Part-time Instructor
Contact Information:
Tel: 514-848-2424 ext. 4559
Email: mab@marieannickbeliveau.com
Office: GM 500-42
"The sublime voice of Marie-Annick Béliveau is in a class by itself, allowing her to imbue her passionate interpretation of the poet with sensuality and insolence." (odp-opera, France)
Over the years, thanks to her warm, rich voice and exceptional musicianship, mezzo-soprano Marie-Annick Béliveau has earned wide recognition on the music scene. A native of Quebec City, she began her musical studies on the violin and the oboe. Even at a very early age, she showed a marked interest in demanding repertoire, tackling such challenging works as Pierre Henry's La Messe pour un Temps Présent, a quartet by Schnittke and Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortilèges.
Throughout her journey, Marie-Annick has received a great deal from her teachers and mentors. She had the good fortune to work with Jan Simons and Marie Daveluy, whose teachings she now draws on in her own work as a voice instructor at Montreal's Concordia University. From Father Fernand Lindsay, founder of the Festival de Lanaudière, she received constant support and encouragement to continue her work. She is now the assistant director of his summer music camp. For the past ten years, she has worked with the Ensemble Kore on concerts of exceptional quality and variety. Conductors Véronique Lacroix and Lorraine Vaillancourt have taught her a great deal. And to composer Bruce Mather, she owes special thanks.
Marie-Annick has had over 20 works composed for her. She will soon premiere a cycle for voice, clarinet and guitar by Bruce Mather, and André Hamel is currently working on a major cycle for her and the Ensemble Allogène. In February 2011, she will perform Michelle Boudreau's L'Étoile Libre, a 90-minute work for electronically modified solo voice. Her premieres of note include André Ristic's Catalogue de Bombes Occidentales with the Ensemble contemporain de Montréal (ECM), and Fausto Romitelli's Lost with the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (NEM).
After Lorraine Vaillancourt brought Marie-Annick to Royaumont Abbey for the premiere of Lost in 1997, she returned many times. Among the many musically enriching experiences she had there, she had the opportunity to work with Rachid Safir and Les Jeunes Solistes, Katherine Ciesinski, composer Takashi Tokunaga and, particularly, Marco Pérez-Ramirez, whose work Celos she premiered. Convinced, he created the role of Rimbaud specifically for her in his opera Rimbaud, la parole libérée, which was performed at the Opéra National de Montpellier to great critical acclaim.
She also created the role of Reine Poulane in Gilles Tremblay's fairy opera L'eau qui danse, la pomme qui chante et l'oiseau qui dit la vérité, which was a huge success by Chants Libres in 2009. As part of the company's 20th-anniversary celebrations this year, Marie-Annick will be featured in a production entitled Arias, performing the music of Ballif, Scelsi and Settel. Also in 2011, she will perform in André Ristic's Les Aventures de Madame Merveille with ECM+.
Marie-Annick Béliveau joined the Molinari Quartet to perform R. Murray Schafer's Beauty and the Beast on tour in Canada and in France. She is also a recognized performer of Marteau sans Maître by Pierre Boulez: here in Montreal for Code d'Accès and more recently in Spain with the Ensemble Zahir. Her recording of Vivier's Wo Bist Du, Licht! with the SMCQ, praised by the public and media alike, received an Opus award. She had the opportunity to perform the work last year with the Munich Chamber Orchestra.
