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Stéphane Laforest was born in Sorel, Quebec in 1963 into a family of musicians. He has performed with orchestras throughout Canada. In April 1999, after four seasons as artistic director and conductor of the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, Laforest was appointed as assistant conductor of the Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec. In September 2000, Orchestra London offered Laforest the role of Principal Guest Conductor. Stéphane Laforest is also artistic director and conductor of the Orchestre Symphonique de Sherbrooke (since April 1998) and La Sinfonia de Lanaudiere, which he founded in 1994, and in 2005 became the Music Director and Principal Conductor of Symphony New Brunswick. Stéphane Laforest won several awards such as the prestigious Heinz Unger Award (2000) presented by the Ontario Arts Council in collaboration with Orchestras Canada, Prix Opus 2000 in the young public category (Quebec Symphony Orchestra - Planète Baobab) and Le Grand prix du Conseil de la Culture de Lanaudière (Qc) (1999). In 1990, Stéphane Laforest won the First Prize of the Conservatory in Conducting, (this prize was awarded for only the second time in the history of the Conservatoire du Québec). Winner of several awards from the Ministère de la Culture du Québec and Canada Council of the Arts, he worked with the following maestros: Charles Bruck, Michel Tabachnik, Simon Streatfield, Alfredo Sillipigni and Gustav Meier. His principal mentors were the maestros Raffi Armenian, Yoav Talmi and Otto Werner Müller. He was appointed Assistant-Resident Conductor and Resident Conductor of the Quebec Symphony Orchestra (OSQ) Yoav Talmi as director, (1999 to 2005), Artistic Director and Conductor of the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra (1995 to 1999) and was the Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra London Canada (2000 to 2005). As a guest conductor, Stéphane Laforest has conducted the following orchestras such as: l'Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the Orchestra of the National Arts Center in Ottawa, l'Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal, l'Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Orchestra London Canada, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, New Brunswick Symphony Orchestra, Nova Scotia Symphony Orchestra, Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, l'Orchestre Symphonique de Laval, Les Violons du Roy (Québec city), Niagara Symphony Orchestra, Windsor Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonique de l'Isle (Lachine QC), l'Orchestre Symphonique de Trois-Rivières, l'Orchestre Symphonique du Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, l'Orchestre Symphonique de Longeuil, l'Orchestre symphonique du Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal (tour in France 1997), and l'Orchestre de l'Université de Montréal, to name a few. Stéphane Laforest is an extremely versatile conductor whom one sees regularly in the company of many popular artists such as Robert Charlebois, Jean-Pierre Ferland, Claude Gauthier, André Gagnon (tour in Japan 1998), Luck Merville, Michael Hope, Quartango, Michael Burgess, Larry Gowan, Marie-Denise Pelletier, Carol Welsman, Marc O'Connor, Rick Wakeman (YES), Martin Deschamps, Offenbach (rock band), Ashley McIsaac, Natalie McMaster, Ian Tyson, Steve Barakatt, Quartetto Gelato, New Orleans Connection, the Jeans 'n Classics Pops Series(Orchestra London), Week-end Électrisant (Orchestre symphonique de Québec), and conductor of the Loto-Québec Mondial Choral's Orchestra with a choir of 200 voices with Gregory Charles as Artistic Director. From 2003 to 2005, he was the Guest Conductor of the Canada Governor General Performing Arts Awards Symphonic Orchestra, gala broadcast live on TV from "Coast to Coast". Stéphane is married to violinist Élaine Marcil and is the proud father of two children. Season 2007-8 will be Stéphane's second full season as Music Director and Principal Conductor with Syphony New Brunswick.
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