Bernard Labadie
Biography
“A fine instinctive musician. He moulds the phrases, plucks out all-important details in the texture and radiates an infectious joy in the music.”
The Telegraph, Les Violons du Roy, Barbican Centre, London
Bernard Labadie is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading conductors of the Baroque and Classical repertoire. He is Music Director of Les Violons du Roy and La Chapelle de Québec, founded by him in 1984 and 1985 respectively, with whom he regularly tours Canada, the U.S. and Europe. They are frequent guests at the major venues and festivals and recent appearances have included the Salzburg Festival, New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Kennedy Center in Washington, London’s Barbican Centre and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Since his triumphant debut with the Minnesota Orchestra in 1999, Labadie is also a regular guest with all the major North American orchestras. He appears frequently with the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, St. Louis, Houston, Atlanta, Detroit, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, the New World Symphony in Miami, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. 2010 sees his debut with the Cleveland Orchestra.
Elsewhere, his guest appearances have included the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Northern Sinfonia, the Musikkollegium Winterthur, the NDR Orchestra in Hannover and the Melbourne and Malaysian Symphony Orchestras. His forthcoming engagements include debuts with the Academy of Ancient Music and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
Equally at home in the opera house Labadie has been Artistic and Music Director of L’Opéra de Québec (1994-2003) and L’Opéra de Montréal (2002-2006). Guest engagements have included ‘Così fan tutte’ at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York, ‘Orlando’ for Glimmerglass Opera, ‘Lucio Silla’ for the Santa Fe Opera and, most recently, ‘Die Zauberflöte’ for the Metropolitan Opera, New York.
His honours include "Officer of the Order of Canada" awarded by the Canadian Government and "Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Québec".
For an up-to-date biography, please contact Gavin Bates
