Fundraising Gala: Au cinéma avec Valérie Milot et Émile Proulx-Cloutier

Young conductor Thomas Le Duc-Moreau's enthusiasm is inspiring, and he leads with great precision and artistic sensitivity, creating an effective, human symbiosis that is appreciated by musicians and audiences alike. His discipline and musical culture enable him to approach conducting the repertoire with precision and coherence, in a style that unfolds with ease, suppleness and elegance.

Upon graduating from the Conservatoire, Thomas was appointed assistant conductor of the Orchestre symphonique de Québec and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. His early career was marked by esteemed collaborations. First assistant to music director Kent Nagano, he also collaborated with guest conductors Bernard Labadie, Hannu Lintu, Cristian Măcelaru, Susanna Mälkki, Rafael Payare, and François-Xavier Roth. During his tenure at the OSM, Thomas has conducted over thirty concerts.

In opera, he has already collaborated on numerous productions. He directed two premieres in 2022 and 2023: Christian Thomas's Messe solennelle pour une pleine lune d'été, based on the play by Quebec author Michel Tremblay, and Yourcenar - Une île de passions by composer Éric Champagne, co-productions of the Festival d'opéra de Québec, Opéra de Montréal and Les Violons du Roy. In summer 2024, he conducts La Vie parisienne at the Festival d'opéra de Québec. He has also taken part as assistant conductor in productions of Verdi's Il Trovatore and Puccini's Madama Butterfly at the Opéra de Montréal, Wagner's The Flying Dutchman at the Festival d'opéra de Québec and Bizet's Carmen at the Bonn Theater in Germany.

In symphonic concerts, Thomas has conducted major Québec and Canadian orchestras such as Les Violons du Roy and the Orchestre Métropolitain, as well as the Agora, Laval, Montréal, Québec, Rimouski, Saguenay, Sherbrooke, Hamilton and Kitchener-Waterloo symphony orchestras. He has also conducted the Prague National Theatre Orchestra in the Czech Republic. In popular concert, he conducted Alexandra Stréliski's very first symphonic concert with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal as part of the Festival de Jazz de Montréal, broadcast on Radio-Canada television.

In the summer of 2025, he returns to the Festival Orford Musique with Les Violons du Roy for a third consecutive year.

Thomas Le Duc-Moreau is the artistic director, conductor and co-founder of Ensemble Volte, with whom he collaborates with inspiring artists of his generation. Recently, Volte made its first-ever recording with the PlayShed theater company for a new production of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf.

Thomas Le Duc-Moreau graduated from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal in cello with Carole Sirois and in conducting with Jacques Lacombe. In 2022, he received the very first Prix Joseph-Rouleau awarded by the Fondation du Conservatoire de musique et d'art dramatique du Québec in recognition of the promising beginnings of his career.

Valérie Milot is a musician and entrepreneur who walks an unconventional career path. Championing her instrument into the spotlight, she reinvents the harp and its clichés, putting forth its powerful sound and astonishing colours.

A sought-after soloist, Valérie regularly performs a rich solo repertoire with prestigious orchestras (Les Violons du Roy, Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal) and with reputed conductors (Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Bernard Labadie, Nicolas Ellis, Mathieu Lussier, Jean-François Rivest, amongst others). An active musician online, her YouTube channel boasts over three million views.

2022 marks the addition of two albums to an already vast catalogue: Canzone di Notte, featuring a duo with the coloratura soprano Marianne Lambert (Fidelio) and Transfiguration, a collaboration with the cellist Stéphane Tétreault (ATMA Classique), as well as participating in many recordings and chamber music concerts.

On the production front, Valérie manages two companies that oversee projects encompassing original production, touring, music publication, and CD production.

An eager pedagogue, Valérie is a professor of harp at the Montreal Conservatory of Music. There, she heads numerous projects in line with her mission of increasing the harp’s discoverability.

After obtaining her Prix avec Grande Distinction upon completion of her studies at the Conservatory with Caroline Lizotte in 2008, she is awarded the Prix d’Europe. The first harpist to win the prize in almost a century, this esteemed award allows her to further her studies with Rita Costanzi in New York. Her accomplishments continue thereafter, where she is named Révélation Radio-Canada and receives multiple prizes.

Valérie plays on an “Apollonia” harp by Salvi, graciously loaned to her by the Canimex company of Drummondville and belonging to the patron of the arts Roger Dubois.

A 2006 graduate of the Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Montréal, Émile Proulx-Cloutier already has many years' experience in the arts, both in the theater - on stage and directing - and on the small and big screen - in front of and behind the camera.

He has appeared in several TV series, including Avant le crash, Les moments parfaits, Doute raisonnable, Plan B, Faits divers, Boomerang, Sortez-moi de moi and Demain des hommes, as well as in numerous film productions, including L'Arracheuse de temps, Le déserteur, Mathusalem, L'Autre maison, Mont Foster, Nous sommes les autres and La Bolduc. He has also worked behind the camera on several occasions, directing short films and documentaries.

A singer-songwriter, he has three albums to his credit: Aimer les monstres released in 2013 (from which his first book Le grillon et la luciole is drawn), Marée haute released in 2017 and Ma main au feu released in 2024 in three acts.

Émile Proulx-Cloutier, who has won numerous awards and nominations for both music and screen, has also appeared on stage in Ubu roi, Marie Stuart, Tout est encore possible, Musique inquiétante, Frères and La Bonne Âme du Se-Tchouan. He recently wrote and directed Grosse-Île: 1847 (in the words of those who lived it) and co-created Pas perdus: documentaires scéniques with Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette.