Matthias Maute and Ensemble vocal Arts-Québec at the Abbey

Internationally-acclaimed flutist, composer and conductor, Mathias Maute, welcomes you to the Abbey! With over 40 years of musical excellence to their combined credit, the Ensemble vocal Arts-Québec joins the great maestro to bring you inside the fascinating world of Brahms.

PROGRAM

ARTISTE

Matthias Maute
Matthias Maute has carved out an impressive international reputation for himself not only as one of the great recorder and baroque flute virtuosos of his generation but also as a composer and conductor. Since winning first prize in the soloist category at the prestigious Bruges Early Music Competition in 1990, he has led a highly successful career as a recorder and baroque flute soloist. He made his debut in New York’s Lincoln Center in 2008 and has twice been the featured soloist for the Boston Early Music Festival. He records and tours extensively. The Washington Post hailed him as one of the greatest recorder players on the North American musical scene. Since 25 years, Matthias concertizes as member of the New York based ensemble REBEL in North America and Europe. 

He has been invited to perform as guest soloist or conductor by the world’s most eminent baroque orchestras, including: Seattle Baroque, the Portland Baroque Orchestra, the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra, “Apollo’s Fire” and the Magnificat Baroque Ensemble. In recent years he has also been invited to conduct other renowned orchestras, including I Musici de Montreal and Symphony of Nova Scotia. Matthias Maute is also celebrated for his work as artistic director and conductor of Ensemble Caprice. In this capacity he is known for creating and leading ingenious and captivatingly original programmes. He tours extensively with the ensemble, being regularly invited to take part in prestigious festivals around the globe. In Canada, the group can be heard at the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, the Festival international du Domaine Forget, Early Music Vancouver, Early Music Voices in Calgary and the Elora Festival in Ontario.

Under his direction, Ensemble Caprice was granted an esteemed JUNO award in 2009 for best vocal/choral classical music album of the year (for its CD Gloria! Vivaldi and his Angels on the Analekta label). Matthias Maute’s compositions are highly regarded and have been published by Breitkopf & Härtel, Amadeus, Moeck, and Carus. He has some thirty recordings to his credit on the Analekta, Vanguard Clasics, Bella Musica, Dorian, Bridge and ATMA Classique labels. Matthias Maute teaches at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music and at the Faculty of Music of the Université de Montréal. 

Ensemble Vocal Arts Québec
Ensemble vocal Arts-Québec is a professional choir steeped in the grand tradition of choral music in Quebec, with the mission to present professional choral music in Québec, Canada and internationally. Ensemble vocal Arts-Québec is recipient of the PRIX OPUS Musical Event of the Year 2020. After having been led for nearly 40 years by its founder, Yves Courville, the choir named Matthias Maute, two-time Juno Award recipient, as its artistic director in 2019.

Since Matthias Maute’s nomination, the choir has increased the number of its concerts from three a year to a dozen per year in Quebec and Canada making a stellar impression including performances in the Maison Symphonique with soprano Karina Gauvin (including an album recorded with ATMA Classique) and concerts at the Montreal Baroque Festival and Ottawa’s Music and Beyondfestival. From its inception, Ensemble Vocal Arts-Quebec has chosen to perform works from the great masterpieces of the repertoire for choir. Following upon the success of its performances of Handel’s oratorio The Triumph of Time and Truth, the choir was chosen to take part in Ensemble Caprice’s 30th anniversary celebration performances of Bach’s B minor Mass in Bourgie Concert Hall. Since 2018, the choir has performed with the Ensemble Caprice orchestra in Saint-Jérôme, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, and Terrebonne, as well as in Westmount and Montreal. During one of its tours, the choir performed Handel’s Messiah in various regions of Québec.

The choir’s director, Matthias Maute, recipient of two Juno Awards, one Juno for his album with choir entitled Vivaldi and his Angels, has earned an international reputation for his excellent work as artistic director of Ensemble Caprice, the Minnesota Bach Society, Concerts Noncerto and co-artistic director of the Montreal Baroque Festival. In 2019, Ensemble Vocal Arts-Quebec celebrated its 40th year of musical excellence. 

REPERTOIRE

BACH, Motet Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf, BWV 226
BRAHMS, Gedenksprüche, Op. 109
BRUCKNER, Two Motets
VERDI, O padre nostro
BRAHMS, Drei geistliche Chöre, Op. 37
BACH, Motet Lobet den Herrn
BRAHMS, Drei Gesänge
MENDELSSOHN, Denn er hat seinen Engeln
MEYERBEER, Pater noster
RHEINBERGER, Abendlied