Le Requiem de Mozart

As head of both ensembles, he has toured Europe and North America performing at some of the most illustrious concert halls and festivals: Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center (New York), Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles), Kennedy Center (Washington), the Barbican (London), Berlin Philharmonie, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (Paris), Brussels’ Centre for Fine Arts, and the Salzburg, Bergen, Rheingau, and Schleswig-Holstein festivals.

Since 2017, Bernard Labadie is principal conductor of Orchestra of St. Luke's in New York, a position he will leave at the end of the current season after eight highly successful years. In particular, he leads the orchestra's annual concert series at Carnegie Hall, often accompanied by the Chapelle de Québec.

A much sought-after guest conductor in North America, he makes frequent appearances with major American and Canadian orchestras: Chicago, New York, Cleveland, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Houston, New World Symphony, Montréal, Toronto and Ottawa. In Europe, he has conducted the Mozarteum of Salzburg and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the orchestras of Lyon, Bordeaux-Aquitaine, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. He has also headed several radio orchestras, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Munich, the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as the radio orchestras in Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne, Hanover, and Helsinki.

Bernard Labadie regularly collaborates with some of the most prestigious period-instrument early music ensembles: Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, The English Concert, Academy of Ancient Music, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and Handel and Haydn Society (Boston).

At the opera, he served as artistic director of Opéra de Québec from 1994 to 2003 and as artistic director of Opéra de Montréal from 2002 to 2006. He has also appeared as guest conductor with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, and the Santa Fe, Cincinnati, and Glimmerglass operas. In 2021, he made his debut appearance at the Glyndebourne Festival.

Both as a guest conductor and with Les Violons du Roy, Bernard Labadie has recorded some twenty albums for Virgin Classics (now Erato), EMI, Pentatone, Dorian, ATMA, Hyperion, and Naïve.

A tireless ambassador for music in his hometown of Québec City, Bernard Labadie was made an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Knight of the Ordre national du Québec, and Compagnon des arts et des lettres du Québec. He is also a recipient of the Medal of Honour of the National Assembly of Québec, the Banff Centre’s National Arts Award, the Samuel de Champlain Award, and honorary doctorates from Université Laval (Alma Mater) and the Manhattan School of Music.

Distinguished by a brilliant and crystalline timbre but also knowing how to adorn herself with heady colours according to the scores, the soprano Magali Simard-Galdès possesses a vocal mastery and a natural musicality which allow her to magnify a very wide repertoire ranging from baroque music, which she particularly likes, to contemporary music, for which she has all the precision required.

In opera, she imposes a marked presence and theatrical ease. Her ability to blend into each character allows her to tackle with great success roles as diverse as those of Agnès (Benjamin, Written on skin), Musetta (Puccini, La Bohème), Micaëla (Bizet, Carmen), Tytania (Britten, A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Gilda (Verdi, Rigoletto), Roxane (DiChiera, Cyrano de Bergerac), Constance (Poulenc, Dialogues des carmélites) and Nicette (Hérold, Le pré aux clercs). We have heard her in these works at the Vancouver and Montreal Operas, at Opera Carolina, at Toledo Opera, at Tapestry Opera and at the Wexford Festival Opera, not to mention the Cologne Opera and the Auditorium du Nouveau Siècle in Lille.

In concert, she asserts the same charisma, which has made her the guest, in recent years, of specialized ensembles such as Le Cercle de l'Harmonie, Les Violons du Roy, Arion Orchestre baroque or the Ensemble Caprice. With her considerable projection, she performs just as regularly with symphonic formations such as the WDR Sinfonieorchester, the Orchestre National de Lille, the Orchestre Classique de Montréal, the National Arts Center Orchestra of Ottawa, the Houston Symphony, the Orchestre symphonique de Québec, the Orchestre Métropolitain and the Orchestre du Festival Classica, under the direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jacques Lacombe, Jean-Marie Zeitouni, Bernard Labadie, Jean-François Rivest, Mathieu Lussier, François-Xavier Roth, Jonathan Nott, Jérémie Rhorer or Alexandre Bloch.

Since fall 2022, a committed woman, Magali Simard-Galdès has also made her voice and her words heard as an environmental columnist on ICI Première.

Recently named one of CBC's 30 Hot Classical Musicians under 30, mezzo-soprano Alex Hetherington is rapidly solidifying her position as a versatile interpreter of operatic and concert repertoire. Having recently completed her tenure in the Canadian Opera Company's Ensemble Studio, she has already graced major stages across her home country of Canada. In the 2024-25 season, she will portray Siebel in a new production of Faust at the Canadian Opera Company and make her company debut with Vancouver Opera as the Stewardess in Flight. She also performs as the alto soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with both Ottawa Chamberfest and the Mandle Philharmonic, and join Chorus Niagara for Handel’s Messiah.

During the 2023-24 season, Alex Hetherington performed as Lapák in The Cunning Little Vixen, covered the role of Zerlina in Don Giovanni, and appeared as the Second Handmaiden in Cherubini’s Medea with the Canadian Opera Company (COC). She also returned to Tapestry Opera, where she performed as the House (mezzo-soprano) in Rocking Horse Winner and participated in the company's Box Concert series. At the Banff Centre for Arts, she sang the role of Offred in a new arrangement of Poul Ruders' The Handmaid's Tale.

In 2022-23, Alex Hetherington made her Canadian Opera Company debut as Mercédès in Carmen, and later returned to the Four Seasons stage as the Slave in the COC’s production of Salome. Additionally, she covered Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro and Suli in the world premiere of Kye Marshall and Amanda Hale’s Pomegranate with the company. Highly skilled in the realm of new music, she premiered the role of Riley in Nicole Lizée’ and Nicholas Billon’s R.U.R. A Torrent of Light at Tapestry Opera, for which she won a 2022 Dora Mavor Moore Award. Further operatic credits include Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Carmen in La tragédie de Carmen (UofT Opera), and Nicklausse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Toronto City Opera).

On the concert stage, Alex Hetherington made her National Arts Center Orchestra debut in 2022 as the alto soloist in Mozart's Requiem under the baton of Bernard Labadie. This marked the beginning of a series of collaborations with the orchestra, including notable performances of Ana Sokolović’s Golden Slumbers Kiss Your Eyes and the premiere of Cecilia Livingston’s orchestral arrangements of lieder selections by Clara Schumann, led by Maestro Alexander Shelley. Other recent concert highlights include performing Ian Cusson’s Songs from the House of Death with the Victoria Symphony under the baton of Christian Kluxen, and Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs with the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra. A consummate recitalist, she has curated programs for the Toronto Summer Music Festival and the Norcop Art Song Recital at the University of Toronto.

Alex Hetherington has garnered notable accolades in the last few years, securing the 3rd Prize in the Christina and Louis Quilico Awards, being named a finalist in the Concours de l'Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, and receiving an encouragement award from the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. She holds a Bachelor’s in Voice Performance and a Master's in Opera Performance from the University of Toronto, where she was recognized with the Jim and Charlotte Norcop Award in Art Song and named the winner of the UTSO Concerto Competition.

Andrew Haji is one of the most sought-after lyric tenors whose effortlessly transcendent voice has been described as “bright yet warm, mellifluous yet ringing, used with grace”. The renowned Canadian lyric tenor is celebrated on concert and operatic stages with his musical rapture and silky clarion vocal prowess.

In 2024-25 season, the Canadian tenor makes his debuts with the Chicago Symphony in Haydn’s Missa in tempore belli with conductor Manfred Honeck, the Cleveland Orchestra in Bach’s Easter Oratorio and Magnificat as well as NDR Radiophilharmonie in Hanover, Germany for Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with conductor Bernard Labadie. He returns to Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke's in Bach's St. John Passion (Evangelist), Les Violons du Roy and Houston Symphony in Handel’s Messiah, and Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society in Haydn’s The Seasons and Beethoven’s Mass in C-Major. Other notable performances this season include Mozart’s Requiem with the Kansas City Symphony, the title role in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito at Pacific Opera Victoria, and Dompierre’s Requiem with the Festival Classica.

Recent orchestral engagement highlights throughout the United States and Canada include Beethoven’s Ninth with Milwaukee Symphony and National Arts Center Orchestra, Evangelist in Bach’s St. John Passion with the Seattle Symphony and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Bach Cantatas with Montreal Symphony and Handel and Haydn Society, Haydn’s The Creation with Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Verdi’s Requiem at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Bruckner’s Te Deum with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and Orff’s Carmina Burana at the Elora Festival. In Europe, Haji has performed with the English Concert and at the Salzburg Festival. He has performed with conductors including Bernard Labadie, Jonathan Cohen, John Butt, Rafael Payare, and Alexander Shelley.

Notable opera successes include Tamino in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata, Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, Rinuccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Ferrando in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème, and Cassio in Verdi’s Otello at Canadian Opera Company, Macduff in Verdi’s Macbeth and Pollione in Bellini’s Norma at Calgary Opera, Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème with Montreal's Orchestre Philharmonique et Choeur des Mélomanes and Edmonton Opera, Jonathan in Handel’s Saul at Edinburgh International Festival, Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore at National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts in Taiwan, Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at National Arts Center in Ottawa, Alfredo in Verdi’s La traviata with the Vancouver Opera, and Alfredo in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus with Saskatoon Opera.

During the 2020-21 season amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, Andrew starred in various digital and streaming productions including Holst’s Sāvitri for Against the Grain Theatre, Rinuccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Mozart’s Requiem both for the Canadian Opera Company, and finally returning to the stage as Count Almaviva in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia with Opéra de Québec.

Haji is an alumnus of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio. He has received awards from the Marilyn Horne Song Competition, the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble and was awarded the Grand Prix at the 50th International Vocal Competition in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, and the Oratorio Prize at the Montreal International Music Competition. Andrew received a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree from the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music where he performed in productions of Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Bernstein’s Candide, and Haydn’s Il mondo della luna, among others. He was invited to participate in young artist programs at the Salzburg Festival Young Singers Project, the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy, the Music Academy of the West and Accademia Europea dell’Opera.

Kevin Deas has gained international renown as one of America’s leading bass-baritones. He is perhaps most acclaimed for his signature portrayal of the title role in Porgy and Bess, having performed it with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, as well as the most illustrious orchestras on the North American continent, and at the Ravinia, Vail and Saratoga festivals. 

Kevin Deas’ 2023-24 season includes performances of Mozart’s Requiem with the Vermont Symphony and Mobile Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with the North Carolina Symphony, Houston Symphony, and the NAC Orchestra in Ottawa. Other notable performances in the season include a Gershwin program with Oregon Symphony and Rochester Philharmonic, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Pacific Symphony, Brahms’s German Requiem with Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, and performs the role of Commendatore in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with Boston Baroque, as well as the role of Dick Hallorann in Paul Moravec’s critically acclaimed opera The Shining with the Opera Atlanta.

Kevin Deas past season highlights includes performances of Haydn’s The Creation with the Minnesota Orchestra,  Mozart’s Requiem with the Toronto Symphony, Eugene Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Orchestra Iowa, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the Florida Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah with the New York Philharmonic, Saint-Saens’ Henry VIII with Odyssey Opera of Boston, Verdi’s Requiem with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Mineria and Rhode Island Philharmonic, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Pacific Symphony and Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, and William Walton’s Façade at the Virginia Arts Festival.  He has performed selections from Gershwin with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, selections from the musicals Les Miserables, Show Boat, and Ragtime with Providence Singers, in The Spiritual in White America a presentation of black spirituals transformed for the white concert stage by Harry Burleigh and Nathaniel Dett, at the Phillips Collection, and a Christmas concert with the Portland Symphony.

Other highlights include performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Orquesta Sinfonica de Mineria and the Buffalo Philharmonic, Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius with the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, Porgy and Bess with the Florida Orchestra, performances of Handel’s Messiah with the National Cathedral and Virginia Symphony, Bach’s St. John Passion with the Louisiana Philharmonic, Joe Horowitz’s Dvorak in America project with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, and Verdi’s Requiem with the National Philharmonic. Kevin Deas has also performed as a soloist in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with VoxAmaDeus, in Mozart’s Requiem with Boston Baroque, Handel’s Messiah at the National Cathedral, and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church (NYC). He also sang the title role in Porgy and Bess with Duisberg Phiharmoniker; in Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture with the Reading Symphony Orchestra, and in a tour of Asia with the Pacific Symphony; sings in Bernstein’s Wonderful Town with the Seattle Symphony; and is soloist with the Delaware and El Paso symphony orchestras, and with the PostClassical Ensemble, with which he was Artist in Residence.

Created in 1985 by founding conductor and music director Bernard Labadie, La Chapelle de Québec is one of North America’s premiere voice ensembles. The group is made up exclusively of professional singers who are hand picked from all over Canada. This unique chamber choir specializes in the choral/orchestral repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries. The choir performs regularly with its other half, chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy, and as a guest choir with some of the finest orchestras in North America. Its  interpretations of the oratorios, requiems, masses, and cantatas of Bach, Handel, Mozart, and Haydn, as well as Fauré and Duruflé, are frequently hailed in the Canadian and international press.

La Chapelle de Québec is heard regularly at Palais Montcalm in Quebec City and Maison symphonique in Montreal, as well as at the Walt Disney Concert Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, at Carnegie Hall with Les Violons du Roy and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and in Ottawa with the National Arts Centre Orchestra. The choir’s concerts are often broadcast by the CBC and Radio-Canada in Canada and by National Public Radio in the United States.

La Chapelle de Québec is also known for its role in Chemin de Noël, an annual event that brings music lovers from throughout the Québec City region together every December. The Chemin de Noël was recorded on an ATMA disc released in November 2021.