Marie-Nicole Lemieux's stellar reputation in the world of vocal art is attributable to her extraordinary qualities both as a singer and a human being. She simply radiates qualities that belong only to the greatest. From the beginning of her international career, she has risen to perform on the world's most prestigious stages: New York, Milan, London, Paris, Salzbourg, Zürich, Vienna, Madrid… Her powerful voice, superb sense of line, faultless virtuosity, as well as her sense of nuance and drama have enabled her to triumph in a great variety of repertoires. The beginning of her career is marked by Baroque music (Orfeo ed Euridice, Giulio Cesare, Ariodante, Orlando Furioso, Salomon, Theodora…). The evolution of her voice soon allowed her to take on the French repertoire of the XIXth century (Les Troyens, Pelléas et Mélisande, Samson et Dalila, Carmen…), Rossini (Guillaume Tell, Tancredi, L’Italiana in Algeri…) and Verdi (Falstaff, Il Trovatore, Un Ballo in Maschera…). Her rich and varied discography has been often rewarded, and in 2017 she began her collaboration with Warner Classics.

Recognized for her performances of the Baroque repertoire, Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin also sings Mahler, Bach, Beethoven, Britten, and the music of the late 20th and 21st centuries with equal success. The prestigious distinctions she has received include the title of “Soloist of the Year” awarded by the Communauté internationale des radios publiques de langue française, First Prize in the CBC Radio Competition for Young Performers, and the Virginia Parker Prize and Maggie Teyte Memorial Prize in London. Her exciting 2018–2019 season included dates at Wigmore Hall, Brigham Young University, with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, and Orchestre Métropolitain. Ms. Gauvin has sung with the world’s greatest symphony orchestras, including the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic and Rotterdam Philharmonic, as well as Baroque orchestras such as Les Talens Lyriques, the Venice Baroque Orchestra, Accademia Bizantina, Il Complesso Barocco, the Akademie Für Alte Musik Berlin, the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, and Les Violons du Roy. She has performed under the direction of maestros Semyon Bychkov, Charles Dutoit, Bernard Labadie, Kent Nagano, Sir Roger Norrington, Helmuth Rilling, Christophe Rousset, and Michael Tilson Thomas. In addition, she has sung in recital with pianists Marc-André Hamelin, Angela Hewitt, Michael McMahon, and Roger Vignoles. Notable opera successes include Vitellia in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées; Vénus in Rameau’s Dardanus with Opéra National de Bordeaux; L’Eternità/Giunone in La Calisto with the Bayerische Staatsoper; the title role in Armide with De Nederlandse Opera; Armida in Handel’s Rinaldo at the Glyndebourne Festival; the title role in Handel’s Alcina with Les Talens Lyriques; and Ariadne in Georg Conradi’s Die Schöne und getreue Ariadne for the Boston Early Music Festival. She performed in Vivaldi’s Tito Manlio in Brussels and at the Barbican in London; Fulvio in Handel’s Ezio in Paris and Vienna; the title role in Giulio Cesare in Paris and Vienna; and the title role in Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans with Andrea Marcon at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. She has also sung Seleuce in Handel’s Tolomeo with Alan Curtis, with whom she recorded Handel operas on the ARCHIV/Deutsche Grammophon, Virgin and Naïve labels, among others. Her recorded performances with the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra have earned her two nominations for Grammy Awards. On the concert stage, memorable performances include the Princess in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges with the Rotterdam Philharmonic under Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Bach’s St. John Passion and Handel’s Solomon with Les Violons du Roy; Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Debussy’s The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian and Mahler’s Symphony no. 2 with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Karina Gauvin has an extensive discography—over 30 titles—and she has won numerous awards, including a Chamber Music America Award for Fête Galante, with pianist Marc-André Hamelin, and several Opus Prizes. Other recording projects include a European tour and a recording of Handel’s Ariodante for EMI Virgin Classics; a European tour and a recording of Giulio Cesare for Naïve House, both with Alan Curtis and Il Complesso Barocco; and Britten’s Les Illuminations with Les Violons du Roy, under the direction of Jean-Marie Zeitouni. In addition, she has completed an album in honour of Anna Maria Strada del Po, with Alexander Weimann and the Arion Ensemble.  

Gifted with stunning virtuosity, serene lyricism and unfaltering musicality, James Ehnes is a favourite guest of many of the world’s most respected conductors and celebrated orchestras. Among many others, has worked with the Boston, Chicago, London, NHK and Vienna symphony orchestras, the Los Angeles, New York, Munich and Czech philharmonic orchestras, and the Cleveland, Philadelphia, Philharmonia and DSO Berlin orchestras. In 2019–2020, Ehnes was Artist-in-Residence with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Alongside his concerto work, Ehnes maintains a busy recital schedule, performing regularly in the most famous international concert halls. In 2018, notably, he undertook a recital tour to the Far East, including performances in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur. Ehnes began violin studies at the age of five and made his orchestra debut with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal at 13. He continued his studies at The Juilliard School, winning the Peter Mennin Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music upon graduating in 1997. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and in 2010 was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada. He was the recipient of the 2017 Royal Philharmonic Society Award in the Instrumentalist category. James Ehnes plays the “Marsick” Stradivarius of 1715.