Musique de chambre au Monastère - Bach dans l'espace

At the age of eleven, Jean-Louis Blouin began to concentrate on the viola. From 1989 to 1993 he studied at the Montréal Conservatory, where he obtained a higher education diploma. He then studied with Jutta Puchhammer at the University of Montréal, where he completed a Master’s degree in interpretation.

Since 1996, Jean-Louis Blouin has been a permanent member of Les Violons du Roy and appears in several of the group’s recordings, including J.S. Bach’s Art of Fugue and Psalm 51. His interest in Baroque music and experience with early instruments has also led to performances with other specialized groups, primarily as a violist but also on the Baroque violin.

Audiences have heard him perform with the Tafelmusik and Aradia ensembles from Toronto, at the Lamèque International Baroque Music Festival, and in Quebec with the Montreal Baroque Orchestra; Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal; the Arion, Les Boréades, and La Chamaille ensembles; as well as Masques, with which he produced a recording of Bach concertos for harpsichord on the Analekta label.

Jean-Louis Blouin plays a Giuseppe Pedrazzini viola, Milan ca 1930, and uses a Louis Gillet viola bow, ca 1965, generously provided by CANIMEX INC. of Drummondville (Quebec).

Angélique Duguay has been a member of Les Violons du Roy since 1996. Her studies were at McGill University with Thomas Williams, Richard Roberts and Mauricio Fuks, where she received both a Bachelor of Music and an Artist Diploma.

She began her career performing with Orchestre symphonique de Laval, Les Jeunes Virtuoses de Montréal, and other groups. She was also a member of Opéra Rouen’s Orchestre Léonard de Vinci during a stay in Europe. She continues to make regular appearances with Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Opéra de Montréal, and La Sinfonia de Lanaudière.

She was part of Les Violons du Roy’s Vivica Genaux, airs de Handel et Hasse recording on Virgin Classics and other recordings. She has also taken part in all Les Violons du Roy’s international tours and is much in demand for private recording sessions.

Angélique Duguay plays a Joseph Ceruti, Cremone violin, 1825, generously provided by CANIMEX INC. of Drummondville (Quebec).

Canadian violinist Katya Poplyansky is a prizewinner at numerous competitions including the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts, Tunbridge Wells and Eckhardt-Gramatté competitions, where she was awarded the prize for the best performance of the commissioned work, Carmen Braden’s Foxy Fox’s Musical Games. An accomplished chamber musician, she has been invited to participate in North American and European festivals, including the Toronto Summer Music Festival, IMS Prussia Cove (UK), Festival Jong Talent Schiermonnikoog (Netherlands), Hvide Sande Masterclass (Denmark), and the Smithsonian Haydn Quartet Academy (USA). She has also collaborated with Amici Chamber Ensemble and the ARC Ensemble. She is currently serving as first violin of the Isabel Quartet at Queen’s University as well as concertmaster of the Kingston Symphony Orchestra. In July 2024, she was named co-concertmaster of Les Violons du Roy in Québec City.

Katya Poplyansky is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, the Guildhall School and the Royal Conservatory’s Glenn Gould School, where she was also a Rebanks Fellow. Her teachers include Paul Kantor, Barry Shiffman, David Takeno, Ida Kavafian, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Oleg Pokhanovski, Atis Bankas, Victor Danchenko, Inga Granovskaya, and Joseph Silverstein. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Toronto, studying with Jonathan Crow. Thanks to the generosity of the company Canimex Inc. from Drummondville, Québec, Canada, she is able to perform on a Giuseppe Guarneri “del Gesù” violin, Cremona, ca. 1726-29, “Schroetter”, as well as a Sartory bow and a Dipper baroque bow.

Pascale Gagnon graduated from the University of Montréal with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees under the direction of Jean-François Rivest, and went to complete training sessions at the Orford Arts Centre, Le Domaine Forget in Saint-Irénée and the Banff Center for the Arts in Alberta.

Pascale Gagnon is a founding member of the Quatuor Bozzini (1994-1997), which won Second Prize in the CIBC National Competition in 1995, and First Prize in the “Debut” series in 1997. The Quartet is well known for its work in the contemporary music field, and in 1996 was invited to take part in the international forum for young composers in collaboration with Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (NEM).

Pascale Gagnon was the concertmaster of the University of Montréal orchestra for the last three years of her student career, and toured in Spain in 1994. As a soloist and chamber musician, she took part in 1997 in two concerts recorded by CBC for the “Jeunes Artistes” series, and has also appeared with various professional ensembles including L’Orchestre Métropolitain, L’Orchestre symphonique de Laval, I Musici, La Pietà and La Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ). Pascale Gagnon has been a member of the chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy since May 2001.

Pascale Gagnon plays a Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, Paris, Guarneri model, 1850 violin, and uses an Émile-François Ouchard, (father), ca. 1930 bow, generously provided by CANIMEX INC. of Drummondville (Quebec).

Raphaël Dubé is no stranger to the concert stage— as an orchestra member, chamber musician, or soloist. As a member of the Les Violons du Roy since 2008, he brings the same intensity to the repertoire of all periods and partakes in a wide variety of musical activities. He has been repeatedly hailed by critics and appeared several times as a soloist with Les Violons du Roy, the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and Montreal Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra. He has twice appeared at New York’s Carnegie Hall as a member of the Amity Players Piano Quartet and has released a recording of Brahms’ piano quartets with that ensemble. He can also be heard with harpist Valérie Milot in a chamber music recording on the Analekta label. Recently he appeared as a chamber musician at festivals in Bic and Sackville.

Raphaël Dubé knew from the first that he was destined to be a musician. His main instructors were Monique and Walter Joachim, Carole Sirois, and Timothy Eddy. Before joining Les Violons du Roy, he spent the 2007–2008 season with the New World Symphony.

Raphaël Dubé plays a cello made by Giovanni Grancino c. 1695–1700, generously provided by Canimex Inc. of Drummondville, Quebec.