Francœur: Strings, strife, and the court of the king

ARTISTS

Marie Nadeau-Tremblay, Baroque violin
Tristan Best, viol
Kerry Bursey, voice and lute

Marie Nadeau-Tremblay (Baroque violin), Tristan Best (viol), and Kerry Bursey (voice and lute) invite you to discover François Francœur through the art of French music. From instrumental pieces to sung airs de cour, this expressive trio presents a repertoire where love and betrayal intermingle with Couperin, Marais, and Lambert.

 

PLANNED TOUR PERIOD
January 25 to March 9, 2025

 

A FIRST LOOK AT THE REPERTOIRE*
François COUPERIN (1668-1733)
Concerts royaux : Concerto No 1 en sol majeur, I. Prélude  LISTEN

François COUPERIN
Concerts royaux : Concerto No 1 en sol majeur, IV. Gavotte  LISTEN

Michel LAMBERT (1610-1696)
Ma Bergère est tendre et fidèle  LISTEN

Marin MARAIS (1656-1728)
La Sonnerie de Ste-Geneviève du Mont de Paris  LISTEN

BIOGRAPHIES

Marie Nadeau-Tremblay, baroque violin

Marie Nadeau-Tremblay is one of Canada’s leading young baroque violinists.  First Prize winner of the 2019 Mathieu Duguay International Early Music Competition, Radio-Canada Classical Revelation 2021-2022, Opus 2022 Discovery of the Year from the Conseil québécois de la musique, Marie is also the recipient of the 2021 Choquette-Symcox Prize from the JM Canada Foundation. Her album, La Peste (2020), was nominated for Junos and Opus awards; her most recent recording, Opus 2023 Album of the Year, Préludes et Solitudes (2021), was hailed by critics including the CBC and Early Music America. She is also the recipient of the 2022 Career Development Grant from the Father Lindsay Foundation. She plays a 1750 Thomas Perry violin, as well as a Timothy Johnson Amati violin, generously loaned by Jacques Marchand.

       

Tristan Best, viola

A violinist hailing from New York and Nova Scotia, Tristan Best moved to Montreal in 2016 to study viola da gamba at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music, where he earned a bachelor’s degree and then a Master’s degree under the tutelage of Betsy MacMillan and Elin Soderstrom. A frequent performer with the Montreal ensemble Les Barocudas, he has taken part in the Montreal Baroque Festival and was awarded the Founder’s Prize and Second Place as soloist at the Mathieu-Duguay Early Music Competition 2022. A passionate teacher, Tristan also gives workshops and lectures on the viola da gamba in Canada and the United States.

     

Kerry Bursey, lute and voice

Montreal tenor, lutenist and guitarist Kerry Bursey is renowned for his “clear voice of dreamy troubadour sweetness”. He accompanies himself in song, with a repertoire ranging from Renaissance lute songs to Baroque court airs and traditional Western music. He made his European debut as a soloist in 2023 at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in France, the Manchester International Festival in the UK and the Bregenzer Festival in Austria.

He is a regular soloist with early music groups such as l’Harmonie des Saisons, the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal (SMAM), les Idées Heureuses, La Nef and his own group Ménestrel, co-founded with soprano Janelle Lucyk. He has recorded a dozen albums for ATMA Classique, Leaf and Deutsche Grammophon. He also composes music in the studio, producing everything from pop music to video game soundtracks. A graduate in classical guitar from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, he is now studies baroque singing at McGill University. He is one of the winners of the 2011 Montreal Guitar Grand Prix.

       

 

*JMC reserves the right to modify the repertoire without prior notice.