Angèle Dubeau et La Pietà

Territory represented: Canada

One of Canada’s most prominent virtuoso violinists, Angèle Dubeau has performed on the world’s greatest stages in a spectacular career that has spanned thirty years and over thirty countries. While her talent, virtuosity and musicality have been recognized with many awards over the years, audiences have adopted her above all for her captivating performances, her generosity, her passion, her unparalleled communications skills, and her exceptional ability to connect with them. In fact, Dubeau is the only Canadian classical musician to have achieved two Gold Records for sales of 50,000 copies of a classical recording. Over her career, she has sold 400,000 discs.

Angèle Dubeau’s path as a musician is an exceptional one. She obtained a First Prize from the Montréal Conservatory of Music at the age of 15, studying with Raymond Dessaints. She continued her studies in New York with the renowned teacher Dorothy Delay at the Julliard School of Music, and, from 1981 to 1984, further honed her art with Stefan Gheorghiu in Romania. Her talent has been recognized with many national and international awards,* and she has performed the great concertos of the repertoire as a guest soloist with numerous international orchestras.

Convinced of the need to introduce classical music to a wider audience, Dubeau has been a pioneer in programming and hosting gala concerts and weekly music television programs such as the famous Radio-Canada show Faites vos gammes. From 1995 to 2006, she hosted and directed the popular Fête de la musique music festival in Mont- Tremblant, which attracts over 50,000 music lovers annually.

Transformed by this same desire to innovate, she founded La Pietà in 1997, an all-female string ensemble that varies in size from eight to twelve of Canada’s best musicians. What she could not have known at the time was that this experiment, originally conceived of for periodic recordings, would gradually occupy all of her time. From early on, the ensemble gained a solid reputation, playing Canada’s most prestigious venues and on television. “Precise attacks, excellent ensemble playing and energy… One would think oneself magically transported to the blessed era of the Solisti di Zagreb… passion, presence… The musicians’ smiles are contagious, even more so because they are conveyed by way of both mouth and ears,” noted Le Devoir in July 1998. Known for their exceptional virtuosity and impeccable precision, their rich interpretations, but above all the contagious happiness that enlivens their stage presence, Angèle Dubeau and La Pietà have crisscrossed the Americas and Asia for the last ten years. The Los Angeles Times noted that “Dubeau is an exciting, dynamic fiddler… The performances were consistently robust and inquiring, taking nothing for granted… Dubeau’s well-drilled band played with agility, power, a nicely weighted sound and a fierce joy in the doing.”

The group recently released Fairy Tale, a recording of some of Dubeau’s favourite pieces and, according to Christophe Huss of Le Devoir, “their finest disc ever.” They have also just released a very special “musical birthday card,” featuring a number of variations on the theme of Happy Birthday.

Angèle Dubeau’s lengthy discography has been lauded by critics. In April 2007, BBC Music Magazine praised her disc Solo, celebrating her 30 years in the music business, in glowing terms: “… rich and vibrant, and performed with a passion…” Gramophone, referring to the same recording, noted that “Dubeau performs it all with terrific verve and style.” The Strad pointed out that one “needs to be an exceptional communicator to make a success of an unaccompanied violin disc. Dubeau evidently is: you feel she has a tale to tell…”

To celebrate its 10th birthday, La Pietà is undertaking a 65-concert tour across Canada, the US and Mexico.

Angèle Dubeau has received several honours for her exceptional contributions to music:

• Member of the Order of Canada (1996)
• Knight of the Ordre national du Québec (2004)
• Calixa-Lavallée Prize of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste (1996)

* Over the years, she has won the following awards:

• First Prize, Canadian Music Competition, 1976
• First Prize, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Competition, 1976
• First Prize Radio-Canada National Competition, 1979
• Sylva Gelber Award, given annually to the most talented Canadian artist, 1982
• Winner of the Tibor Varga International Competition in Switzerland, 1983
• Americas Prize at the Viña del Mar International Competition in Chili, 1985
• Soloist of the Year, 1987, awarded by the French-language public radio networks of France, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada
• Classical Album of the Year (ADISQ, Félix Award 1990)
• Classical Album of the Year (ADISQ, 2 Félix Awards 1993)
• Classical Album of the Year (ADISQ, Félix Award 1994)
• Classical Album of the Year (ADISQ, Félix Award 1995)
• Classical Album of the Year (ADISQ, Félix Award 1997)
• People’s choice award (CQM, Opus Award 1998)
• Classical Album of the Year — Soloist and small ensemble (ADISQ, Félix Award 1999)
• Classical Album of the Year — Soloist and small ensemble (ADISQ, Félix Award 2000)
• People’s choice award, Jean Grimaldi Hall, 2002
• Classical Album of the Year — Soloist and small ensemble (ADISQ, Félix Award 2007)

Angèle Dubeau Discography

• Fauré, Contant, Champagne
• Fauré, Leclair, Debussy: French Sonatas forViolin and Piano (with Andrew Tunis, piano)
• Prokoviev, Tchaikovsky, Kabalevsky: Concertos for Violin (with Kiev Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Igor Blazhkov)
• Schubert: Three Sonatas for Violin and Piano (with Anton Kuerti, piano)
• Adoration: Sacred Music (with Les Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal)
• Sibelius, Glazunov: Concertos for violon (with Bulgarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Ivan Marinov)
• Paganini, de Falla, Piazzolla: Works for Violin and Guitar (with Alvaro Pierri, guitar)
• Telemann: Twelve Fantasias for Violin without Bass
• Promenades, Five Madrigal Stanzas and other Trio Sonatas (avec Alain Marion, Angèle Dubeau and Marc-André Hamelin)
• Opus Québec: Composers of Québec (with Louise-Andrée Baril, piano)
• On Wings of Song (with Ensemble Amati, under the direction of Raymond Dessaints)
• Telemann: Sonatas for two Violins
• Mozart: Opera for Two (with Alain Marion, flute)
• Mendelssohn: Concertos for Violin (with Orchestre Métropolitain, under the direction of Joseph Rescigno)
• SOLO

Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà Discography

• Vivaldi per archi
• Lullabies and Forbidden Games
• Let’s Dance
• Once upon a Time…
• Infernal Violins
• Violins of the World
• Passion
• «Happy Birthday» Variations
• Fairy Tale

Angèle Dubeau plays the “Des Rosiers” Stradavarius violin (1733).