BARBARA ZUCHOWICZ  ARTISTIC DIRECTOR 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.

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.

KEVIN JAMES  VIOLIN , 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.

MARJOLAINE FOURNIER  VIOLAS DA GAMBA
Marjolaine Fournier was born in Toronto and raised in Chicoutimi after her family moved to the Saguenay in 1974. Long standing principal double bass with the Orchestre Symphonique du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, she was a founding member of its Orchestre de Chambre in 1986. A bass student at the Conservatoire de musique de Chicoutimi and Trois-Rivières, she graduated with a Premier Prix in double bass and a Premier Prix in chamber music in 1989.

In 1991, after having been solo-double bass with the Jeunes Virtuoses of Montreal and the New York Chamber Soloists, she won a position with the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Marjolaine was appointed Assistant Principal Bass with NACO in 1997.

On the side, Ms Fournier likes to play other styles and musical instruments as a very bad amateur. She also enjoys fishing, running, the outdoors, reading, woodworking, video games, cooking (she finally learned how to make her own pie crust!) and is the French NAC Orchestra podcast host of the “BaladOCNA” series which you can find at www.nac-cna.ca/podcasts. Ms Fournier is coordinator of the NAC Orchestra Players Association popular Christmas event “Fanfare”. She is also a board member of the Amethyst Women's Addiction Centre in Ottawa.

Marjolaine is a very proud recipient of the National Arts Centre’s “Good Ambassador Award”.

SARA LACKIE  BAROQUE TRIPLE HARP
Sara Lackie is one of the few harpists in Canada to specialize in the Baroque triple harp, a lesser known historical instrument which has only been revived in recent years. Based in Montreal, she is in demand as a continuo specialist and accompanist both locally and beyond. Her recent projects include performances with Les Voix Humaines, Les Voix Baroques, Ensemble La Cigale, the Skye Consort, and the Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montréal; she has been heard nationally on CBC radio, and has recorded for both the ATMA and Analekta labels. In 2009, she made her solo debut with an acclaimed recital at the Sackville Early Music Festival.

Initially trained in piano, conducting, and modern harp, Sara pursued further studies in music history and historical performance practice at Carleton and McGill Universities; she has participated in the Amherst Early Music Festival, the Seattle Academy of Baroque Opera, the Corso Internazionale di Musica Antica (Urbino, Italy), and the International Baroque Institute at Longy. Sara gratefully acknowledges the inspirational guidance and support of her principal teacher, renowned harpist Maxine Eilander.

Guest Artists