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Ensemble Caprice
An original voice in early music
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Under the artistic direction of Matthias Maute and Sophie Larivière, Ensemble Caprice is renowned for its innovative interpretations of baroque music. For 20 years Ensemble Caprice has received national and international acclaim for their performances of early music. The ensemble gives concerts in Europe and is regularly invited to participate in such early music festivals as those in Bruges in Belgium, Utrecht in the Netherlands, and in Germany at the Regensburg Early Music Festival, the Händel Festival in Halle and the Recorder Festival in Stockstadt. On this continent Caprice has given concerts in the USA in New York City at the Frick Collection and the Miller Theatre, and also at the Boston Early Music Festival, at the Library of Congress in Washington and at the Montreal Baroque Festival. They have also toured in Israel and Taiwan. In November 2009 the New York Times featured them in a lengthy article, praising them as “imaginative, even powerful, and the playing is top-flight”. In Canada, Ensemble Caprice is invited to perform at musical events such as the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, the Elora Festival and the Domaine Forget’s International Festival. Ensemble Caprice’s CD, Gloria! Vivaldi’s Angels, on the Analekta label, won Canada’s prestigious 2009 JUNO award. The ensemble’s CD Telemann and the Gypsies is recommended by Gramophone. Also the ensemble’s CD Vivaldi and the Baroque Gypsies (Analekta) was nominated for a 2009 Echo Klassik award in Germany in two categories: Ensemble/Orchestra of the Year and Classics Without Borders. 2011 will see the return to disk of Vivaldi’s Angels in a brand new recording on the Analekta label. |
Musicians' Biographies
Matthias Maute
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Matthias Maute has achieved an international reputation as one of the finest recorder and baroque flute players of his generation, as a composer and as director. His solo career has soared since winning First Prize in the soloist category at the renowned Early Music Competition in Bruges, Belgium in 1990. He made his debut at Lincoln Center in New York in December 2008. In 2003 and 2005, he was the featured recorder soloist at the Boston Early Music Festival. Mr. Maute is also esteemed for his artistic direction of Ensemble Caprice, for whom he produces ingenious and fascinating programs. With this ensemble he regularly appears at major festivals world wide. In Canada he has performed at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, Festival international du Domaine Forget and Elora Festival among others. To these achievements Mr. Maute has added choir and orchestra direction, to which he has dedicated a large portion of his time in the past several years. In this regard he has focussed more and more on large scale projects, directing among others such works as Bach’s B Minor Mass, G. F. Haendel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks and J. D. Zelenka’s Miserere. Under his direction Ensemble Caprice was awarded the prestigious 2009 JUNO Award for Best Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral performance for its CD Gloria! Vivaldi’s Angels on the Analekta label. Matthias Maute’s compositions hold an important place in the world of contemporary recorder music and are published by Breitkopf & Härtel, Amadeus, Moeck and Carus. Mr. Maute has made some twenty recordings on the Analekta, Vanguard Classics, Bella Musica, Dorian, Bridge and Atma Classique labels. He is a professor at McGill University in Montreal. |
Sophie Larivière Recorder, baroque flute Sophie Larivière is a member of Ensemble Caprice and has been its Artistic Co-Director since 1997. In this capacity, she helps to enrich the creative direction of the ensemble in its quest for musical discoveries that blend virtuosity with expressivity. With Ensemble Caprice, Ms. Larivière has appeared in numerous concerts, in particular in Israel (Tel Aviv and the Mediterranean Arts Festival), Europe (Vienna, Berlin, and Stuttgart), the United States (Chicago, Los Angeles and the Boston Early Music Festival) and Canada (Edmonton, Grande Prairie and a Debut Atlantic tour). An eloquent performer, Ms. Larivière is regularly invited to appear with early music ensembles, including Arion, the Opéra de Montréal, Le Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, La Nouvele Sinfonie, the Theatre of Early Music, Rebel (New York), Les Violons du Roy (Quebec), the New York Collegium Musicum and Le Concert Spirituel (Paris). Ms. Larivière has made recordings on the Analekta, Virgin Classics, Atma Classique, Antes Edition and Interdisc labels. |
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Susie Napper Viola da gamba and violoncello Susie Napper was awarded Quebec’s “Personality of the Year” Prix Opus in 2002. She is the founder and Artistic Director of the Montreal Baroque Festival. Having grown up in an artistic milieu in London, she then studied at the Juilliard School in New York and later at the Paris Conservatory. Since then, Ms. Napper has appeared with several internationally-known early music ensembles, such as the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Stradivaria in France, the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, the Trinity Consort of Portland, Tafelmusik, Ensemble Caprice and the viola da gamba duo Les Voix Humaines. Her concert tours have taken her as far afield as China, Japan, New Zealand, India, the Middle East, Europe and North America. Ms. Napper’s recordings, which include most of the known repertoire for two viols, can be heard on the Harmonia Mundi, EMI, Erato, ADDA, CBC Records, Naxos, Analekta and most notably on the Atma Classique labels. |
Erin Helyard harpsichord Erin Helyard graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with first-class honours and the University Medal and was additionally awarded the inaugural Lenore Buckle Scholarship for Music. Erin studied harpsichord with Paul Dyer, Ray Harvey and Stephanie McCallum and for his postgraduate studies in Canada he has been awarded five fellowships and scholarships. Erin completed his Masters in fortepiano performance with Tom Beghin at the Schulich School of Music, McGill University, Montréal in 2005. Pursuing a passion for the music and culture of the eighteenth century and the ideals of the Enlightenment, he is currently completing a PhD in musicology at the same institution. Together with violinist Anna McDonald, Erin has been an artistic director of the Sirius Ensemble. He was Principal Continuo with the Australian Chamber Orchestra from 1999 to 2003, and was assistant music director to Richard Tognetti for the 2001 Sydney Festival's production of Mozart's Mitridate. Erin is a founder and co-artistic director of the acclaimed Sydney-based Pinchgut Opera and is a central founding member of the Orchestra of the Antipodes. Since arriving in Montréal in 2003 he has performed with the Theatre of Early Music, Les Violons du Roy, Autour de la flûte, Notturna and Opéra de Montréal. He is a central member of the award-winning Ensemble Caprice under the artistic directorship of Matthias Maute. In partnership with Tom Beghin, engagements for 2006 included performances with Ensemble Arion and a presentation of a musical play based on the 1781 competition between Mozart and Clementi for the Festival van Vlaanderen Brugge. Erin conducted Les Violons du Roy in 2006 in concerts featuring soprano Hélène Guilmette and is featured on Ensemble Caprice’s latest releases on Analekta. In 2009 Erin conducted Purcell’s The Fairy Queen for Festival Montréal Baroque and Cavalli’s L’Ormindo for Pinchgut Opera. He was recently named the Westfield Concert Scholar for 2009-2010, an initiative of the John Ernest Foundation. |
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David Jacques baroque guitar David Jacques was born in Saint-Georges de Beauce, Quebec in 1978 and has a Doctorate in the interpretation of early music from the Université de Montréal. He began his studies of classical guitar at the Cégep de Sainte-Foy, continuing at Université Laval and later at the Québec Conservatory. He has recorded more than 15 CDs on the XXI-21, ATMA and Analekta labels and collaborated on numerous other productions. His Pièces de guitarre de Mr Rémy Médard (Productions XX-21) won the Conseil Québécois de la Musique’s 2008 Prix Opus Disc of the Year award in the early music category. David has also published several arrangements for guitar for Les Productions d'OZ. Active both in Canada and internationally, he has performed over 2000 concerts in 30 countries on all five continents. He is currently Professor of Classical Guitar at Université Laval and the Cégep de Sainte-Foy and is frequently invited by other musical organizations to give master classes and workshops. |
Olivier Brault baroque violin Renowned for his extensive knowledge and exploration of historic musical interpretation, violinist Olivier Brault brings his lively enthusiasm to the field of baroque and classical music as both soloist and chamber musician. In 2007, he had received a Doctorate in “Music for Violin and Continuo in Eighteen-Century France” at the University of Montreal. In addition to be a sensitive, rigorous and versatile musician who is always ready to improvise, his curiosity have led him to experiment dance and theatre. He currently leads Apollo's Fire of Cleveland (U.S.A), Ensemble Caprice, Les Boréades, La Bande Montréal Baroque and is director of the ensemble Sonate 1704, first violinist of the Quatuor Franz Joseph, musical director and soloist with Les Idées Heureuses and he can be found at the heart of many ensembles and festivals in both Canada and abroad. He has participated in many award-winning recordings. Olivier Brault gives regularly workshops and masterclasses at Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, McGill University, Case Western University (Cleveland, U.S.A.) and Oberlin Conservatory of Music (U.S.A.). He is a member of the Conseil Québécois de la musique, Culture Lanaudière, Équiterre and Greenpeace. |
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