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Bio coming soon.
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Alexander Weimann is one of the most sought-after ensemble directors, soloists, and chamber music partners of his generation. After traveling the world with ensembles like Tragicomedia, Cantus Cölln, the Freiburger Barockorchester, the Gesualdo Consort and Tafelmusik, he now focuses on his activities as Artistic Director of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra in Vancouver, and as music director of Les Voix Baroques, Le Nouvel Opéra and Tempo Rubato.
Recently, he has conducted the Montreal-based baroque orchestra Ensemble Arion, Les Violons du Roy, and the Portland Baroque Orchestra; both the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra have regularly featured him as a featured soloist. In the last years, he has repeatedly conducted the Victoria Symphony and Symphony Nova Scotia, most recently with Handel’s “Messiah”.
Alexander Weimann can be heard on some 100 CDs. He made his North American recording debut with the ensemble Tragicomedia on the CD Capritio (Harmonia Mundi USA), and won worldwide acclaim from both the public and critics for his 2001 release of Handel’s Gloria (ATMA Classique). Volume 1 of his recordings of the complete keyboard works by Alessandro Scarlatti appeared in May 2005. Critics around the world unanimously praised it, and in the following year it was nominated for an Opus Prize as the best Canadian early music recording. Recently, he has also released an Opus Award-winning CD of Handel oratorio arias with superstar soprano Karina Gauvin and his new Montreal-based ensemble Tempo Rubato, a recording of Bach’s St. John’s Passion, various albums with Les Voix Baroques of Buxtehude, Carissimi and Purcell, all with rave reviews. His latest album with Karina Gauvin and Arion Baroque Orchestra (Prima Donna) won a Juno Award in 2013, and a complete recording of Handel’s Orlando was released in the fall of 2013, with an exciting group of international star soloists and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra performing.
Alexander Weimann was born in 1965 in Munich, where he studied the organ, church music, musicology (with a summa cum laude thesis on Bach’s secco recitatives), theatre, medieval Latin, and jazz piano, supported by a variety of
federal scholarships for the highly talented. In addition to his studies, he has attended numerous master classes in harpsichord and historical performance. To ground himself further in the roots of western music, he became intensely involved over the course of several years with Gregorian chant.
Alexander Weimann has just moved to the Vancouver area with his wife, 3 children and pets, and tries to spend as much time as possible in his garden and kitchen.
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Internationally renowned Acadian soprano Suzie LeBlanc's singing career includes performances and widely acclaimed recordings with keyboardists, chamber ensembles and orchestras in new, early and traditional repertoires.
She received the Order of Canada (2015) and four honorary doctorates for her prolific performances of early music, as well as for her contribution to Acadian culture. In 2021, she was the recipient of the Prix Éloize for the most distinguished artist outside Acadia. She commissioned eleven Canadian compositions set to the poetry of Pulitzer-Prize recipient Elizabeth Bishop and recorded them on the album “I am in need of music” which won an ECMA for Best Classical Recording. Ms. LeBlanc began her career as a well-known performer and scholar of Baroque repertoire. Residing in Europe between 1987 and 1999, she performed on main stages such as Het Concertgebouw, De Nederlandse Opera, The Vienna Konzerthaus,Wigmore Hall and the Proms in London. She toured Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, the US and South America with world leading early music ensembles. In 1998, she was invited to perform for the former president of Czechoslovakia, Václav Havel, at the Canadian Embassy in Prague.
Returning to Montreal in the year 2000, she performed with major symphony orchestras on both sides of the border. In 2005, she founded Le Nouvel Opéra, a Montreal-based company that produces baroque opera and contemporary works. Three of Le Nouvel Opéra’s productions were featured in Early Music Vancouver’s Summer Festival (2005, 2006 and 2008).
Her thirst and curiosity for new vistas led her to expand her repertoire from mainly Baroque to a full range of classical and modern, as well as improvisation. After her Mozart lieder album with the renowned conductor and pianist Yannick Nezet-Seguin, she recorded works of Olivier Messiaen, winning a Quebec Opus award for best contemporary music recording, explored the art of improvisation with the ensemble Mélosphère on the CD "Tempi con Variazioni," which won an Opus Award for best World Music. Fascinated by the music of her native land, she recorded three CDs of Acadian traditional music (ATMA). Her recordings, numbered at 70, have received international praise and several prestigious awards: a Grammy award for Lully's “Thésée” and a CINI award (Italy) for the opera "Orfeo" by Sartorio, in which she sings the leading role.
Moved by the migrations and upheavals of her Acadian ancestors, she created a multimedia performance with composer Jerôme Blais: “mouvance” unites the words of 13 contemporary Acadian poets to Blais’s original music. The pivotal project will be released as a CD in November of 2023.
In January 2021, Suzie took on the role of Artistic and Executive Director of Early Music Vancouver, where she now resides.
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Alana Wilcox is the Editorial Director of Coach House Books, an independent literary publisher of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. She sits on the board of the Association of Canadian Publishers and is the recipient of the 2018 Janice Handford Award and the 2023 Ivy Award for her contributions to literary publishing in Canada.
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