Bach, les premières cantates et Bernard Labadie

Bernard Labadie, an internationally recognized specialist in the baroque and classical repertoires, is the founding conductor of Les Violons du Roy. He was the ensemble’s music director from 1984 to 2014 and remains the music director of La Chapelle de Québec, which he founded in 1985.

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.

In 2017, Bernard Labadie was named principal conductor of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in New York. He conducts the orchestra’s annual concert series at Carnegie Hall, often with La 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.

Myriam Leblanc is a well-established soprano and recipient of numerous awards, including first prize and Coup de cœur du public at the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières competition, Audience Choice Award at the Canadian Opera Company's Centre Stage competition, the annual scholarship for excellence awarded by the Atelier lyrique de l'Opéra de Montréal, and first prize at the Mathieu Duguay Early Music Competition of the Festival international de musique baroque de Lamèque in 2017. A versatile artist who works as much in classical as in bel canto and baroque music, she is recognized for her pure timbre, her warm, supple voice and her mastery of both technique and musical expression.

Myriam Leblanc specializes in oratorios and concert works, including Dompierre's Requiem (Orchestre Philharmonique et Chœur des Mélomanes), Gossec's Messe des morts (Arion Orchestre Baroque), Mozart's Requiem, Bach's Christmas Oratorio and Magnificat (Les Violons du Roy), Handel's Messiah and Bach's St. John Passion (Tafelmusik), Vivaldi's Dixit Dominus (I Musici de Montréal), Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 2 “Lobgesang” (Orchestre Métropolitain) and several Bach cantatas, including Ich habe genug. Her operatic credits include productions by Opéra de Montréal (Rigoletto, Svadba, Aida), Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières, Orchestre Philharmonique et Chœur des Mélomanes and Opéra de Québec (Carmen), Orchestre Métropolitain (Parsifal) and Ensemble Caprice (Dido and Aeneas).

A former member of the Atelier lyrique de l'Opéra de Montréal, Myriam Leblanc has been a guest soloist with the prestigious ensembles Les Violons du Roy, Tafelmusik, the symphony orchestras of Montréal, Trois-Rivières, Québec City and Saskatoon, and the Orchestre Métropolitain. She has sung under the baton of such renowned conductors as Bernard Labadie, Hervé Niquet, Rafael Payare, Jacques Lacombe, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jonathan Cohen, Jean-Marie Zeitouni, Kent Nagano and Ivars Taurins, to name but a few.

Myriam Leblanc has several recordings to her credit, including Amour fou with Ensemble Mirabilia on the ATMA label, released in 2024, Israel in Egypt and Écho et Narcisse with Concert Spirituel, released in 2023 and 2022 respectively, La grazia delle donne with Ensemble La Cigale on the Analekta label, released in 2021, and Vivaldi: Luce e ombra with Ensemble Mirabilia, also released in 2021 on the Analekta label.

Countertenor Daniel Moody has garnered widespread acclaim for his commanding yet expressive vocal timbre and his breathtaking musicianship. Praised as having a “vocal resonance, which makes a profoundly startling impression” (The New York Times) and for his “vivid and powerful” voice (The Boston Musical Intelligencer), Mr. Moody is equally known for his “sweet and melancholy sound” (The Washington Post) and ability to “pierce hearts” and “utterly silence a room” (The Boston Musical Intelligencer) with his expressivity and connection with audiences.

Daniel Moody recently made his Metropolitan Opera debut in Brett Dean’s Hamlet in the role of Rosenkranz where he later returned to cover Countertenor 3 in El Niño and Man Under the Arch/Hotel Clerk in The Hours. He also recently sang Oberon in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Vancouver Opera, Nerone in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea with Cincinnati Opera, and Tolomeo in Giulio Cesare at Atlanta Opera. His 2024-25 season includes engagements with the Alabama Symphony, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Le Violons du Roy, Memphis Symphony, Four Nations Baroque Ensemble, InSeries Opera, Three Notch’d Road, Staunton Music Festival’s BaroqueFest, and a residency at Augustana University’s School of Music.

Last season saw Daniel Moody cover Arsace in Partenope at San Fransico Opera, sing Solo Alto Ensemble in Acis and Galatea with the Philharmonia Baroque, and complete a residency at the Marlboro Music Festival. He also gave a Dinner with Handel concert with the Portland Baroque Orchestra under the baton of Julian Perkins and was the alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah with Oratorio Society of New York and The Trey Clegg Singers.

A sought after Handelian, Daniel Moody’s operatic credits include the title role in Rinaldo and Narciso in Agrippina with Opera Neo; the title role in Orlando, Lichas in Hercules and Didymous in Theodora with Staunton Music Festival; and Arsamene in Xerses with Pittsburgh Festival Opera.

Daniel Moody is a frequent soloist of leading symphonic and baroque orchestras, including Apollo’s Fire, Minnesota Orchestra, Cincinnati Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, Philharmonia Baroque, and Les Violons du Roy.

British tenor Hugo Hymas is in much demand for his interpretations of the baroque and renaissance repertoire and enjoys collaborations with the foremost practitioners of the genre.

His 2024-2025 season reflects many established relationships. He sings Bach St John Passion with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Jonathan Cohen as well making his début with Les Violons du Roy with the same conductor. He joins John Butt for Handel Esther with The English Concert and for Bach with the Dunedin Consort and he sings Messiah with both the Sinfonieorchester Basel and the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich under Ivor Bolton. Hymas will make his Bergen Philharmonic debut with Bach Weihnachtsoratorium under Dinis Sousa. He returns to Potsdamer Winteroper to sing Clotarco (Haydn Armida), performs Alessandro (Handel Poro) in a semi-staging with {oh!} Orkester under Martyna Pastuszka and reprises one of his signature roles, Acis (Acis and Galatea) with Vox Luminis under Lionel Meunier. Engaging with more recent repertoire Hymas will record Stravinsky Cantata with The Façade Ensemble under Benedict Collins Rice and collaborates with Leicester International Music Festival Artistic Director Nicholas Daniel performing Warlock, Vaughan Williams, Tippet and Elena Langer.

Amongst his significant previous engagements are Jove (Semele) for Glyndebourne Festival Opera (available on Glyndebourne Encore), Eurimaco (Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria) at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Lucius in the premiere of Georgio Battistelli Julius Caesar at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. He has performed and recorded Handel's sacred oratorio La Resurrezione with The English Concert and Harry Bicket and Purcell with Arcangelo under Cohen, sung Purcell and Handel with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra directed by Kristian Bezuidenhout, Haydn Die Schöpfung with Les Arts Florissants under William Christie and the St Matthew Passion with Collegium Vocale Gent under Philippe Herreweghe. Hymas has undertaken major European tours of the Bach B Minor Mass with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Vaclav Luks as well as Semele with Monteverdi Choir under Sir John Eliot Gardiner.

Hugo Hymas is a former Britten-Pears Young Artist and Rising Star of the Enlightenment. He grew up in Cambridge where he sang as a chorister in Great St Mary’s Church Choir and studied the clarinet after which he joined the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge as a tenor. He holds an honours degree in Music from the University of Durham.

Hailed by the Ottawa Citizen as a singer possessing “…an instrument of rare beauty, majestic and commanding from the bottom of his range to the top…”, bass-baritone Stephen Hegedus is frequently heard with leading orchestras and opera companies in Canada and abroad.

His operatic roles include Figaro and the Count (Le nozze di Figaro), Leporello (Don Giovanni), Colline (La Bohème), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Alidoro (La Cenerentola), Albert (Werther), Nick Shadow (The Rake’s Progress), Collatinus (The Rape of Lucretia), Talbot (Maria Stuarda), Sprecher (Die Zauberflöte), Masetto (Don Giovanni) and Angelotti (Tosca). He has been engaged by the Teatro Municipal de Santiago, Canadian Opera Company, Vancouver Opera, Opéra de Montréal, Opera Atelier, Pacific Opera Victoria, Edmonton Opera, Opera Columbus, Opera Hamilton and Against the Grain Theatre.

A prize winner at the Lyndon Woodside Oratorio Solo Competition, hosted by the Oratorio Society of New York, Stephen Hegedus’ extensive concert experience includes appearances with the Vancouver and Seattle Symphonies (Mozart’s Requiem) , Winnipeg Symphony (Haydn’s Creation), the Grant Park Festival (Dvorak’s The Spectre’s Bride, Brahms’ Requiem), Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (Bernstein’s A Quiet Place), the Florida Orchestra (Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9), the Aldeburgh Festival (Bach’s B-minor Mass) and the Orchestre symphonique de Québec (Bach’s Magnificat).

Stephen Hegedus has performed Handel’s Messiah with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Seattle Symphony, Houston Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, the Vancouver Chamber Choir, Naples Philharmonic and Victoria Symphony.

His 2024/2025 season includes apperances as Publio in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito with Pacific Opera Victoria, Achis in Charpentier’s David et Jonathas with Opera Atelier, Mozart’s Coronation Mass with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, an all Bach program with Les Violons du Roy, and a return to the National Arts Centre to perform Handel’s Messiah.

A finalist at Placido Domingo’s Operalia, Stephen Hegedus made his Carnegie Hall debut singing Bach’s Mass in B-minor with the Oratorio Society of New York and later returned for Handel’s Messiah as well as with Les Violons du Roy.

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.