Fall Colors

ALEXANDRE DA COSTA was born in Montreal, Canada, in 1979. He showed an uncommon interest for both the violin and piano at a very early age. By the age of nine, he had the astounding ability to perform his first concerts with stunning virtuosity on both instruments, which brought him recognition as a musical prodigy. His chosen professional career as a violinist began very early and he was soon performing regularly as soloist with orchestra as well as in recital.

In 1998, at the age of 18, he received a Master’s degree in violin and a First Prize from the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec where he studied with Johanne Arel. Concurrently, he also received a Bachelor’ s degree in Piano Interpretation from the faculty of music of the University of Montreal. From 1998 to 2001, he studied at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia in Madrid with the violin master Zakhar Bron, teacher of violinists such as Maxim Vengerov and Vadim Repin. In 2002, he won the Sylva Gelber Foundation Award for best Canadian artist under 30 years old. Between 2003 and 2006, after winning the Musical Instrument Bank competition of the Canada Council for the Arts, he played the 1689 Baumgartner Stradivarius.

Winner of many prestigious national and international first prizes, he appeared as soloist in nearly 1000 concerts throughout Canada, the United States, Mexico, France, Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Japan, China, Taiwan, etc. Alexandre Da Costa performed in major halls such as Vienna’s Musikverein, Berlin’s Philharmonie, Hamburg’s Musikhalle, Madrid’s National Auditorium, Beijing’s Poly Theater, etc., and played with prestigious orchestras such as the London Royal Philharmonic, the Bergen Philharmonic, the Berlin Symphony, the Hamburg Symphony, the Vienna Symphony, the Montreal Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, etc. He recorded live performances for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the WestDeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), Radio-Classical International, Radio-Canada/CBC, Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), Radio Nacional de España (RNE), Austria State Radio (ORF), TV Asahi Japan, etc. Between 1998 and 2006, he recorded 9 CDs for the XXI-21 Record label, among them the world premiere recording of violin Concerto by Portuguese composer Luis de Freitas Branco. This recording was received with great acclaim by the critics and music lovers around the world, and was nominated at the JUNO Awards 2006. His latest release, Vivaldi Four Seasons with the chamber orchestra of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, was received with a very warm enthusiasm by the press and the public. Other recordings include Mozart’s violin & viola duos with Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra’s Solo violist Christian Frohn, concerti by Tchaikovsky & Bruch, Bach & Ysaye solo sonatas, Spanish works by Turina, de Falla, Nin, Albeniz, etc. He now records for ATMA.

In 2007-08, Alexandre Da Costa is set to perform concerti by Beethoven, Lalo, Bruch, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Daugherty, Fernandes, etc., with several European and American orchestras such as Montreal Symphony Orchestra, London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, Gran Canarias Philharmonic Orchestra, Spanish National Radio & TV Orchestra, Extremadura Symphony Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, etc., in Europe, America and Asia. He is touring Spain, China and Japan this year with British, Russian, Japanese, Canadian, Spanish and Czech orchestras. Alexandre performed with conductors such as Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Leonard Slatkin, Matthias Bamert, Günter Herbig, Pedro Halffter, Robert Bernhardt, Gintara Rinkevicius, Jesus Amigo, Jean-François Rivest, Jean-Philippe Tremblay, etc.

In addition to his concerts schedule, Alexandre is active as a teacher, giving workshops and Masterclasses in various universities and Conservatories around the world while travelling for concerts. He was also named Musical Development Director of the Canimex Foundation, an organization gathering an impressive collection of Fine Instruments for the benefit of talented artists.

All reviews are unanimous in saluting Alexandre's faultless technique, inherited directly from the Russian School, his exceptional energy and musical talent. Alexandre da Costa now plays the 1727 "Di Barbaro" Stradivarius and a Sartory bow, courtesy of Canimex.

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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.