The chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy borrows its name from the
renowned string orchestra of the court of the French kings. The group,
which has a core membership of fifteen players, was brought together in
1984 by music director Bernard Labadie and specializes in the vast
repertoire of music for chamber orchestra, performed in the stylistic
manner most appropriate to each era. Although the ensemble plays on
modern instruments, its approach to the works of the Baroque and
Classical periods has been strongly influenced by current research into
performance practice in the 17th and early 18th centuries; in this
repertoire Les Violons du Roy uses copies of period bows. The orchestra
has been widely acclaimed for the exceptional energy, brilliance and
vitality of its performances. In recent seasons, under the leadership of
first guest conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni, the orchestra has begun to
explore 19th and 20th century repertoire in more depth.
Les
Violons du Roy is at the heart of the music scene in Québec City, where
it has been in residence at the Palais Montcalm since 2007. The
orchestra is well known throughout Canada thanks to the numerous
concerts and recordings broadcast by Société Radio-Canada and CBC, and
its regular presence at music festivals. Les Violons du Roy first
performed in Europe in 1988 and has since given dozens of concerts in
France, Germany, England, Spain and the Netherlands, with
internationally-renowned soloists including Magdalena Kozená, David
Daniels and Vivica Genaux. The orchestra has been asked to perform twice
at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. A new European tour has been planned
for fall 2011.
Since its first performance in Washington in
1995, Les Violons du Roy has extended its performance network in the
United States and now makes regular stops in New York, Chicago and Los
Angeles. The orchestra has been heard frequently on NPR, and is now
represented by the Opus 3 Artists agency. The high point of the
2009-2010 season was the performances of Handel's
Messiah and Bach's
Christmas Oratorio
with La Chapelle de Québec and an outstanding array of soloists
(Rosemary Joshua, David Daniels, Jan Kobow, Andrew Foster-Williams and
Joshua Hopkins), part of a US tour that took the orchestra and choir to
Carnegie Hall in New York and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
The concerts received remarkably positive reviews, in particular from
the
New York Times and
Los Angeles Times.
The
twenty-one recordings made by Les Violons du Roy have been acclaimed by
critics and earned various distinctions and awards at the national and
international levels. Of twelve CDs released by DORIAN, two won Juno
Awards (
Apollo e Dafne (Handel) and
Requiem (Mozart)).
Since 2004, the association with the Québec label ATMA has led to six
CDs, including Water Music, recorded in the Raoul-Jobin Hall in the new
Palais Montcalm and winner of a Félix Award in 2008;
Piazzolla, conducted by Jean-Marie Zeitouni and winner of a Juno Award in 2006; and Britten,
Les Illuminations
with soprano Karina Gauvin, also directed by Jean-Marie Zeitouni and
released in summer 2010. The CD Bonbons, also on ATMA label, was
released in fall 2010. The group's first collaboration with the
multinational VIRGIN CLASSICS label led to the release in fall 2006 of a
CD of cantata arias by Handel and Hasse with US mezzo-soprano Vivica
Genaux. Two other recordings have been made with VIRGIN CLASSICS
featuring C.P.E. Bach's cello concertos with the Norwegian cellist Truls
Mørk and J.S. Bach's keyboard concertos with the French pianist
Alexandre Tharaud. The most recent recording, presenting arias by
Mozart, Haydn, Gluck and Graun with the contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux,
was produced for the NAÏVE label. The orchestra Les Violons du Roy is a
proud member of Orchestras Canada, the national association representing
Canada's orchestras.
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