Since 1956, Les Concerts Couperin has been presenting chamber music by renowned musicians, and for several years now, by up-and-coming young chamber musicians and soloists, in a setting that facilitates close contact between audience and artists. Initially dedicated to the performance of French Baroque music, the Concerts Couperin have gradually broadened the scope of the repertoire presented, giving pride of place to contemporary Canadian creation.
With over 275 concerts to its credit, this non-profit organization has given Quebec City residents the opportunity to hear some of the world’s greatest performers, including Jeanne Landry, Pierre Boutet, the duo Victor Bouchard and Renée Morisset, Jacqueline Martel, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Bruno Laplante, Alexandre Lagoya and Catherine Eisenhoffer, Raoul Sosa, Scott Ross, André Laplante, Michel Ducharme, harpsichordist Richard Paré, pianist Monique De Margerie, baritone Robert Huard, Quatuor Arthur Leblanc, mezzo-soprano Claudine Ledoux, Hugo Laporte, Marie-Andrée Mathieu, as well as musicians with the renowned Violons du Roy and L’Orchestre symphonique de Québec. More recently, Concerts Couperin has had the privilege of welcoming a new generation of musicians: violinist Marie Bégin, pianists Jean-Michel Dubé and Rosemarie Duval-Laplante, the Xu brothers, the Carrier family, Samuel Gagnon-Blanchette, Louis-Charles Gagnon, Bruce Gaulin, Anne-Sophie Paquet, Carmen Bruno, Bruce Gaulin, Mélissa Tremblay, Lauréanne Houde, William Foy, Simon Desbiens, Marie-Andrée Mathieu, and others.
The Concerts Couperin also aim to be an active and accessible musical memory. In keeping with the musical initiatives of the organization’s founders, the Concerts Couperin actively contribute to enriching the musical landscape of Quebec City, through the renewal of their musical seasons and the diversity of their guest artists. From the outset, the Concerts Couperin’s main concern has been to support the Capitale-Nationale’s up-and-coming classical musicians by offering them a privileged showcase, outside educational institutions.
photo : David Ohmer
PROGRAMMING
Ravel meets Gershwin
Holy Trinity Cathedral, 31 des Jardins Street
Rosemarie Duval-Laplante and Jean-Michel Dubé join forces with 4 hands to present Ravel and Gershwin: two continents, two cultures, two geniuses! Discover their worlds of impressionist colors and jazz rhythms in works written for 4 hands and arrangements with Ravelian sonorities. Travel from Paris to New York in the first half of the 20th century in the company of these mutually admired composers, who, coincidentally, died in the same year.
This concert features commentary to guide the listener through the music of Ravel (France) and Gershwin (USA). These explanations help us to understand their influences, their creative processes in the context of the times, and the impact of their works on each other. For example, Ravel incorporated jazz into his music, while Gershwin admired Ravel to the point of asking him for composition lessons. The works presented are written or arranged for 4-hand piano.
Guest artist: Samuel Blanchette-Gagnon, solo piano
General Admission : $31,75 | Students : $16,75 | Free for children under 12 years old
Romantic
Holy Trinity Cathedral, 31 des Jardins Street
Juan Gonzalo Jimenez Echeverri, piano
Guest: Rose Lebeau-Sabourin, soprano
Presentation: France Ducasse, writer
In collaboration with the poets of French America
The guest Rose Lebeau Sabourin will sing six melodies by Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelsshon. She has received several awards and distinctions, including the Concours d’Art Lyrique de la Relève Musicale, the NATS Student Auditions and the Kiwanis Music Festival in Ottawa. Finally, she is a scholarship holder of the Académie du domaine Forget de Charlevoix at the 2024 National Capital Music Competition. The guest pianist Laurent Porter will play a Prelude and Fugue by Bach and a Sonata by Scarlatti.
General Admission : $31,75 | Students : $16,75 | Free for children under 12 years old
Puisque tout passe
Holy Trinity Cathedral, 31 des Jardins Street
Meslanges, a cappella quartet
Renaissance and 20th century music
Guest: Evan Shi, violin
Works by Lassus, Costeley, Goudumel, Jannequin, Hindemith, Ravel, Saint-Saëns, Debussy, Poulenc, et al.
An assortment of polyphonic a cappella songs from the Renaissance and the 20th century on the theme of nature set to music by the great French poets.
General Admission : $31,75 | Students : $16,75 | Free for children under 12 years old
Charles Gagnon encounters Bach and Mozart
Holy Trinity Cathedral, 31 rue des Jardins
With Brett Molzan, violin 1 • Roxane Michaud, violin 2 • William Foy, viola • Simon Desbiens, cello • Nathalie Tremblay, piano
Guest: Arthur McNabney, pianist
Presentation: Louise Pelland, multidisciplinary artist
A stroll through time with Bach’s Concerto in A major accompanied by a string quartet, a Mozart quartet and a creation by Charles Gagnon inspired by these two great composers.
Conference with the composer Charles Gagnon before the concert at 13:30.
In collaboration with the Conservatoire de musique de Québec
General Admission : $31,75 | Students : $16,75 | Free for children under 12 years old
Les vagues du temps
Chapelle du Séminaire, 2 Côte de la Fabrique
This concert presents itself as a sea trip full of loves and sorrows. The works presented alternate between the peaceful waves of the beginning of a journey at sea, the sweet feeling of a woman for her beloved, the bravery awakened by the maritime storm, the fear of losing the loved one and the pain of having lost him. Finally, the sacred hymn ‘Nearer, my God, to Thee’, as a last prayer before the inevitable shipwreck. Musical tribute to the history of the Titanic, this concert is a dive into emotions under cover of elegant, refined music, until the indestructible.
To accompany the TITANIC exhibition at the Museum of Civilization
With Evelyne Larochelle, soprano and Richard Paré, harpsichord and organ
Guest: Owen Davoll, cello
Supported by the Laforge Foundation of the Musée de la civilisation.
Commented concert
General admission $34.49 | Friends of the Musée de la civilisation $31.04 | Student $17.25
Folklores en écho
Chapelle du Séminaire, 2 Côte de la Fabrique
The tones of the guitar and the oboe harmonize naturally, pairing different folk sounds. From the Middle East to Argentina, passing through Spain, music will testify to the evolution of a style, by mixing cultures. In addition, an arrangement for guitar and oboe of the work Nearer my God to thee by Sarah Flower Adams will be played to commemorate the sinking of Titanic, exhibition which will be at the Musée de la civilisation.
Anne-Frédérique Gagnon, guitar and Emma Ahern, oboe
Guest: Le Minh Nguyen, guitarist (15 years old) – 1st prize category 3, Albania International Guitar competition
Commented concert
Including an instrumental work to accompany the exhibition Titanic (Nearer my God to see)
General admission 34,49$ | Friends of the Musée de la civilisation 31,04$ | Student 17,25$
Ce désir de profondeur
Chapelle du Séminaire, 2 Côte de la Fabrique
Mezzo-soprano Marie-Andrée Mathieu, pianist Nathalie Tremblay and clarinettist Stéphane Fontaine present a concert entitled This Desire for Depth. This includes two cycles of melodies by German romantic composers Louis Spohr and Johannes Brahms, as well as works by Quebec composers Éric Champagne and Nathalie Tremblay.
To accompany the permanent exhibition on Quebec
With Marie-Andrée Mathieu, mezzo-soprano, Stéphane Fontaine, clarinet
and Nathalie Tremblay, piano
Guest: Anne-Sophie Laliberté, cello
General admission 34,49$ | Friends of the Musée de la civilisation 31,04$ | Student 17,25$
Fantaisies en perspective
The importance of Bach for Chopin and Schumann. To hear the exploration of the fanciful styles of these composers and the evolution of contrapuntal style towards a more harmonic and sequential language.
Emmanuel Roberts Dugal, pianist
Guest: Le Tuong Nguyen, guitarist – 2nd prize category 1, Albania International Guitar competition
Commented concert
General admission 34,49$ | Friends of the Musée de la civilisation 31,04$ | Student 17,25$
Gallery
