Grand concert d'ouverture

Cellist and harpsichordist Jonathan Cohen is one of the most accomplished and sought-after British musicians of his generation. A fervent promoter of chamber music, he has mastered and explored repertoires ranging from baroque opera to the classical symphony. Cohen gained widespread recognition as associate conductor of Les Arts Florissants and, from 2010, as founder and artistic director of the Arcangelo ensemble. He has worked with Les Violons du Roy since 2014 and became their musical director in 2018. He also serves as artistic director of the Tetbury Music Festival and Boston’s prestigious Handel and Haydn Society.

A much-in-demand guest conductor, Cohen has appeared on both sides of the Atlantic with numerous ensembles, including the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Basel Chamber Orchestra, the Liège Royal Philharmonic, the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, the New York Philharmonic and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.

Throughout the 24-25 season, he returns to Kammerorchester Basel and directs performances of St Matthew Passion with both Rotterdam Philharmonic and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. He returns to Glyndebourne Festival for a revival of Barrie Kosky’s production of Handel Saul. He leads both Handel and Haydn Society and Houston Symphony Orchestra in Messiah, and with Handel and Haydn he also conducts Haydn The Seasons, Mozart Requiem and Beethoven Mass in C.

In addition to his impressive discography of almost 30 works as director of Arcangelo, he has recorded three albums with Les Violons du Roy, all of which have garnered national and international acclaim. His album devoted to Handel and Glass with American countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo earned Les Violons du Roy their first-ever Grammy nomination in 2019. Cohen has introduced several prestigious guest artists to audiences of Les Violons du Roy and has toured three times in Europe and North America with them.

Elisabeth St-Gelais, an Aboriginal opera singer, is the winner of several first prizes at major Canadian classical music competitions. Recipient of First Prize and Audience Choice at the Canadian Opera Company Centre Stage Competition in 2023, the prestigious Prix d'Europe 2023, the Wirth Vocal Prize at McGill University in 2022, the Grand Prix 19-30 at the Canimex Canadian Music Competition in 2022, she was named that same year to the prestigious #CBC30under30 2022 list, as well as Révélation Radio-Canada Classique 2023-2024. In January 2025, she won the Washington District at the Met Laffont Opera competition. She is one of 32 candidates for the Concours international de musique de Genève Voix in the summer of 2024.

In December 2024, Elisabeth St-Gelais was awarded third prize by the prestigious Père Lindsay Foundation, which supports promising young artists in their international career development. Equally committed to her Montreal musical community, the soprano is Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Conseil québécois de la musique.

The soprano has performed across Canada with the Orchestre Métropolitain, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Canadian Opera Company, Orchestre de l'Agora, Orchestre national de Bretagne, Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Orchestre symphonique de Kamloops, Orchestre symphonique de la Côte-Nord, Orchestre Classique de Montréal, Orchestre symphonique du Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Festival d'opéra de Québec and more.

Elisabeth St-Gelais is an aboriginal artist committed to the reconciliation of Canada's aboriginal peoples, and is a proud representative of her nation, the Innu of the Côte-Nord. The soprano defends the cause of reconciliation between Canada's First Nations, Métis and Inuit, by including Aboriginal works in her repertoire and working closely with creators from the First Peoples of Canada and the United States.

Her first recording, Infini, released in 2024 on the ATMA Classique label, is available on all platforms, and features a varied selection of French melodies warmly received by the critics.

“With a rich imagination and a keen mind” (Diapason Magazine), Canadian cellist Cameron Crozman leads an active performing career as a soloist and chamber musician in Canada, the USA, and Europe. He has appeared as a soloist with the Orchestre National d'Ile-de-France (Paris), Montreal, Winnipeg, Hamilton, and Vancouver Island Symphonies among others, and performances have taken him everywhere from the Philharmonie de Paris and the Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre, to the Qidi Vidi Brewery of St. John’s, Newfoundland. An avid collaborator and chamber musician, Cameron Crozman shares the stage with eminent artists such as James Ehnes, Augustin Hadelich, Louis Lortie, Gérard Caussé, James Campbell, and members of the Ébène, New Zealand, and Penderecki String Quartets.

Winner of the 2021 Canada Council for the Arts Virginia Parker Prize, the Council’s largest award for emerging classical musicians, Cameron Crozman was CBC/Radio-Canada’s 2019 Classical Revelation artist and a laureate of Gautier Capuçon’s Classe d’Excellence at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris.

Cameron’s debut album, Cavatine, recorded on the ca. 1696 “Bonjour” Stradivarius cello with pianist Philip Chiu, was released in 2019 and described by the French publication Classica Magazine as displaying “technical perfection with a personal style that leaves us wanting to hear more.” He has since recorded a number of CDs for the labels ATMA Classique in Canada and Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo in Monaco.

His most recent release from May 2024 of the Haydn Cello Concertos and Jacques Hétu’s Rondo performed with Les Violons du Roy and conductor Nicolas Ellis has garnered international praise. Cameron’s performances are broadcast on CBC, BBC, RTÉ Radio, Radio France, and Medici.tv.

Deeply committed to the music of today, Cameron Crozman is active in leading projects commissioning and premiering new music by some of Canada’s most recognized composers including Alexina Louie, Allan Gordon Bell, Liam Ritz, James O’Callaghan, and Kelly-Marie Murphy.

After studies in Canada with Paul Pulford, Cameron was a student at the Paris Conservatoire and received his Prix de violoncelle with highest honours studying in the class of Michel Strauss and chamber music with Claire Désert and Ami Flammer. In 2018, he received a one year mentorship with violinist James Ehnes as part of the André-Bourbeau award from the Jeunesses Musicales Canada.

Passionate about teaching the next generation, he has been invited to give masterclasses at the Académie Rainier III in Monaco, Lawrence University (Wisconsin), University of Montreal, Conservatorio Superior de Música Joaquín Rodrigo Valencia, and the Escola Superior de Music de Lisboa, among others.

Cameron Crozman is the co-founder of ClassicalValley, a festival bringing together chamber music and wine in Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada, and the artistic director of chamber music for the Edeta Arts International Festival in Llíria, Spain, designated a Creative City of Music by the UNESCO. Along with pianist Meagan Milatz, he produces a series of chamber music concerts in Montreal called “HausMusique” in one of North America’s landmark Art Deco spaces, the Grande Salle of 9th floor of the Eaton Centre. He currently plays on a c. 1750 Gennaro Gagliano cello, generously on loan from the Canada Council for the Arts Instrument Bank.