Hear the sound of a rising star! Violinist Guillaume Villeneuve, winner of the 2022 Mathieu-Duguay Early Music Competition and the 2023 Discovery of the Year Opus Award, blazes a musical trail through the flames of hell and the stars of heaven, together with his brother Lucas on harpsichord.
Works by Eccles, Biber, Corelli, Tartini and Bach.
30 $ - regular, 25 $ - 65 years and older, 15 $ - students
Notre-Dame-du-Bon-Secours Vault (metro Champ-de-Mars)
400, Saint-Paul East Street
Montreal QC
Canada
Fire and Stardust
Image: Violonist, engraving by Bonnart
Guillaume Villeneuve, violin
Lucas Villeneuve, harpsichord
Sonata for violin and basso continuo in G minor
Grave - Corrente - Adagio - Vivace
Sonata (passacaglia) for solo violin in G minor, C. 105
Improvisation game with the audience
Sonata for violin and basso continuo in G minor - "The Devil's Trill"
Larghetto affettuoso - Allegro - Andante-Allegro-Adagio
Chaconne from the Partita for Solo violin No.2 in D minor BWV 1004
Sonata for violin and basso continuo in D minor op. 5 No.12 "La Folia"
Hear the sound of a rising star! Violinist Guillaume Villeneuve, winner of the 2022 Mathieu-Duguay Early Music Competition and the 2023 Discovery of the Year Opus Award, blazes a musical trail through the flames of hell and the stars of heaven, together with his brother Lucas on harpsichord.
Guillaume Villeneuve
Chamber musician, soloist, and concertmaster Guillaume Villeneuve performs an extensive repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary music. He is committed to expressing musical emotion powerfully and authentically, which has led him to specialize in playing historical instruments. In 2023, he received the Discovery of the Year Opus Award. He is a founding member of Quatuor Cobalt, as well as its current artistic director.
As an active concert musician, Villeneuve performs and records regularly with ensembles such as Arion Baroque Orchestra, the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, Pallade Musica and the Orchestre Festival Bach Montréal. He is also highly sought after as a soloist. For instance, he recently performed Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with cellist Elinor Frey and pianist Olivier Godin on period instruments. He is the concertmaster of the Galileo orchestra and principal second violin of L’Harmonie des saisons. He is also frequently invited to perform as a guest with such groups as Clavecin en concert, Ensemble Caprice, the Orchestre FILMharmonique, and Ensemble Classico-Moderne, as well as the Ottawa Baroque Consort and the Antiphona ensemble in France.
He has been awarded multiple notable prizes and scholarships, including the first prize and Audience’s Choice Award at the 2022 Mathieu-Duguay Early Music Competition presented by the Lamèque International Baroque Music Festival. Villeneuve performs on an 1866 Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume violin from Paris, with an Arthur Copley bow from W. E. Hill & Sons, on generous loan from Canimex.
Lucas Villeneuve
Lucas Villeneuve, Guillaume’s brother, was born in a family of musicians, and his taste for music developed at an early age. Although his childhood was filled with a wide variety of repertoires and genres, he discovered a lifelong musical language in Baroque music. At age five, he discovered the harpsichord and enrolled in the Conservatoire à rayonnement régional Montserrat Caballé in Perpignan, where he studied with Carole Parer for more than fourteen years. He attended several early music programs during his years of study, receiving guidance from harpsichordists such as Blandine Rannou, Skip Sempé and Olivier Fortin. Having recently obtained his Diplôme d’études musicales from the Conservatoire, he is now enrolled in further training, in order to fine-tune his musical knowledge and performance abilities while pursuing various other projects. He is also currently studying at the University of Montpellier and enjoying broadening his musical and artistic horizons.