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Concert Series: Music at Saint John the Baptist

Please join us on April 12, 2020 at 4:30 PM for a special closing concert celebrating Beethoven's 250th birthday.


The event will feature three organists: Matthieu, Francine, and their guest artist Christophe Gauthier. They will even share the bench as a trio! The programme will include a transcription of Beethoven’s Symphony #5. Admission is by donation. A reception will follow, during which light refreshments will be served.



ABOUT THE CONCERT SERIES


Starting November 10, 2019, a new series of performances will be presented at our Church on the second Sunday of each month, usually at 4:30 PM. A detailed concert calendar can be found below.


Organists Matthieu Latreille and Francine Nguyen-Savaria are excited to join Olivier Lavoir-Gagné, our organist and choir director, to launch a series of concerts entitled Music at Saint John the Baptist. Former Directors of Music at St. Thomas Anglican Church in Belleville, Ontario, Matthieu and Francine are accomplished musicians with impressive resumes. They are active on the Canadian concert scene both as soloists and as a duo (visit the "Organ Duo" couple's website). A more detailed biography can be found below.


The Montreal Gazette published an article about the concert series on November 14, 2019.



FULL CONCERT CALENDAR


November 10, 2019: Matthieu and Francine will launch the series themselves with an organ concert featuring the great Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach, along with other masterpieces from the great Kappelmeister and another giant of the organ world: French composer Louis Vierne, who was organist at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris from 1900 to 1937.


December 15, 2019: Olivier Lavoie-Gagné will direct St. John the Baptist's choir in a special Service of Lessons and Carols. Inherited from the beloved tradition of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, the Lessons and Carols combine traditional readings with Christmas choral works and carols. For more information: https://www.churchsjb.org/news/a-festival-of-nine-lessons-and-carols-concert-series


January 12, 2020: Matthieu and Francine will be back at the organ to collaborate with oboist Mélissa Tremblay. From Rimouski, Quebec, Tremblay is a laureate of the prestigious Prix d'Europe competition and has studied at the Rimouski Conservatory of Music and University of Montreal. She is currently completing her studies at the Colburn School of Music in Los Angeles.


February 9, 2020: We will be treated to the unique combination of the deep tones of the trombone with the strength of the organ. A musician since his childhood, Jean-Mathieu Royer graduated with honours from the Montreal Conservatory of Music, obtaining his master's degree in 2016. He has played in a variety of music ensembles throughout the greater Montreal area, be it classical, jazz or popular.


March 8, 2020: Today cellist Dominique Beauséjour-Ostiguy will present two beloved solo cello suites by Johann Sebastian Bach. She will be joined by Matthieu and Francine to present romantic works for cello and organ. Also a laureate of the Prix d'Europe competition, Beauséjour-Ostiguy was recognized as one of CBC Music's “30 hot Canadian classical musicians under 30” in 2018.


April 12, 2020: The special closing concert will celebrate Beethoven's 250th birthday. The event will feature three organists: Matthieu, Francine, and their guest artist Christophe Gauthier. They will even share the bench as a trio! The programme will include a transcription of Beethoven’s Symphony #5.



ORGANISTS' BIOGRAPHIES


Matthieu Latreille has performed in Canada, the USA and France. His recordings have also been broadcasted in North America and Europe. He holds degrees from the Gatineau Conservatory of Music (GCM) and the Montreal Conservatory of Music (MCM). He studied organ at the GCM with Danielle Dubé, where he was awarded the Prix du lieutenant-gouverneur du Québec in 2005. He pursued his studies at the MCM with Jean Le Buis, where he was awarded the Prix avec grande distinction à l'unanimité du jury in 2007. He then attended the post-graduate class working on the music of Maurice Duruflé until June 2008. He was the first Quebecer to perform Duruflé's complete organ work in a single concert. He won first prize at both the Lynnwood Farnam and the Osborne competitions. Between 2006 and 2011, Matthieu served as organist-choirmaster at Notre Dame de Grâce and St. Augustine of Canterbury parishes in Montreal. In 2018, he released his first solo CD dedicated to early twentieth-century French organist-composers.


Francine Nguyen-Savaria is originally from Montreal, where she entered the piano class of the Montreal Conservatory of Music at the age of sixteen. Two years later, she entered the organ class, studying under Jean Le Buis. She graduated from the Conservatory in May 2011. She is the recipient of many prizes and scholarships, including the Lorna Holmes and the John Goss scholarships from the Royal Canadian College of Organists. Francine completed her graduate studies at the University of Southern California in December 2013. She was Director of Music for Saint Ambrose Episcopal Church in Claremont California. In 2014, she performed the complete organ work of Johannes Brahms at the Calgary Organ Festival and Symposium. She also played with the Calgary Civic Symphony for the same festival. She has also given recitals at venues including the Saint Joseph Oratory in Montreal, and in Los Angeles, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels and the Cathedral Center of Saint Paul (Episcopal).


Matthieu and Francine lived in Los Angeles for two years before moving to Belleville, Ontario, where they jointly held the Director of Music position at St. Thomas Anglican Church from 2014 to 2019. There, they founded Saint Thomas' Choral Academy and Music at St. Thomas', a concert series that they still direct. The couple now produces additional concert series in Quebec at the Church of Saint John the Baptist in Pointe-Claire and Granby United Church.




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