Alexandre Gagnier began playing trombone at the age of twelve. His formative studies began in Quebec City at the Conservatoire de Musique under the tutelage of Andrew Clayden. Subsequently he studied with the international conductor and soloist Alain Trudel at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montreal where he received the coveted Premiere Prix.  Member of the I Tromboni trombone quintet, he is touring all over the country performing more than 100 concerts a year. As a freelance musician, Alex has played with many prestigious ensembles including l’Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. He is also founder member and co-Artistic Director of Choeur de Métal, a twenty piece brass and percussion ensemble which features some of the most talented young professional musicians from Quebec.

Bass and electric bass lesson in Montreal

Alex Lefaivre is the upright bass and electric bass teacher at the The Montreal Music Teachers’ Co-op. He is from Montreal and has studied at the Montreal Conservatory of Music, University of Montréal and the Banff Centre.

Alex Lefaivre is equally at ease on double bass as well as bass guitar. He is mostly known for his work in the Montreal jazz group Parc X trio. He is a founding member, bass player and composer of the ensemble. Parc X trio won the TD Grand Prize for Jazz from the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal in 2010 and has released 2 albums that have been very well received by the press as well as the fans. With this group Alex has performed at jazz festivals throughout Canada and has toured as far as Mexico and France. Outside of his own band, Alex keeps up a busy schedule composing and performing music in various projects ranging from classical to electronic music.

Alex has a huge wealth of experience teaching and still takes the time to take lessons with his heroes when he can. The whole process of teaching is a huge passion for Alex, who is at ease with beginners as well as advanced students. His teaching method is oriented towards making music a very fluid and natural process. Alex also emphasises on making practice as efficient as possible knowing it is hard to find time to do so in the busy modern world.

Montreal violin lesson

Ana Drobac was born in Belgrade, Serbia. She came to Canada in 2003 where she finished her Masters and Doctorate degree at University of Montreal under Anne Robert.  Ana is a member of Orchestre Symponique de Trois-Rivieres and Orchestre Symphonique de Laval. She was a member of ensemle Angele Dubeau & La Pieta. In 2010 Ana was Concertmaster of Youth Orchestra of the Americas,  which gave performance at the World Economic Forum at Carnegii Hall, as well as the South American Tour in (Colombia, Peru, Brazil and Ecuador). Ana is a member of Aldeburgh Strings, new ensemble founded at Aldeburgh in England.  Since 2005 Ana is a member of a Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra in Germany with whom she toured in Japan, Brazil, Russia, Armania, Lituania and play with conductores such as Christoph Eschenbach, Ivan Fisher, Christopher Hogwood, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Jaap van Zweden, Eiji Oue, and Yutaka Sado. She was also member of Youth Orchestra of the Americas with whom she toured in Brazil, Argentina and played under Lorin Maazel and Kent Nagano. Ana participated in Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme in 2008 in England.In May 2009 Ana participated in the outreach program of the Peace Music Festival in Chicago teaching children and performing in the Peace Chamber Orchestra under Alex Klein, and performing with Richard Young, Rachel Barton Pine, and many others.  In November 2008  Ana participated in the outreach program of the El Sistema program in Brazil.  In Summer 2004  Ana spent six weeks at Heifetz International Music Institute where she worked with professor Yuri Mazurkevich, Victor Danscenko and Tom Kornacker. I played in masterclasses for Pamela Franck, Paul Katz and Ronald Copes.  She was a member of student string quartet that played with David Stewart, Trond Saeverud, Jutta Puchhammer and Steven Elisha Mendelssohn octet in Maine. She was a member of Serbian pop-icon Goran Bregovic's Orchestra for Weddings and Funerals. Toured in Italy, Germany, France, Sweden, and Lebanon. Also was a member of the St. George Strings orchestra, with whom I have had over 300 performances. Tours in Slovenia and Hungary.  In 2001 winner of Serbian national chamber music competition with string quartet Elegant.  Stayed in Austria for 21 days in August 2001 where we played several concerts. During that period worked with professors N. Brainin and S. Nissel of the Amadeus String Quartet, T. Kakuska and G. Pichler of the Alban Berg Quartet,  Laslo Mezzo and Sandor Devich of the Bartok quartet, Professor Smejkal of the Janacek Quartet, and Professor M.  Skampa of the Smetana Quartet. Master classes with David Takeno, Pamela Frank, Leon Spierer, Victor Danchenko, Ilya Gringolds, Julian Rahlin. Also worked with Richard Roberts, Jonathan Crow, Olivier Thouin and Daren Lowe. Ana is a recipient of a violin by Nicolas Legault-Cavallero and bow by Emmanuel Begin from Jeunesses Musicales de Canada (2008-2010). Ana is teaching in an external programme of  Montreal Conservatory of Music as well as an assistent of Anne Robert.

Musical awakening class in Montreal

Andrée-Anne Mathonet was introduced to music at school, at the age of 6. She learned to play cello and piano. Later, she started to play the saxophone. She had classes with Marie-Chantal Leclerc and Jean-Marc Bouchard, who play in the QUASAR saxophone quartett. She also studied composition at Université de Montréal for five years, with Jérôme Blais et Isabelle Panneton.

Andrée-Anne started to teach music in 2002.  She started in various day care centers in Montreal. In 2007, she started to teach in a Montessori school. She is now studying at UQAM where she is getting her masters degree in pedagogy and she works as a teacher for the Commission scolaire de Montréal. She also has a lot of interest in music teaching to children with pervasive development disorders.

Flute lesson in Montreal

Caroline Séguin is solo piccolo at l’Orchestre Métropolitain since 2004 and principal flute at l’Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières since 2002. Recognized as one of Montreal’s top musicians, we can also hear her in many orchestras such as the National Arts Center Orchestra of Ottawa, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, l’Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil, l’Orchestre symphonique de Laval, l'ensemble instrumental Appassionata and I Musici de Montréal. She also plays often with collegues of the OM in chamber ensembles.

Caroline studied eight years at the Conservatoire de Montréal with Carolyn Christie and Marie-Andrée Benny. In 2005 she finished her study at the Conservatoire with a Prix avec grande distinction. She also had the opportunity to study with great masters like Robert Langevin, Jeanne Baxtresser, Mathieu Dufour, to named but a few. Winner of the Fondation Wilfrid-Pelletier’s grant and the Alain-Marion’s grant at the Domaine Forget, she was also semi-finalist at the MSO competition in 2002 and winner of the Radio-Canada « jeunes artistes » competition in 2002 and 2004.

A teacher at soul, Caroline loves sharing her knowledge. Besides giving private flute and piccolo lessons, she sometimes gives lessons in various schools and Conservatoires as a guest. Caroline is also a praticien in neuro-linguistic programming.

Basson lesson in Montreal

Born in 1985 in Laval, Christian Navratil first started his bassoon studies at the Massey-Vanier High School of Cowansville.  Already noticed by his playing, he is offered excellency awards and is invited to play with the Harmonie Élite des Jeunes du Québec.  He then pursues his studies at the St-Laurent College under Joëlle Amar.  At his first year, the college offers him to play solo accompanied by the college's concert band and in the second year, he undergoes a jazz formation where his receives compliments from sax players Jean-Pierre Zanella and Richard Baudet.

In 2010, he finishes a Master's degree at the University of Montreal in classical interpretation under the teachings of Mathieu Lussier.  He has been a member of the U of M orchestra (OUM) for almost the entirety of his years of studies has solo, second or contrabassoon.  He also had the opportunity to play for the Contemporary Music Workshop with Lorraine Vaillancourt as well as many small ensembles of all kinds with Jean-Eudes Vaillancourt.
    Christian is currently the bassoon teacher in many high schools in and around Montreal as well as for the Drummondville College.  He has also been a free-lance bassoon and contrabassoon player for many ensembles and orchestras such as the OSS (Orch. symph. de Sherbrook), the OSL (Orch. symph. de Laval), the OSTR (Orch. symph. de Trois-Rivières), the OSD (Orch. symph. de Drummondville), the NEM (Nouvel ensemble moderne) and currently plays for the ECM+ (Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal) and the Ensemble Da Capo.

Clarinet lesson in Montreal

Graduate of Université de Montréal, David Perreault holds a Master’s degree in performance and has been a recipient of the Graduate Faculty Committee Scholarship in 2008. He also had the chance to get a fellowship to attend for the music festival “The Pierre Monteux School” in 2010 in Maine.

A founding member of the Arkea Ensemble and TriOggi, David has also collaborates with l’Orchestre de la Francophonie, Chorum Ensemble, l’Opéra bouffe du Québec, le Conseil québécois de la musique, la Société Professionnelle des Auteurs et des Compositeurs du Québec, l’INIS, l’Université McGill and l’Université de Montréal. He also has performed under the batons of conductors such as Raffi Armenian, Iwan Edward, Leon Fleisher, Michael Jinbo, Kent Nagano, Jean-François Rivest, Alain Trudel and Lorraine Vaillancourt. A hard working and dedicated performer, he is constantly looking for new challenges.

Piano lesson in Montreal

David Ryshpan is a Canadian pianist, composer and arranger. Beginning his studies in Toronto at the age of 6, his development led him to Montreal where he graduated from the McGill Jazz Performance program. He excelled in his studies and was able to learn firsthand from eminent jazz musicians in several cities. He has participated in notable workshops including the 2005 Banff Centre Workshop for Jazz and Creative Music, the 2006-07 BMI Jazz Composer's Workshop in New York, and the 2007 Red Bull Music Academy in Toronto. These workshops reflect David's diverse accomplishments, from small group improvisation to large ensemble arrangements and compositions to electronic music production. In addition to leading the jazz group Indigone Trio and the Brazilian group Trio Bruxo, David is an active freelancer in the jazz, R&B, hip-hop, and Latin music communities.

Piano lesson in Montreal

Dominic Boulianne studied with Suzanne Goyette at the Conservatoire de musique in Chicoutimi and in Montreal, and with Gérald Lévesque at the Conservatoire de musique in Quebec. He then benefited from the guidance of André Laplante, Angela Hewitt, and Pascal Roger. Dominic Boulianne has worked as a rehearsal pianist at the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal with maestros Kent Nagano and Michael Zaugg. He was a guest accompanist at the Festival da camera di Musica de Tocco da Casauria in Italy. Over the last three years, he was the pianist for productions of Les Misérables and Peter Pan.

As an actor, in 2009-2010, he appeared in Les Leçons de Maria Callas alongside Louise Marleau, directed by Denise Filiatrault at the Théâtre du Rideau Vert (Montreal). For four years now, he has portrayed Henry in the Jeunesses Musicales of Canada concerts Annabelle Canto and Annabelle Follows the Sound of Her Own Voice, performed nationally. In 2007, he formed the TrioSphère ensemble, with which he appears across Quebec, and, in 2009, he formed the Théâtre Opéra Immédiat company.

Cello lesson in Montreal

Élisabeth Giroux studied the cello at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal with Dennis Brott.  She graduated from the conservatory in 2006 and was awarded the Prix avec grande distinction after a unanimous decision of the board of examiners.  Since her beginnings at 13 years old, she has performed as a soloist with the St-Lambert String Orchestra, the string orchestra of the Conservatoire de Montréal and the Montreal Youth Symphony Orchestra.

For many years she has been a freelance musician with many orchestras in the province of Québec and has been teaching for the Coopérative des professeurs de musique of Montréal of which she is a founder member with two former students of the conservatory, Alexandre Gagnier and Lyne Allard.  She is also cellist with the Ensemble Triosphère, a trio completed by Lizann Gervais on the violin and Dominic Bouliane at the piano.  She is also comfortable singing and playing the piano.  She is attracted by other styles of music such as pop, jazz and modern music.  Under the name of Lili Bordélik , she also creates her own jewelry using semiprecious stones and recycled cello strings.  She is a multi-talented and open-minded artist.

From 2007 to 2009, she accompanied La La La Human Steps on a world tour for their ballet Amjad created by the choreographer Édouard Lock.  The production was acclaimed all around the world, especially in Paris and London.  This tour, which ended in 2009, allowed her to play on several major stages in North America, Europe and Asia and to participate in the recording of a record  distributed all over the planet. 

Since the summer of 2010, Élisabeth Giroux is cellist for la Pieta with which she regularly performs in North America and on records.

Violin lesson in Montreal

Violinist Elizabeth Adams has performed as a recitalist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Russia. She holds both master's and undergraduate degrees from Yale, where she was assistant to Ani Kavafian and served as concertmaster of the Yale Philharmonia. As an undergraduate, she had the opportunity to study violin and Russian language in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Elizabeth has studied chamber music with members of the Borodin and Tokyo String Quartets. In addition, she has participated in summer festivals such as Meadowmount, Soesterberg, and Schlern as both a
violinist and pianist. As an orchestral musician, she has played under the baton of Neville Marriner, Lorin Maazel, Peter Oundjian, Kent Nagano, Leonard Slatkin, and others.

Elizabeth is currently completing a DMA in violin with Vladimir Landsman at the Université de Montréal. She has played regularly with the Vermont Symphony, the Orchestre de la francophonie, la Sinfonia de Launaudière and in various ensembles in the Montreal music scene.

Elizabeth became interested in the pedagogy of Paul Rolland while she was teaching in an underprivileged public school in New Haven and at Neighborhood Music School.

As a teacher Elizabeth has studied extensively in both Russia and North America and is particularly interested in national schools of teaching. Her doctoral thesis focuses on the great Soviet pedagogue Yuri Yankelevich.

Flamenco guitar lesson in Montreal

Francis Leclerc have been playing guitar for over 18 years. He holds a degree in classical guitar and have been specializing in flamenco for over 10 years. Since 2008, Leclerc compose for guitar and other instruments to accompany flamenco dance on stage. Francis Leclerc also holds a master’s degree in Ethnomusicology, his research are dedicated specifically on flamenco, and he appears as a flamenco specialist for many institutions, festivals and television. www.francisleclerc.ca

Piano lesson in Montreal

Gabrielle Gingras started studying music at 7 years old. She entered the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal in 1999 to study piano with Lise Boucher and Louise Bessette. In 2002, she won first prize in Chamber Music at the Festival de musique classique de Montréal. In 2004, she performed a concerto with the Joseph-François-Perrault string orchestra. Afterwards, she toured Europe with the Joseph-François-Perrault symphonic orchestra. In the same year, she performed with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal in concerts called Les matinees jeunesses. She participated in many master classes notably with the pianists Janina Fialkovska, Rolf Bertsch, Denise Trudel and Jean Saulnier. In parallel to her piano studies, she has performed in concerts, competitions and tours as a singer and a clarinetist. In 2008, she had a full scholarship to spend three months in Stuttgart, Germany, where she studied with Shosana Rudiakov. She just finished a chamber music Concours at the Conservatoire and now she will continue her master there. She will be also known as a massage therapist soon.

Guitar lesson in Montreal

Guillaume Bourque was born in Montreal in 1982. He studied classical guitar in Jean Vallière’s class at the Montreal Conservatory. He also is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist, mastering stringed instruments such as lap-steel and pedal-steel guitars, electric guitar, bass, banjo, dobro and charango. This, and the knowledge of the different musical styles inherent to those instruments, allows him to be an active musician on multiple levels, notably as composer, arranger and producer. He is a regular studio musician, stage performer and sideman to different songwriters.

Tuba lesson in Montreal

Born in Montreal in 1985, Guillaume Garant-Rousseau started playing tuba in high school in Denis Ferragne’s class. After a year at the Cégep de Drummondville where he studied with Michel Blackburn, he was accepted at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal. He spent seven years in Yan Sallafranque’s class and obtained a Bachelor diploma in 2008, a chamber music diploma in 2009 and his Master diploma in 2010.
Guillaume is a member of the Frolic Brass Quintet since its foundation. With this group, he has performed numerous times and won a scholarship for the Banff Summer Arts Festival in 2008. He had the opportunity to learn from great musicians such as: Joseph Alessi, Jens Lindemann, Manon Lafrance, Martin Hackleman, Roger Bobo and Chuck Daellenbach.
Guillaume is also interested in contemporary music. He as been working for 3 years with 2 great emerging composers: Olivier Girouard and Sophie Bélair Clément. In addition to his performance career, Guillaume has been teaching tuba in high schools since 2005 and has been conducting a high school band since 2008.

Drum lesson in Montreal

From Vancouver, Ivan Bamford has appreciated jazz since the age of 3. Later he left sports to dedicate his life to music. Claude Ranger and Dylan van der Schyff taught him how to improvise on the drums. He played with great musicians such as André Lachance, Bruno Hubert, Alan Matheson and Coat Cooke before moving to Montreal in 2001, where he found a rich scene and superb musicians. Since then he has found himself in numerous groups of different styles: Gadji-Gadjo, Weshida, Katya Sourikova trio, Straight Pipe, Kitchen Party and his own group Bam Bam. He has played all over Quebec, France(2008), North America and Romania(2009) and at jazz festivals in Vancouver(99-00), Montreal(2004-2010), and in Baku Azerbaïdjan(2005).  In 2009 he received a composers grant with Gadji-Gadjo.  As an educator he has over the past 8 years taught students from all ages.

Jenny Labonté est une musicienne pédagogue ayant complété sa formation de Doctorat en musique aux États Unis. Durant ses études, elle occupa la position de professeur au Centre Montessori Country Day de Houston où elle travailla avec les jeunes de 3 mois à 3 ans. Elle poursuivi son apprentissage en occupant plusieurs emplois tels qu' au Interlochen Center for the Arts, Longy summer Baroque institute, câdre du Stony Brook Chamber Music program et Professeur du programme "Music Basics for Kids" à Stony Brook University. De 2008 à 2010, Mme Labonté occupa la fontion d'enseignante au programme d'éveil musical de l'université (pour les 2 à 12 ans) et étudia la pédagogie avec Mme Dorothea Cook, professeur de méthode Dalcroze. Dans toutes ses classes Jenny fait part d'une expertise et d'un enthousiasme contagieux. Elle se joint maintenant à l'équipe de la Coop pour enseigner notre programme d'éveil musical.

Piano lesson in Montreal

Kanae Nobori is originally from Nara in Japan. She started piano at the age of 6, giving performances at various concerts at the age of 12 and won numerous prizes. In 2004 she moved to Montreal and continues to be active playing solo, chamber music and contemporary music ensemble in the Montreal area, other parts of Canada, US and Japan. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Osaka College of Music in 2003, a Masters Degree (2006) and a Diploma d’Étude Superieure Specialisée (2008) in Performance of Music from l’Université de Montréal under the direction of Paul Stewart. She also studied at the Vienna Musik Seminar where she received a Diploma of Performance.

Besides her active teaching, Kanae performs as a member of ‘’Tomotrio’’ and ‘’Kô Trio’’. Tomotrio has been invited to the series of « Concerts du Lundi » at la Maison de la culture Frontenac and also Stewart Hall in Pointe-Claire. She worked in Tenrikyo Music Institute, Nara Music Academy as a collaborative pianist. She also performs as an organist in Montreal area under the direction of Réjane Dessautels. Recently, she has led a concert series of ‘Kanae and her friends’ in Japan since 2007 and successfully led to organize benefit concerts in Montreal for the victims of Tsunami in Japan since 2011.

Jazz and pop voice lesson in Montreal

Karine Pion gives voice lessons for several years and his teaching approach based primarily on the creativity, spontaneity and self-expression through multiple rhythmic vocal exercises. She likes to explore the voice as a real instrument, and push students to find their own sound through a personal approach. She specializes mainly in the appeal to vocal, to the harmonization of voice and improvisation. She teaches popular song and jazz and retains much interest in world music and any exploration of voice .She can offer a good basic technical song and also provide coaching for auditions and performances. She can also introduce the student to percussive sounds.

Karine Pion work professionally on the Montreal scene for several years. She  holds a Bachelor of Music in Jazz singing, she participated in many art projects in the field of music and dance: she is the founder, co-artistic director and performer of vocalacapella group Boom Jacak and interpreter for the swing vocal trio the MoonlightGirls. She has also performed on stage, either solo, in various corporate events.

She performed, designer and choreographer of the group Bourask, Gumbootdance company for which she weaves among other rhythm of the soundtrack Mr.Bossbotte young audiences and is also working to create musical and percussive production Squall

Violoin lesson in Montreal

An active player on the Quebec and international stage, Marie-Pierre Lecault graduated from the University of Montreal with a Bachelor’s degree of music in violin performance.  She is a passionate specialist of traditional Quebec music.  She actually invests most of her time and energy playing and transmitting these precious melodies to others.

The rhythmical aspect of the violin has interested Marie-Pierre for many years now.  Curious, audacious, sensible and intrigued buy the infinite possibilities that this instrument offers; she colors, as a freelance musician, the music of other groups and artists.  You may have seen her on stage buy the sides of Edith Butler, Yves Lambert, the Zogma dancers, and most recently, Steve Provost.  She also visits recording studios in order to work on different projects (publicity, albums, movie soundtracks, etc.).  During the past years, Marie-Pierre has spent quite a bit of time teaching.  Eager to help others discover music by learning the violin, she adapts.  She does so by proposing different activities to each student in order to carefully match their tastes and needs.

Jazz violin lesson in Montreal

Marie-Soleil begins the violin when she is 8 years-old at Rimouski. Admited to the Conservatoire de Musique, she turns off classical training 12 years later to study in jazz at the Concordia University under the direction of Helmut Lipsky.
In 15 years on the scene, she accompanied Yves Desrosiers, Paul Kunigis, Thomas Hellman, Richard Desjardins, Laurence Jalbert. She also recorded with Pierre Lapointe, Plume Latraverse, Lhasa de Sela. One could hear her on the sound screen of the "Small World of Laura Cadieux". It also slips towards the Indian music with the group Ragleela and she is part of the Fanfare Pourpour for 7 years. She recorded two CD of her own projects, which one is traditional music (Mademoiselle s'Amuse) and the other of improvise music (Les Salines). Marie-Soleil was discovered a talent of actress with the Moulin à Musique which produces youths shows. She presents a conference on the violin for the 7-12 years-old, completely dramatized, which makes the turn of the history and the technical and emotive possibilities of the violin.
In 2009, she turns over to take courses of jazz, with Matt Glaser this time, in very famous Berklee College of Music of Boston. From this dash is born the Trio Helico, only made up of string instruments and which interprets a repertory jazz-rock with parts of Chick Corea, Lee Morgan, Horace Silver, Duke Ellington...
Marie-Soleil teaches jazz-pop violin in Cégeps (Joliette, Ste-Therese, St-Laurent, Drummondville) since 2000

Piano lesson in Montreal

Born in France and established in Montréal since 2006, Marine Blassel earned a bachelor and master’s degree in classical piano performance from the University of Montreal.

From 1997 to 2003, she studied with Frédéric Aguessy and won a piano, chamber music and culture first prize at the Conservatoire de Rouen, in France.  She completed a french Baccalauréat in literature in 2004, and was rewarded with a unanimous first prize in piano at the Conservatoire de Reuil-Malmaison, in Denis Pascal’s class. In 2008, she won the Montreal classical music festival’s first prize and reveived a master’s degree scholarship from the University of Montreal.

Marine Blassel has taken part in numerous professional development programs in Europe and in Québec. She has notably studied with reputed pedagogues from the Gyorgy Sebök international academy, the Courchevel international academy, the Porticcio international academy, the Orford Art Center and the Valencia international piano academy. In 2006, she was invited to take part to the Carthage international festival in Tunisia.

Passionate about teaching and pedagogy, Marine Blassel is an active member of Montreal Music teachers Coop, and teaches piano at the Stanislas College’s Conservatory in Outremont.

Saxophone lesson in Montreal

Originally from Cowansville, Mario began his study of
the saxophone at the age of 12. Throughout his high
school years, his role in various jazz ensembles under
the supervision of Alexandre Côté allowed his playing
to evolve. Mario pursued his studies in jazz saxophone,
first at Cégep St-Laurent, then at McGill University
from which he obtained a Bachelors degree in Jazz
Performance in 2006. He has studied with some of the
best musicians in Montreal, namely: Jean-Pierre Zanella,
André Leroux, Rémi Bolduc, Frank Lozano and Jan Jarczyk.
From 2001 to 2003, Mario’s role in the group Vénus 3,
with which he toured Belgium, allowed him to further
pursue his development as a musician. From 2004 to
2006, Mario was a member of La Chango Family. In
addition to having toured extensively throughout Quebec
and Canada as a musician in this group, he took part in
a greater venture which led him to Belgium and France.
He has performed most notably at the Francopholies.

Piano lesson in Montreal

Praised for his versatility, pianist Matthieu Fortin plays both classical and contemporary repertoires with style. From Beethoven to Boulez, Chopin to Ravel, he plays the great works of the past and present with brilliance and sensitivity and has already been recognized with several important prizes.  In both 2002 and 2005, he was awarded the Prix du Lieutenant-Gouverneur du Québec.  In 2004, he won the Joseph Rouleau Award from the Montreal International Music Competition, and in 2005 he won the CBC-Galaxy Rising Star award.  Matthieu Fortin has also been awarded grants from various organizations such as the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec, the Canada Council for the Arts, Les Jeunesses Musicales du Canada, and the Fonds québecois de recherche sur la société et la culture.
Matthieu Fortin was granted his Doctorate of Music in Performance at l’Université de Montréal in 2007. He then pursued his interest in contemporary music with advanced studies at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal under the supervision of the internationally renowned pianist Louise Bessette. That same year, a grant from the Conseil des arts du Québec allowed him to study in Berlin, Germany with the great French pianist Jacques Rouvier.  He has also studied with Jacinthe Couture, Marc Durand and Paul Stewart.
Matthieu Fortin is frequently heard in collaboration with dance projects.  In the 2006 Danse-Cité production Projet Roy, Matthieu performed pieces by Chopin on-stage with dancer Ken Roy.   This led to a further collaboration with choreographer Hélène Blackburn and her contemporary dance company Cas Public, with whom he toured extensively.
Interested in working with composers of his generation, he recently commissioned and premiered one work by the young Quebecois composer Julien Bilodeau.  In a wider perspective, Matthieu has been heard as orchestral soloist, recitalist and chamber musician in Europe and Canada, including appearances with the Orchestre Symphonique du Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, the Choeur Classique Vaudreuil-Soulanges and at the Festival international de Lanaudière and the Festival International du Domaine Forget.
Also dedicating a part of his time to teaching, Matthieu Fortin teaches piano at the Collège Notre-Dame in Montreal and is a member of the Coopérative des professeurs de musique de Montréal.
 

Horn lesson in Montréal

Morgan Gregory is an accomplished orchestral, chamber and solo musician.  She has played in several different orchestras including the Sudbury Symphony, the Symphony of the Estuaire, the Orchestra of the Francophonie Canadienne and the Korean Symphony Orchestra of Toronto. 
She is also a very experienced chamber musician.  She has performed a complete program of woodwind music with her quintet Lodos on CBC Two Radio in 2006.  She has recently played challenging small and large chamber works with the McGill Contemporary Ensemble including works by György Ligeti, Heinz Holliger and other works by up and coming composers. 
Morgan is also an experienced solo performer and has proven her dedication to this musical genre by her Third place prize for the Brass category at the 2007 Federation of Canadian Music Festivals National Competition.  She has also repeatedly won the Hamilton Geritol Follies Bursary (2007, 2005) which is a scholarship for young artists pursuing careers in the arts who were born in this Southern Ontario region. 
In addition to performing, Morgan also teaches French horn in Laval, St. Hilaire, St. Therese and Montreal at numerous secondary schools and private ensembles.  With these young performers, she motivates the them to prepare for solo and chamber competitions and to cultivate their enjoyment of music.  This past summer she was the teaching assistant to Gabe Radford (Third Horn of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra) at the Inter-Provincial Music Camp in Parry-Sound, Ontario. 
Morgan Gregory has most recently obtained her Masters Degree in Orchestra Training (2008) from McGill University and her Diploma of Solo Performance (2008) from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal.  Morgan also holds an Artist Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music of Toronto (2006) and her Bachelor Degree from McGill (2004). Morgan is currently studying for her Chamber Music Diploma with Jean Gaudreault at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal.   

Classical voice lesson in Montreal

Noémie started her musical studies in France at a very young age. After obtaining her dregrees with distinctions for violoncello, theory and chamber musique she studied further on in Paris with Bernadette Val. Three years later, she obtained a place in the school of Kammersängerin Hilde Rössel-Majdan in Vienna and studied there for four years. In Austria, Noémie did acquire a very good repertoire as well as languisitc abilities. Once she moved to London, her carriere started , notably with the youth Millenium Orchestra singing the soprano solo of the Exultate Jubilate of Mozart.

Noémie has giving many recitals with a broad repertoire ranging from baroque music to contempory music and she toured througout Great-Britain with Swansee Opera, City Opera and English Touring Opera interprating roles like Didon (Purcell), Carmen (Bizet), Rosina (Rossini) et Sextus (Mozart).
She also worked more than one year in Netherland with the Reisopera where she will make the decisive encounter of her last teacher Maestra Manuela Ochakovsky. Manuela will bring her the refinement of the technique and the necessery music for the bel canto.
Since 2006, Noémie has adopted Montréal as her home and carry on a artistic carriere with Almaviva Productions, Histoire de Choeurs and for the chorus of l'Opéra de Montréal. Now she can give more time to pass on her joy and passion for Music and Singin aswell as her knowledeges acquiered during more than fifteen years. 

Cello lesson in Montreal

Octavie Dostaler-Lalonde began to play cello at age 9. She first took private lessons with Anik Hébert (1997-1999), and then pursued her music studies at the music program of Pierre-Laporte high school, with Jocelyne Leduc. In 2004, she is admitted to the Montreal Music Conservatory in Denis Brott's studio, with who she studies until September 2007, as she enters Carole Sirois's studio. She completes in April 2011 her studies at the Conservatory. When attending summer courses in Canada, the States or in Europe, she had the chance to work in various occasions with renowned teachers, such as Mats Lidström, Philippe Müller, Timothy Eddy, Hans Jørgen Jensen and Raphael Wallfish.

As her passion is for chamber music, she took part in the Domaine Forget chamber music workshop (2008-2009), the Young Artist Program of the National Arts Centre (2007-2008), the Toronto Summer Music Festival (2009), the string quartet workshop of the Orford Arts Centre (2010) and the Scotia Festival (2011). She also participates in a wide variety of ensembles during her music studies, be it trios, quartets or quintets.

Since October 2010, she can be heard with the Compagnie Danse Nyata Nyata, an african contemporary dance company, with which she has performed in Toronto, Montreal, Lennoxville and Harare, Zimbabwe. She also is a member of Epsilon, string quintet founded in October 2011, and she joins occasionally the Allogène ensemble, namely for the performance of Mauricio Kagel's Match für drei spieler in February 2012.

Guitar Lesson in Montreal

Pascal Valois has received the most renowned bursaries in Canada for guitar performance (Canada Council for the Arts) as well as musicology (FQRSC and SSHRC). He was also awarded scholarships from the Desjardins Foundation, the Wilfrid-Pelletier Foundation, the Laval University Foundation and the Université du Québec à Montréal Foundation. He studied romantic guitar on period instrument with Hopkinson Smith at the Schola Cantorum (Switzerland). Prior to this, he had graduated with honours at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, under Jean Vallières, as well as receiving the prize Pierre J. Jeanniot during his studies at Université du Québec à Montréal with Alvaro Pierri, in Montreal. He performed in the masterclasses of Ricardo Cobo, Roland Dyens, Fabio Zanon and William Kanengiser. Pascal Valois gave solo concerts on period and modern instruments in Switzerland, France, Latvia, Ontario, Quebec and New-Brunswick.
 
While he maintained a busy concert schedule, Pascal Valois completed a Ph.D. in guitar performance practice at Laval University in 2009. He is also responsible for the publication of a series of scores dedicated to 19th century French guitar music at the Centre de Musique Romantique Française and at the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles.
 
website www.pascalvalois.com

Piano lesson in Montreal

Qiao Yi Miao Mu is a native of China. Born in Yun Nan province in 1992, she started to study piano at the age of 4. After she moved in Canada in 2003, she worked with many piano teachers in Montréal, such as Julia Gavrilova of McGill University, Carolle Searles and Marianne Fontaine of Pierre-Laporte High school. At the same time, she participated in several Canadian music competitions, such as the Canadian Music Competition, where she won twice the 1^st Prize in her age category (2007, 2008), the Performance Grand Prize at the Valleyfield Music Festival (2007) and the 1^st Prize in the Concours de Concerto in Pierre-Laporte High School. For the same occasion, she performed F. Chopin's Concerto no.1 with the school symphonic orchestra and its conductor Louis Lavigueur, who's also conductor of many ensembles in Montréal.

In September 2007, Qiao Yi was admitted at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal, in the class of her current teacher, M. André Laplante. She also participated in numerous master classes in different music festivals in Canada, including the well-known Orford Music Festival, the Toronto Summer Music Festival and the Adamant Music School. In 2010, she made her first appearance as a soloist at Carnegie Hall, in a concert presented by the Behre Piano Associates.

Piano and percussion lesson in Montreal

Rafael Zaldivar was born in Camagüey, Cuba. Coming from a family of musicians, he started playing percussion and piano at age 7 and pursued his undergraduate studies at the Superior Art Institute of Havana. Moving to Canada at age 22, he obtained a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Montreal and a Master’s degree at McGill University within three years. During his musical career, Rafael has had the opportunity to learn with the greats Barry Harris, Kenny Barron, Danilo Perez, and Greg Osby and to play with the excellent Steve Coleman, Francisco
Mela and Terri Lyne Carrington. He has also had the pleasure of meeting the great Herbie Hancock in Havana, where the two men shared a highly instructive conversation on the subject of music. Nowadays, he performs in various concert halls and at festivals around Canada. Rafael has been Awarded New Talent Contest by Radio Canada, OPUS Award by The Quebec Council of Art and Letters and most recently Archambault 6th edition Award New talent Contest.

http://rafaelzaldivarmusic.com/

Originaire de Victoriaville, Stéfany Breton est diplômée du Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal, où elle obtient en 2009 son prix à l’unanimité et en 2010 son prix à l’unanimité en musique de chambres, dans la classe de Manon Lafrance.
Elle a également participé à des stages au Canada et aux États-Unis  qui lui ont permis de perfectionner son jeu avec des maîtres réputés : Vincent Chicowics, Barbara Butler, Jens Lindemann, James Thompson, James Watson, entre autres.
À  l’été 2008 elle est récipiendaire de la RBC Youth Excellence Scholarship,  pour participer avec son quintette du cuivres Frolic à la session de cuivres du Banff Center. Puis , à l’automne de la même année, elle participe à la demi-finale du concours OSM Standard Life.
Elle  poursuit présentement ses études  à l’Université Mcgill  sous la tutelle de Russell Devuyst. Stéfany est surnuméraire à l’Orchestre Symphonique du Saguenay-Lac –St-Jean, Orchestre Symphonique de Drummondville, Orchestre symphonique de Sherbrooke, Orchestre  Symphonique de Longueuil et l’Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal.
Stéfany  enseigne la trompette au Collège Notre-Dame depuis 2006 , à la Coopérative des Professeurs de musique de Montréal depuis 2009, à l’école préparatoire du Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal et s’est jointe au corps professoral du Camp Musical d’Asbestos à l’été 2007.

Guitar lesson in Montreal

Guitar teacher Stephen Johnston first started music lessons at seven, studying classical piano for five years following the Royal Conservatory of Toronto program. After the piano, was a year on trumpet and then another on euphonium (or baritone tuba).

Picking up the guitar in high school, Stephen joined the Stage Band and immediately took up jazz studies, continued music theory studies completing the Royal Conservatory Grade Two Rudiments exam with first class honours, and continued on with choral writing and analysis before moving from Ottawa to Montreal to study music at Concordia University where he completed his Bachelors in Fine Arts (dept of music).

In 2005, Stephen completed the Masters program at McGill University in Jazz Performance. Professional performances include symphony orchestra, jazz big band, smaller jazz groups, extensive work with vocalists, rock bands, production shows, international touring, blues bands, funk bands, jazz festivals, film soundtrack work, commercial and private events, compositions featured on Radio Canada and CBC.

Teaching has always been a part of the cycle of learning and Mr Johnston has continued teaching guitar to all ages, from children to adults of all walks of life and stages of learning. Jazz, rock, pop, funk, folk, blues styles are all welcome.
 


For more historical information on Stephen Johnston please check out his interview in Jazz Guitar Life Magazine.

Trumpet lesson in Montreal

Trumpetist Thierry Champs holds an important place in the Montreal music scene. His precise playing and masterful technique as well as his artistic sensibility led him to work with the best in his profession. In the past, he has played with the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec as principal trumpet, the Montréal and Longueuil symphony orchestras, the McGill Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre des Grands Ballets Canadiens and the brass and percussion ensemble Chœur de Métal. Thierry played in concert with notable Québécois showmen Gregory Charles and Martin Deschamps. He is also the founder and a current member of the brass and drum sextet Magnitude6, a contemporary music ensemble.
Thierry holds a master's degree with grande distinction à l'unanimité from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. While in France, he also obtained a trumpet performance diploma from Conservatoire de Versailles and a cornet performance diploma from Conservatoire de Bayonne. He is currently pursuing his doctoral degree at the Université de Montréal. As part of his studies, he is focusing on a natural approach to playing for wind and brass players.
In addition to his academic training, Thierry has worked with famous musicians such as Maurice André, Robert Astre, Eric Aubier, Jean Sibra, Christian Pollin, Manon Lafrance, Joe Burgstaller and Jean-Louis Chatel. He has also performed in masterclasses with Antoine Curé, Guy Touvron, Alain Trudel, Sergei Nakariakov, Walt Johnson and Wayne Bergeron.
Thierry enjoys a solid reputation as a pedagogue. He received a bachelor's degree in music education from Université du Québec à Montréal and joined the faculty of numerous high schools such as Sainte-Anne de Lachine, Charles Lemoyne in Longueuil, Cité-des-Jeunes in Vaudreuil and Poly-Jeunesse in Laval. He also taught in France at Conservatoire de la Garenne-Colombes. Thierry founded the summer music program at Collège Sainte-Anne de Lachine, to be held for the first time this upcoming July.
Posture and breathing techniques are at the heart of Thierry's performance approach. Through private lessons with Robert Astre, he adopted Robert Pichaureau's trumpet "method" which seeks to rehabilitate natural sound production mechanisms. Thierry is now teaching wind instrumentalists and singers notions inherited from Pichaureau, as well as those derived from his own experiments.

Cours de guitare à Montréal

Vincent  est un guitariste diplômé de la faculté de musique de l'université de Montreal en Interprétation Jazz. Ce musicien aux multiples facettes a su faire son chemin tant dans le milieu Jazz, World Beat que Pop. Ses diverses collaborations et projets, tantôt comme  accompagnateur avec Bombolessé ou Los Quebecos del Son,  ou comme leader du groupe Amanha et du Trio VDP l'ont mené sur les scènes de l'Europe, de l'Ouest Canadien, des Etats-Unis et du Moyen Orient. Récipiendaire du Syli D'or 2011 avec le groupe "The Cuban Martinez Show", ce guitariste, multi-instrumentiste à cordes, compositeur , arrangeur et directeur musical est grandement en demande dans le paysage musical Montréalais. 

Flute lesson in Montreal

Native of Japan, Yuki Isami first discovered the world of music through piano lessons at the young age of four. At the age of ten, she began studying flute under the tutelage of Rika Nakagawa.
    After having obtained first prize from the Tôhô Gakuen University of Music in Tokyo, alongside Ryu Noguchi, Yuki was accepted to the studio of Claire Marchand at the McGill Conservatory; and the following year, to the studio of Marie-Andrée Benny at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal where she would receive the prestigious Prix avec grand distinction unanimously. After having completed her studies at the Conservatoire, Yuki continued her musical education, and obtained her cinquième cycle with a specialisation in orchestral excerpts.
     Chamber musician, orchestra player and sought-after soloist, Yuki Isami has additionally participated in numerous festivals through which she has performed in concerts in Japan, Canada, United States, and Europe. In the summer of 2008, she was invited to participate in the Idyllwild Arts Music festival in California.  She also participated in the Niedersachsen chamber music festival in Germany in 2006, the Domenico Cimarosa festival in Italy the previous year. She has performed under the baton of conducters such as Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Orchestre Métropolitan de Grand Montréal), Yoko Matsuo (Tokyo Symphonic Orchestra), Yakov Kreitzberg (Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra), Jacques Lacombe and Kazuyoshi Akiyama (National Youth Orchestra of Canada). She is playing in l’Orchestre Métropolitan de Grand Montréal as a substitute.
    Yuki is presently undertaking several projects, Lotus Trio with harp and viola, Duo Yusa, flute duo, as well as working with the Allogène ensemble: a chamber music group, an ensemble manifesting in various configurations (from duets to sextets). In August 2009 in Montreal, she presented a concert of Japanese traditional and contemporary music with young talented guitarist Jérôme Ducharme.