LISE MAISONNEUVE  SOPRANO
For years now, Lise Maisonneuve has been thrilling audiences with her clear voice and her expressive presence on stage. Critics have hailed her comfort with the repertoire and her ease with the upper register. She sings everything from opera to contemporary show tunes and performs regularly with the early music ensemble La Favoritte, with the new eclectic group Carousel, and with many music ensembles in the Ottawa region. Lise has been a featured soloist on CBC Television, CBC Radio 2, at the Boston Early Music Festival, and has had the opportunity to work under the direction of Christopher Jackson and Stephen Stubbs. She has also performed at the Sacred Music Festival of the Outaouais, the National Arts Centre, the National Gallery of Canada, and as soloist with Thirteen Strings, the Timmins Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Centennial Choir, Seventeen Voyces, and the University of Ottawa Choir. Her varied experience in performing oratorio, opera, chamber music, and solo recitals of lieder, mélodie, and baroque and contemporary repertoire brings a refreshing yet insightful tone to La Favoritte.

MADELEINE OWEN  LUTE, THEORBO, GUITAR
Described as 'a breath of fresh air' and 'a strongly instinctive player', Madeleine Owen began playing the guitar at the age of seven. She has gone on to become equally at home in modern and early music performance, specializing in lute, theorbo and classical guitar. In demand as a soloist and accompanist, Madeleine Owen performs regularly in concert series such as Montréal en lumières, Le festival de musique sacrée de l'Outaouais and the Boston Early Music Festival. She was recently featured as lute soloist in Montréal's St. Andrew and St. Paul's Church production of Bach's Saint John Passion. She is an occasional accompanist for McGill University and the Université de Montréal and her talents in continuo playing also make her a favorite with baroque and English country dancers.

Madeleine Owen is an able arranger and has a special interest in enlarging the ensemble repertoire for classical guitar. An award-winning teacher, she has taught a wide variety of musical subjects from guitar to pre-school music.

She studied classical guitar performance at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Hull and the University of Ottawa. She has studied early music performance with well-known musicians such as Nigel North and Sylvain Bergeron.

BARBARA ZUCHOWICZ  VIOLAS DA GAMBA, BAROQUE 'CELLO, LIRONE received a M.Mus. degree in early music performance from the New England Conservatory. As artistic director of Gambina Ensemble she produced concerts for thousands of young people featuring music from Canada's earliest day. The ensemble received awards from the McConnell Family Foundation and the Ontario Arts Council Artists in Education programme for this work. She has performed as soloist with such outstanding artists as Dan Taylor, the Hull Chamber Orchestra, the Cantata Singers, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Amsel Baroque, the Genesee Consort. She has given many solo recitals, masterclasses and workshops in Canada and the U.S. Ms. Zuchowicz was featured as soloist on the sound track of for the National Film Board production "L'Affaire Dollard", and has frequently been heard on CBC and National Public Radio. In 1995 she was honoured with the award of the loan of an instrument from the Opus Collection of the Canadian Museum of Civilization for research and performance. With the Canadian Musical Heritage Society (Canadian Music Showcase) she has worked with Canadian composers to develop new music for young string players. For ORMTA she has been the driving force behind an innovative performance programme for adult learners, now in its fifth year. In December of 2003 La Favoritte and Seventeen Voyces chamber choir performed her edition of the Charpentier "Pastoralle de Notre Seigneur Jésus Christ" on CBC Television. A member of the Royal Conservatory of Music College of Examiners, she teaches viols and 'cello privately in Ottawa.

KEVIN JAMESVIOLIN , VIOLA
Kevin James, baroque and modern violin and viola studied music in his native Toronto, at the University of Ottawa, Carleton University and summer sessions in historical performance at Oberlin College and McGill University. Kevin is an active performer in Ottawa, often appearing in local recital series and as lead violinist for orchestras he organizes for community choirs. He has appeared as a chamber musician and recitalist for Radio-Canada and CBC and has performed with several ensembles, including the new-music group FUSIONS and l'Orchestre des concerts symphoniques de Gatineau.

Kevin has premiered more than a dozen new works for viola written at his invitation, some for viola alone, others calling for diverse partners such as organ, chamber choir, viola nonet, percussion and string orchestra. Recently he researched and performed a recital of first known works for viola and piano by Canadian composers. Kevin has written on aspects of Canada's musical life for the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada (second edition) and as an occasional contributor to the freelance musical press. He has recorded on baroque violin and modern viola.

JOHANNE COUTUREHARPSICHORD A native of Chicoutimi, Québec, Johanne Couture studied the harpsichord at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Chicoutimi and the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam before completing a doctorate in performance at McGill University. She is the recipient of grants and awards from numerous organizations, including Youth and Music Canada, the Orchestre Symphonique du Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, the Halifax Early Music Festival, McGill University (Max Stern Fellowship), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). As a SSHRC grant recipient, Johanne Couture pursued post-doctoral studies in French harpsichord music of the 17th century, and she has given a number of lectures on this subject at university symposia. Johanne Couture performs regularly both as a soloist and as a chamber musician with various ensembles, and she is heard regularly on Radio-Canada. She has participated in numerous baroque operas as both a harpsichordist and a rehearsal accompanist. In parallel with her career as a musician and researcher, Johanne Couture has worked for a number of years at the college and university level as an accompanist and a lecturer.

Guest Artists