Arion Baroque Orchestra, founded in 1981, is a Canadian

baroque orchestra A Baroque orchestra is an ensemble for mixed instruments that existed during the Baroque era of Western Classical music, commonly identified as 1600–1750. Baroque orchestras are typically much smaller, in terms of the number of performers, than t ...

based in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, specializing in music of the 18th century performed on

period instruments In the historically informed performance movement, musicians perform classical music using restored or replicated versions of the instruments for which it was originally written. Often performances by such musicians are said to be "on authentic ...

History

Arion Baroque Orchestra was founded in Montreal in 1981 (first under the name of Arion Ensemble). Originally, it was a quartet whose members included flautist Claire Guimond, violinist Chantal Rémillard, harpsichordist Hank Knox, and viola da gamba player Betsy MacMillan. The ensemble's name comes from the Greek mythology:

Arion Arion (; grc-gre, Ἀρίων; fl. c. 700 BC) was a kitharode in ancient Greece, a Dionysiac poet credited with inventing the dithyramb. The islanders of Lesbos claimed him as their native son, but Arion found a patron in Periander, tyrant ...

is a musician from antiquity who avoided drowning by charming a dolphin with his singing. It is also the name of a cantata by

André Campra André Campra (; baptized 4 December 1660 – 29 June 1744) was a French composer and conductor of the Baroque era. The leading French opera composer in the period between Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau, Campra wrote several '' tra ...

that was played at the first concert of the group. Since the mid-1990s, the original quartet has expanded with the aim of developing into a

, and thus began to explore the repertoire from the 2nd half of the 18th century, most notably the music of

Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...

and Mozart. Flautist Claire Guimond, was the sole artistic director of the orchestra from 1981 to 2019. During the 2019–2020 season, the artistic direction was shared with bassoonist Mathieu Lussier who will succeed her in the following 2020/2021 season. Arion Baroque Orchestra does not have a principal conductor and prefers to collaborate with invited soloists and leaders. Some of the collaborators Arion has shared the stage with over the years are sopranos

Suzie LeBlanc Suzie LeBlanc (born 27 October 1961) is a Canadian soprano and early music specialist. She is also active as a professor, currently working at Mcgill University. She was named a member of the Order of Canada in 2014 for her contributions to musi ...

and Karina Gauvin, recorder player Vincent Lauzer, violinists Stefano Montanari, Enrico Onofri, and

Monica Huggett Monica Huggett (born 16 May 1953 in London, England) is a British conductor and leading baroque violinist. Biography At the age of 16, Huggett started studying at the Royal Academy of Music, London, with Manoug Parikian and Kato Havas, baroque ...

, cellist

Jaap ter Linden Jaap ter Linden (born 10 April 1947, in Rotterdam) is a Dutch cellist, viol player and conductor. He specialises in performance of baroque and classical music on authentic instruments. He began his career as principal cellist of notable baro ...

, harpsichordists

Christophe Rousset Christophe Rousset (; born 12 April 1961) is a French harpsichordist and conductor, who specializes in the performance of Baroque music on period instruments. He is also a musicologist, particularly of opera and European music of the 17th and 18 ...

Garry Cooper Garry Cooper is an English actor. He was born in Hull, East Yorkshire, on 2 June 1955. Garry trained at Drama Centre, London and has worked extensively in film, television and theatre. Filmography External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coope ...

, and Alexander Weimann, flautist

Barthold Kuijken Barthold Kuijken (; born 8 March 1949, Dilbeek) is a Belgians, Belgian flautist and Recorder (musical instrument), recorder player, known for playing baroque music on Historically informed performance, historical instruments and particularly kno ...

, and clarinettist Lorenzo Coppola. Arion Baroque Orchestra toured Québec, Canada, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, and Europe. Arion has a residency at Bourgie Hall of the

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA; french: Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, MBAM) is an art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest art museum in Canada by gallery space. The museum is located on the historic Golden Square ...

, where it has an annual subscription series of five programs. The orchestra also performs at other venues in Montreal, most notably through the Conseil des arts de Montréal touring program, but also at the main music festivals across Quebec and Canada such as Domaine Forget, the Montreal Bach Festival, the Ottawa Chamberfest, and the Lamèque International Baroque Music Festival in

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

Awards and distinctions

The orchestra received several awards and distinctions for its recordings and concerts: 9 Prix Opus^, of the ''Conseil Québécois de la Musique'', 2

Félix Award The Félix Award (french: Trophée Félix or Prix Félix) is an award, given by the ''Association du disque, de l'industrie du spectacle québécois'' (ADISQ) on an annual basis to artists working in the music and humor industry in the Canadian p ...

s^, of ADISQ, 1

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

of the

Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) is a non-profit organization responsible for promoting Canadian music and artists. It administers the Juno Awards, the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the MusiCounts music education cha ...

, and 1

Diapason d'Or The Diapason d'Or (French for "Golden Tuning Fork") is a recommendation of outstanding (mostly) classical music recordings given by reviewers of '' Diapason'' magazine in France, broadly equivalent to "Editor's Choice", "Disc of the Month" in the ...

from the French music magazine Diapason.

Discography

The discography of Arion Baroque Orchestra comprises around thirty titles on four labels: early-music.com,

ATMA Classique ATMA Classique is a Canadian record label based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1994 by Johanne Goyette, the company has close to 600 titles in its catalogue and distributes in over 25 countries and on the internet. Several recordings released ...

Analekta Analekta is Canada's largest independent classical music recording label. The label, which takes its name from the Greek word ''analekta'' ("a collection of the finest works"), was founded in 1988 by the Canadian music industry manager and entre ...

, and the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

. * 1985 : ''Leclair, Hotteterre and Guillemain –'' ''Entre Paris et Versailles'' * 1990 : ''Quantz, Graun, Couperin, etc. – Baroque chamber music with recorder'', with Marion Verbruggen (recorder) * 1991 : ''Telemann –

Paris quartets The Paris quartets is a collective designation for two sets of Chamber music compositions, each consisting of six works for flute, violin, viola da gamba (or cello), and continuo, by Georg Philipp Telemann, first published in 1730 and 1738, respe ...

'' VCD1040* 1993 : ''Telemann, Quentin et Mondonville – Conversations en musique'' * 1994 : ''Clérambault, Campra and Montéclair – Four Major French Cantatas from the 17th and 18th Centuries'', with Danièle Forget (soprano) * 1995 : Bach ''–'' ''

The Musical Offering ''The Musical Offering'' (German: or ), BWV 1079, is a collection of keyboard canons and fugues and other pieces of music by Johann Sebastian Bach, all based on a single musical theme given to him by Frederick the Great (King Frederick II of Pru ...

'' * 1995 : ''Un concert en Nouvelle-France,'' with Richard Duguay (tenor) * 1996 : ''Bach – 6 Trio Sonatas, BWV 525–530'' * 1997 : ''Telemann –

Tafelmusik Tafelmusik (German: literally, "table-music") is a term used since the mid-16th century for music played at feasts and banquets. Table music could be either instrumental, vocal, or both. As might be expected, it was often of a somewhat lighter c ...

(first production)'' * 1997 : ''O’Carolan's Harp'', with Siobhan McDonnall (Celtic harp) * 1997 : ''Boismortier – Les Quatre Saisons'', with Isabelle Desrochers (soprano), Hervé Lamy (tenor) and

Max van Egmond Max van Egmond (born 1 February 1936 in Semarang) is a Dutch bass and baritone singer. He has focused on oratorio and Lied and is known for singing works of Johann Sebastian Bach. He was one of the pioneers of historically informed performance of B ...

(baritone) * 1998 : ''Leclair – Concertos'', with Claire Guimond (flute) and

(violin and direction) * 2001 : ''Bach –

Orchestral suites An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, ce ...

,'' with Claire Guimond (flute), Chantal Rémillard (violin), Hank Knox and Luc Beauséjour (harpsichords), directed by

* 2001 : ''Bach –'' ''Suites and Concertos,'' directed by

* 2001 : ''Handel –'' ''Sacred Arias'', with

Daniel Taylor Daniel, Dan, or Danny Taylor may refer to: Sportspeople * Dan Taylor (shot putter) (born 1982), American shot putter * Dan Taylor (cricketer) (1887–1957), South African cricketer * Dan Taylor (footballer, born 1993), English footballer * Dan Tayl ...

(countertenor), directed by Monica Huggett * 2002 : ''Handel –'' ''Love Duets'', with

(soprano), Daniel Taylor (countertenor) and Stephen Stubbs (lute, baroque guitar and direction) * 2003 : ''Vivaldi, Handel and Scarlatti –'' ''Maria, Madre di Dio'', with

Agnès Mellon Agnès Mellon (born 17 January 1958) is a French soprano who specializes in baroque music. Biography Agnès Mellon started her career in 1981 with the baroque ensemble Les Arts Florissants, directed by William Christie, with whom, between ...

(soprano) and Matthew White (countertenor), directed by Monica Huggett * 2005 : ''Faustina Bordoni – Visages d’une Prima Donna,'' with Kimberly Barber (mezzo-soprano), Jonathan Carle (baritone), directed by Monica Huggett * 2005 : ''Telemann –'' ''Tutti flauti ! ''with

Matthias Maute Matthias Maute (born 1963) is a virtuoso recorder player and composer. Maute was born in Ebingen, Germany and studied in Freiburg and Utrecht with Baldrick Deerenberg and Marion Verbruggen. In 1990 he won first prize in the soloist category of ...

and Sophie Larivière (recorders), Claire Guimond and Mika Putterman (flutes), directed by

* 2006 : ''Vivaldi –'' ''Chiaroscuro'' with Claire Guimond (flute) and Mathieu Lussier (bassoon) * 2007 : ''Telemann –'' ''Les trésors cachés'', directed by Jaap ter Linden * 2007 : ''Rebel –'' ''Plaisirs champêtres,'' directed by Daniel Cuiller * 2008 : ''Corrette –'' ''Symphonies des noël et Concertos comiques'' * 2009 : ''Haydn,'' ''La Passione – Symphonies 41, 49 et 44'', directed by

Gary Cooper Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, quiet screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, a ...

* 2010 : ''CPE Bach –'' ''Symphonies and concertos'', with Claire Guimond (flute) and Gary Cooper (harpsichord and direction) * 2012 : ''Bach –

St John Passion The ''Passio secundum Joannem'' or ''St John Passion'' (german: Johannes-Passion, link=no), BWV 245, is a Passion or oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach, the older of the surviving Passions by Bach. It was written during his first year as direc ...

'', with Les Voix Baroques, directed by Alexander Weimann * 2012 : ''Handel, Vivaldi and Vinci –'' ''Prima Donna,'' with Karina Gauvin (soprano) and Alexander Weimann (direction) * 2014 : ''Hidden Treasures of Italy – Violin Concertos by Lidarti, Razetti, Montanari, Nardini and Sirmen'', with Stefano Montanari (violin and direction) * 2017 : ''Quantz and Telemann –'' ''Rebelles Baroques,'' with Claire Guimond and Alexa Raine-Wright (flutes), Jean-Louis Blouin (viola) and Alexander Weimann * 2017 : ''Bach –'' ''Magnificat'', with Johanna Winkel and Johanette Zomer (sopranos), James Laing (countertenor), Zachary Wilder (tenor), Matthew Brook (bass), directed by Alexander Weimann * 2018 : ''Vivaldi –'' ''Concertos for Recorder'', with Vincent Lauzer (recorder), directed by Alexander Weimann * 2020 : ''Telemann –'' ''Concertos and Overture'', with Vincent Lauzer (recorder), Mathieu Lussier (bassoon and direction) and Alexander Weimann (direction)

Notes et references

External links

Official website of Arion Baroque Orchestra

Official website of Orchestras Canada
{{Authority control Baroque music groups Early music orchestras Canadian orchestras Chamber music groups Musical groups from Montreal