Les Violons du Roy and Domaine Forget de Charlevoix

Domaine Forget de Charlevoix and Les Violons du Roy have much in common. Less than 130 kilometers apart, these two organizations were founded by people who dreamed big, who thought big, and who passed on their dreams as reality: high-caliber musical and cultural institutions, rooted here and with international influence.

Even today, Domaine Forget and Les Violons du Roy share the same quest for excellence, the same respect for musicians and artists, the same enthusiasm for encounters with the public, and the same desire to sincerely share music with the people for whom it is intended.

It was in 1996, the year of the inauguration of the magnificent concert hall in Saint-Irénée, one of the finest in North America, that Les Violons du Roy and Domaine Forget began their privileged relationship. Since then, every summer - except for 2020, for reasons we all know - the orchestra's musicians have happily taken to the Charlevoix region, many of them former students of the Académie du Domaine Forget.

Les Violons du Roy have often had the double honor of opening and closing the Festival, each time receiving a warm welcome from the public and the formidable team led by Ginette Gauthier at the Domaine's general management. For their part, the various artistic directors, from the late Élise Paré-Tousignant to Mathieu Lussier, via Douglas McNabney, Guy Carmichael and Paul Fortin, have continued the tradition of inviting Les Violons du Roy every year, always with the unfailing, constant and sensitive support of associate artistic director Édith Allaire, who ends her term this season, after 37 years of more than loyal service!

Over the years, Les Violons du Roy's concerts at Domaine Forget have been the scene of memorable first encounters and improbable, magical musical reunions. It was at Saint-Irénée that Les Violons du Roy first played with the likes of Alexandre Tharaud, Emmanuel Pahud and Pieter Wispelwey. At Domaine Forget, Marc-André Hamelin and Bernard Labadie offered a grandiose performance of Beethoven's complete piano concertos in less than 24 hours. It was also at Domaine Forget that Nicolas Ellis conducted Les Violons du Roy for the very first time in his career.

Les Violons du Roy have also used Domaine Forget to record seven of their 39 albums, two of which have won Juno awards. While they bring their preferred repertoire to the Domaine, from Bach to Mozart to Beethoven, they also take on unusual projects, such as this concert with composer Leo Brouwer, their tribute to Gilles Vigneault and many others.

Chamber orchestra course and concerto competition

Since 2019, first under the impetus of Jonathan Cohen and Paul Fortin, Les Violons du Roy has also been running an unusual chamber orchestra workshop that enables advanced students to play with them in an ideal context of exchange and emulation. The course has a number of objectives, including the creation of an exceptional training ground for a vast repertoire of chamber music, from the Baroque to the 20th century, using the orchestra's specific approach. Les Violons du Roy also offer young trainees the opportunity to play with baroque bows, thanks to the support of Canimex. In this way, trainees benefit from the experience of the orchestra's musicians, in conditions approaching professional practice, while encouraging exchanges and discussion. For Les Violons du Roy, it's also a way of forging links with the next generation of musicians, and even identifying future collaborators among them.

Since 2020, Les Violons du Roy has also organized a concerto competition with the invaluable collaboration of Domaine Forget. Finalists are invited to take part in a chamber orchestra workshop, and the winner of the competition is invited to play in concert with the orchestra.

To date, Les Violons du Roy has given 59 concerts at Domaine Forget de Charlevoix, either as part of the Festival or the Academy. There's something essential about the musical and human association that unites the two institutions.

Laurent Patenaude