L'Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal

Stéphane Laforest, First Assistant Conductor

“Mention must be made of the work and diligence of the conductor, who possesses an undeniable sense of dimension and nuance…” Claude Gingras, La Presse, Montreal

Stéphane Laforest has been the recipient of the Heinz Unger Conducting Award (2000), a Prix Opus in the young audience category with the Orchestre symphonique de Québec for the performance of the family concert “Planète Baobab” (2000), the Grand Prix Desjardins from the Conseil de la Culture de Lanaudière (1999), first prize from the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec in conducting, and, from 1999 to 2002, Canada Council grants as resident assistant conductor and conductor in residence with the Orchestre symphonique de Québec under the direction of Yoav Talmi.

Mr. Laforest enjoys a highly enviable reputation as a conductor in Canada. Since June 2009 he has been first assistant conductor with Kent Nagano and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. He has also been artistic director and conductor of the Orchestre symphonique de Sherbrooke since 1998 and holds the same positions with the Sinfonia de Lanaudière, an orchestra he founded in 1994.

Stéphane Laforest served as artistic director and conductor of Symphony New Brunswick from 2005 to 2009, resident assistant conductor and conductor in residence of the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec from 1999 to 2005, artistic director and conductor of the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra from 1995 to 1998, principal guest conductor of Orchestra London Canada from 2000 to 2005 and resident conductor of the Orchestre des jeunes du Québec in 1986.
A holder of grants from Québec’s Ministry of Culture and the Canada Council for the Arts, he has worked with conductors Charles Bruck, Michel Tabachnik, Simon Streatfield, Alfredo Sillipigni, Gustav Meier, Raffi Armenian, Yoav Talmi and Otto Werner Mueller.

As guest conductor, Stéphane Laforest has led the following major symphony orchestras on a number of occasions: the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal as well as several other orchestras in Canada, including the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphony New Brunswick, Orchestra London Canada, the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, the Nova Scotia Symphony, the Niagara Symphony Orchestra, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, Les Violons du Roy (Quebec City), the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières, the Orchestre symphonique du Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, the Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil, the Orchestre symphonique du Conservatoire du Québec à Montréal (on a tour of France), the Orchestre symphonique de l’Université de Montréal, the Orchestre des jeunes du Québec, Harmonie Nationale des jeunes du Canada, the Festival des orchestres de jeunes du Québec and the orchestras of the Camp musical de Lanaudière, des Laurentides and d’Asbestos.

In addition to his versatility as a conductor, Stéphane Laforest is recognized for his orchestrating skills. He has worked on Michel Cusson’s music for Imax documentaries, conducted the musical Les Misérables in a production at the Théâtre Capitole in Quebec City in the summer of 2008, and can be seen regularly with a number of artists in the pop-music world, among them Gregory Charles – in 2005 he took over conducting the Orchestre du Mondial Choral Loto-Québec and a 200-voice choir – Robert Charlebois, Jean-Pierre Ferland, Michel Rivard, Diane Dufresne, Robert Marien, Claude Gauthier, André Gagnon (a tour of Japan), Martin Deschamps, Sylvain Cossette, Marie-Denise Pelletier, Carol Welsman, Luck Merville, Offenbach, Bob Walsh, Johanne Blouin, Michael Bergus, Larry Gowan, Michael Hope, Rick Wakeman of the rock group Yes, Quartango, Ian Tyson, Ashley MacIsaac, Natalie MacMaster, the Leahy family, P.J. Perry, Steve Barakatt, Quartetto Gelato and New Orleans Connection, as well as the many soloists in the pops series at Orchestra London Canada and the Orchestre symphonique de Québec.

Guest conductor for the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Gala from 2003 to 2009 at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Mr. Laforest is a regular guest on programs heard on Radio-Canada and the CBC and serves on the jury of a number of well-known musical organizations. He is also a member of the board of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.

In the early years of his career, Stéphane Laforest was very much involved in young people’s orchestras and bands in Québec. He was the official conductor of young people’s orchestras in Joliette, Sherbrooke, Lévis, Shawinigan and Ville d’Anjou, and of the Harmonie Calixa Lavallée in Sorel.
Stéphane Laforest was born into a family of musicians in Sorel in 1963. He is married to the accomplished solo violinist Élaine Marcil and is the father of two children, Cécilia and Emmanuel.

Nathan Brock, Assistant Conductor

Toronto native Nathan Brock begins his tenure as assistant conductor of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in July 2009.  In addition to conducting family, education, outreach, and symphonic concert programs, he will work closely with Nagano and other guest conductors during the symphony’s upcoming season in Montreal. 

Currently he is an instructor and assistant to Professor J. Schlaefli, leader of the orchestral conducting program, at the Hochschule der Künste Zürich.

Mr. Brock was the winner of the 2007 Berner Kammerorchester’s young conductors competition and reached the final 6 competitors from a field of more than 150 at Spain’s VIII Cadaques International Conducting Competition in May 2006.

With the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Mr. Brock has conducted in master classes around the world with such great conductor/pedagogues as Jorma Panula, Bernard Haitink, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, and Michael Tilson Thomas.  He has twice been invited as a fellow to the American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music festival where he worked with David Zinman.  He received his first formal training at the Pierre Monteux School with Michael Jinbo and Claude Monteux.

From 2003-2008, Mr. Brock served as founding artistic director and principle conductor of the Northern Lights Music Festival in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Brock completed his studies in orchestral conducting at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, in Zürich, Switzerland. Under the auspices of this program he conducted many concerts across Europe.  He has also conducted concerts in America and Mexico.

Mr. Brock was born in Toronto in 1978. At an early age he began a varied musical training first as a drummer/percussionist, continuing on piano, treble and bass viola da gamba, and finally cello.  In 2002, he received the Advanced Certificate in Performance from the University of Toronto Faculty of Music studying cello with Shauna Rolston. He has an Honours Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto (2001) where he double-majored in History and in Music and minored in French.

Upcoming engagements for the 2009-2010 season include concerts with the Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra Ottawa and a return engagement with the Bern Chamber Orchestra.