the 2022-2023 season, Li was proud to create the leading bass role of Xon Pon in Alice Ping Yee Ho’s new opera Chinatown with City Opera Vancouver, which was received with critical acclaim. Concert highlights include the bass solos in Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, Schütz’s Weihnachtshistorie, Mozart’s Requiem, and Steffani’s Stabat Mater. Li is also known as a thoughtful and engaging performer in the art song recital, and has given successful performances with the Société d’art vocal de Montréal, and as a voice fellow at Toronto Summer Music Festival. 

Li is looking forward to returning to the Atelier lyrique at Opéra de Montréal for the 2023-2024 season, where he will appear as Antonio in Le Nozze di Figaro and Seneca in L’incoronazione di Poppea.

Introductory Talk by Richard Turp

15 minutes before each concert

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Summary

The story revolves around the perfect love between a nymph and a shepherd. 

Act 1

Galatea, the water nymph, and Acis, the young shepherd, have a deep affection for each other and spend most of the first half of the narrative yearning for each other’s presence. Damon, another shepherd, attempts to offer wise counsel to the impulsive Acis, but his words are ignored. The lovers eventually reunite and rejoice, proclaiming, “We are happy.” 

Act 2

However, the second half of the story brings tragedy in the form of the grotesque cyclops Polyphemus. He too is infatuated with Galatea, but she rejects his brutal advances. Like Acis, Polyphemus disregards Damon’s wise advice, seeking tranquility amidst the storms of love. Acis and Galatea continue their passion but are met with the fierce jealousy of the giant, who seizes a massive rock and hurls it at Acis, instantly killing him. Devastated, Galatea transforms the shepherd into a river, so that they may finally be united for eternity. The chorus urges Galatea to dry her tears, for ‘Acis now a god appears.’

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