2023-24

Stéphane Tétreault

cello

Buzz Brass

PHOTO | Frédérik Robitaille

THE VOICE OF THE CELLO
cello & piano

Stephane Tetrault, cello

The cello is one of the more versatile instruments, and the love expressed for the instrument by composers past and present proves this fact. In this musical voyage across Europe, you will hear a sumptuous collection of transcendent and virtuosic works, both classics and discoveries, in the hands of the electrifying Canadian cellist Stéphane Tétreault.

Stéphane and his 1707 Stradivarius cello are accompanied by piano in an exploration of the rich capabilities of the cello as it recounts the voices of composers who strove to put forth a musical authenticity. Finding one’s voice in life is always a grand and meaningful undertaking, and master composers knew how to do it best.

Stéphane’s playing has been called “astonishingly mature not merely in its technical attributes but also in its warmth, brilliance and subtlety of colour and inflection” by Gramophone Magazine. In 2022, he was awarded the Prix Opus for Performer of the Year from the Conseil québécois de la musique.

 

Le violoncelle est l’un des instruments les plus versatiles et l’amour que lui portent des compositeurs d’hier et d’aujourd’hui tend à le prouver. Dans ce voyage musical à travers l’Europe, vous entendrez un fastueux recueil d’oeuvres transcendantes et virtuoses, tant des classiques que des découvertes, entre les mains de l’exaltant violoncelliste canadien Stéphane Tétreault. 

Stéphane et son Stradivarius de 1707 sont accompagnés au piano dans une exploration des grandes capacités du violoncelle, relatant les voix de compositeurs qui se sont efforcés de mettre une authenticité musicale en avant. Trouver sa voix dans la vie est toujours une entreprise grandiose et significative et les compositeurs de renom savaient comment y parvenir mieux que quiconque. 

Le jeu de Stéphane a été qualifié de “étonnamment mature, non seulement par ses qualités techniques, mais aussi par la chaleur, l’éclat et la subtilité des couleurs et des inflexions” par le Gramophone Magazine. En 2022, il a reçu le Prix Opus de l’Interprète de l’année, décerné par le Conseil québécois de la musique. 

CONCERTS

2023

Concert| 7:30 pm | Friday October 13, 2023
Winnipeg, MB | St. Andrew’s River Heights Church | Virtuosi Concerts Winnipeg

 Concert | Sunday October 15, 2023
Saskatoon, SK | Convocation Hall, University of Saskatchewan | U of S Amati Concert Series

Concert | 7:30 pm | Monday October 16, 2023
Yorkton, SK | St. Andrew’s United Church | Yorkton Arts Council

Concert | 7:30 pm | Friday October 20, 2023
High River, AB | High River United Church | High River Gift of Music

Concert | Saturday October 21, 2023
Rimbey, AB | Rimbey United Church | Rimbey Public Library

Concert | 7:30 pm | Sunday October 22, 2023
Camrose, AB | Jeanne & Peter Lougheed Performing Arts Centre

 

2022

Alberta Arts Touring Alliance of Alberta
SHOWCASE
| October 21 – 23, 2022
Fort Saskatchewan, AB | Dow Centennial Centre

“Tétreault plays with a maturity beyond his years. His talent looms large.”

Ian Cochrane, Bachtrack (November 2020)

Stephane Tetrault, celloi

PHOTO | Luc-Robitaille

Stéphane Tétreault
cello | VIOLONCELLE 

Stéphane Tétreault is the recipient of the prestigious 2019 Virginia Parker Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts in recognition of his outstanding talent, musicianship, artistic excellence, and his valuable contribution to artistic life in Canada and abroad.  He is laureate of the Prix Opus for “Performer of the Year” for the 2020-21 season, awarded by the Conseil québécois de la musique and accompanied by a Canada Council grant.

Chosen as the first ever Soloist-in-Residence of the Orchestre Métropolitain, Stéphane performed alongside Yannick Nézet-Séguin during the 2014-2015 season. In 2016, he made his solo debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival in Switzerland. The following year, Stéphane took part in the Orchestre Métropolitain’s first European tour, in concerts in Amsterdam, Cologne and Paris. In 2018, he made his debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Stéphane’s debut CD, recorded with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra and conductor Fabien Gabel, was selected as Editor’s Choice by Gramophone Magazine. A collaborative album featuring works by Haydn, Schubert and Brahms, created alongside pianist Marie-Ève Scarfone, received Gramophone Magazine’s Critic’s Choice 2016 and was recognized as one of the best albums of the year.

Stéphane was a student of the late cellist and conductor Yuli Turovsky for more than 10 years. He holds a master’s degree in Music Performance from the University of Montreal, and plays the 1707 Countess of Stainlein, Ex-Paganini Stradivarius cello, generously loaned to him by Mrs. Sophie Desmarais.

> stephanetetreault.com

COLLABORATIVE PIANISTS

Akiko Tominaga | violin | presented by Prairie Debut

Akiko Tominaga

ALBERTA CONCERTS

Born in Japan and raised in the United States, pianist Akiko Tominaga has been hailed by critics and audiences across North America, Europe and Japan. She began her studies at age four, and made her solo debut in 1992 playing the Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Her solo and chamber performances have been broadcasted on CBC and Radio-Canada. Akiko has performed with the Bridgeport Symphony, Reading Symphony, Interschool Orchestra of New York, as well as Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. Her solo recital entitled “Postcards from Afar” received much acclaim in Ottawa in the Master Piano Recital Series in 2015.

An avid chamber musician, Akiko has collaborated with notable musicians including Diana Cohen, Franklin Cohen, Anne-Julie Caron, Elbjorg Hemsing, Michael Foyle, Amanda Forsyth, Teng Li, Roberto Diaz, Benjamin Butterfield, Tyler Duncan and Norman Fischer. She is a founding member of the piano trio Trio Lajoie in Montreal, which also features violinist Ariane Lajoie and cellist Julie Hereish. In October 2014, the trio gave numerous concerts throughout the Maritime provinces with the Debut Atlantic. Their debut CD has been nominated for the Prix Opus Award in 2014.

A resident of Calgary since 2007, Akiko has appeared in numerous concerts with the Instrumental Society of Calgary and the Faculty and Friends series at the Eckhardt Gramatté hall. She has also collaborated on projects with the Land’s End Ensemble.

Ms. Tominaga holds a Bachelor of Music Degree from the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music where she studied with Eleanor Sokoloff, an Artist Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music studying with John Perry, and a Doctorate of Music from the Université de Montréal under the guidance of Marc Durand. She has been invited to give master classes, lectures and adjudicate festivals in Alberta and British Columbia, and was on the faculty of University of Lethbridge. She currently teaches at Mount Royal Conservatory in Calgary, where she is a faculty member of the Academy for the Gifted Youth Program.

> akikotominaga.com

Sandra Murray, collaborative pianist  Prairie Debut 2024-25 season

Sandra Murray

MANITOBA & SASKATCHEWAN CONCERTS

 

Pianist Sandra Murray has appeared with the Pro Musica and Debut series, the Orford Arts Centre, the Lachine Festival, and the Lanaudière International Festival. She is heard frequently on Radio-Canada and with several orchestras. As a chamber musician, Sandra has played with artists including Yossif Ivanov, Yeonathan Berick, Jonathan Crow, and the Alcan Quartet.

As a member of the Ouellet-Murray piano duo, she toured for the Jeunesses Musicales du Canada, performed at the Festival International de Duo-Piano du Québec, the Festival Orgue et couleurs de Montréal, the Festival de musique des Basses-Laurentides, as well as a “Jouer dans l’île” tour in Montreal. In the spring of 2001, the duo released their second album on the Riche Lieu label.

For several years, Sandra Murray has been invited to the Orford Arts Centre to support the classes of Janos Starker, Paul Katz, Robert Langevin, James Campbell, and Laurence Lesser. Thanks to grants from the Quebec Ministry of Culture, Sandra Murray took part in the first international chamber music meeting in Jerusalem, working with Emmanuel Axe, Yo-Yo Ma, Isaac Stern, and Yefim Bronfmann, before heading to Italy to deepen her vocal repertoire.

Sandra originally trained with Carlos Feliciati at the Chicoutimi Music Conservatory, where she obtained her piano and chamber music prizes. She studied with Julian Martin at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore before returning to Montreal to obtain a master’s degree from McGill University under the direction of Dale Bartlett. Sandra is currently a teacher-accompanist at the Montreal Conservatory of Music.

PHOTO CREDIT | Frédérik Robitaille

“What a delightful discovery this disk was; and unflashy cover, and a young cellist whose name was completely unknown to me. Yet, after no more than four bars Tétreault had my full attention, so charmed was I by his elegance, lyricism and faithful yet personality filled readings. In fact the whole of Tétreault’s disc, which is also two-thirds arrangements but not of the news-grabbing variety, charmed me from the off; from his Haydn Divertimento, through Schubert’s A minor Arpeggione Sonata and on to the Brahms, this is just pure, lyrical, unadulterated playing of the highest order, with a maturity that belies his 22 years… I can’t wait to hear more from him. 

– Charlotte Gardner – Gramophone

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