Stellar: the Organ’s Balancing Act^2025-2026

After travelling the world and its cabarets, Rosalie Beauchamp co-founded Le Monastère in 2016, driven by a bold ambition: to fill a glaring gap in their city of heart, Montreal. Although the city was proclaimed the capital of the circus arts, it offered little visibility to independent artists, who were all too often anonymous in the big companies. The public, for its part, had limited access to a truly diversified offering.

Our dream? To create a place where artists could express themselves in a raw, sincere and unfiltered way. A space where the artist is not just a performer, but the author of his or her work. Located in a church dating from 1864 on rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest in Montreal, this NPO invites the public to plunge into an accessible, rich and warm universe, where the contemporary circus deploys all its creative force.

Le Monastère, circus in its purest form.

Camille Tremblay, balancing act
Camille has been active in the circus arts since 2009. Trained in rhythmic gymnastics and piano, she developed early on an approach that combines physical prowess with artistic sensitivity. A graduate of the National Circus School of Montreal in 2012, she has since performed in festivals, creative projects, cabaret shows, televised performances, and special events.

Manolo Gonzalo, MultiLED number
Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Manuel began circus arts at the age of 7 with Circo de las Artes, where he trained in static trapeze, aerial silks, and floor acrobatics.
He complemented his training with gymnastics, theatre, and dance, while developing a strong interest in fashion and design. After several summer programs at the National Circus School in Montreal, he joined the institution in 2020, specializing in dance trapeze under the guidance of Elena Fomina and Didier Lucien.

Oona De Cleyn, hair suspension on bungee
Oona De Cleyn is a Belgian dancer and aerial artist, trained at the Royal Ballet School in Antwerp. Since 2016, she has practiced various aerial disciplines, including lyra, flying harness, bungee dance, aerial net, and dynamic hair suspension, her current specialty. She has performed in Cirque du Soleil at Sea: Bellissima, worked as a personal aerial coach for Helene Fischer, and was a finalist on Belgium’s Got Talent (2016) and So You Think You Can Dance (2009).

Alexandre Alain, aerial silks
Alexandre Alain is a circus artist and a graduate of the École de cirque de Québec (2022). He has practiced circus arts since childhood and specialized in aerial silks, his discipline of choice, where he combines dance, movement, and technique to convey his sensitivity on stage. Versatile, he also performs with hula hoop and trio trapeze, and has collaborated with Machine de Cirque, Le Monastère, and GOP Variety Theater.

Cléa Perion, Cyr wheel
Cléa is a circus artist from Nantes, specializing in aerial rope and Cyr wheel. A graduate of the École de cirque de Québec (2019), she performs on international stages with renowned companies such as Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Éloize, and GOP Varieté-Theater, as well as at festivals and corporate events worldwide. Creative and versatile, she designs custom acts that combine technical virtuosity with artistic sensitivity, and she continues her international career from her permanent residence in Quebec.

Jean-Willy Kunz was appointed in 2013 as the first organist in residence of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. In addition to playing both with the Orchestra and in recital, he sees to the development and showcasing of the Grand Orgue Pierre-Béique, Casavant Frères’ opus 3900 installed at the Maison symphonique in Montréal.

His performances with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal include concerts conducted by Rafael Payare, Kent Nagano, Masaaki Suzuki, Leonardo García Alarcón, Gabriel Thibaudeau, François-Xavier Roth, Vasily Petrenko, Juraj Valčuha, Paul McCreesh, John Storgårds, Dalia Stasevska, Carlo Rizzi, and David Zinman. He has also performed as a soloist with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, les Violons du Roy, the Trois-Rivières Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Regina Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Fabien Gabel, Bernard Labadie, Michael Willens, Alain, Trudel, Stéphane Denève, Gemma New, Kerem Hasan, JoAnn Falletta, and Gordon Gerrard.

At the Maison symphonique, Kunz has premiered numerous pieces for organ and orchestra, and for solo organ, by Tod Machover, John Rea, Samy Moussa, Harry Stafylakis, Matthew Ricketts, Gabriel Thibaudeau, Régis Campo, and Maxime Goulet. A highlight among his many solo performances on the Grand Orgue Pierre-Béique was a recital presented in 2017 in collaboration with the NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, and the European Space Agency, during which a live audio-video duplex with an astronaut aboard the International Space Station allowed for the first ever Earth-Space organ duet.

Jean-Willy Kunz’ interest and versatility in different styles of music are reflected in the various projects he has been involved with for several years, and which shed new light on the pipe organ, including jazz music in duo with Branford Marsalis and with the Ensemble InSpirations, pop music with Rufus and Martha Wainwright, stage music with the Cirque du Soleil, contemporary music with the Quebec Contemporary Music Society and the Quatuor Bozzini, and baroque music with the Ensemble Caprice and Les Boréades.

His discography includes many recordings which reflect the broad range of his musical influences. His most recent CDs include a solo organ album Jean-Willy Kunz au Grand Orgue Pierre-Béique; Impressions with the Ensemble InSpirations (organ, clarinet, saxophone, trombone, double bass, and percussion); Symphonie et créations pour orgue et orchestre with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (which was awarded a Juno in 2016); and The Pipes are Calling for organ and trombone; Punkt with Pierre Lapointe; André Gagnon Baroque for harpsichord and symphony orchestra.

Jean-Willy Kunz studied with Louis Robilliard and with Mireille Lagacé, before completing a doctorate in organ performance at McGill University with John Grew. In 2018, he completed an MBA at HEC Montréal. He is organ professor at the Conservatory of Music in Montréal and artistic director of the Canadian International Organ Competition.