InSpirations Ensemble

InSpirations Ensemble

Jean-Willy Kunz - Organ, Hélène Lemay - Trombone, André Moisan - Saxophone and Clarinet; Frédéric Alarie - Double Bass; Camil Belisle - Percussion.

 

---

Jean-Willy Kunz

Jean-Willy Kunz studied at the Conservatoire in Lyon with Louis Robilliard, at the Conservatoire in Montreal with Mireille Lagacé, as well as at McGill University, where he earned a doctorate with John Grew. He has been a prize-winner at a number of organ competitions, including the Concours international d’orgue de Chartres and the Canadian International Organ Competition.

His discography includes many recordings which reflect the broad range of his musical influences : solo organ; Impressions for organ, clarinets, saxophones, trombone, double bass and percussions; Symphonie et créations pour orgue et orchestre with the OSM (Juno Award 2016); Punkt with Pierre Lapointe; André Gagnon Baroque for harpsichord and symphony orchestra.

Jean-Willy Kunz is organ professor at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and artistic director of the Canadian International Organ Competition.

---

Hélène Lemay

She holds a bachelor degree in music from the University of Sherbrooke and she has many times won scholarships in the Council of Arts and Letters of Québec. In 2008, she founded TUXEDO SWING where she held the positions of artistic director and conductor. Her will to promote local artists led her to create la Série Culturelle de Warwick 2015, reflection of the eclecticism of her tastes.

As a distinguished trombone player and an experienced businesswoman, Hélène Lemay regularly performs with numerous popular Quebec artists from the jazz, pop and classical scene. As a producer of cultural events, she gained a solid reputation by offering performances with the greatest artists of the national and international scene.

---

André Moisan

Well known for his consummate mastery of the instrument, his musicality and the clarity of his playing, he has made regular concert and radio appearances as a soloist and a chamber musician since 1977. His numerous concerts abroad, most notably at the Carnegie Hall, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and on Radio-Berlin, have established him as a leading soloist.

In the orchestral field, Mr. Moisan has worked under renowned conductors, mainly with the OSM. He first performed with the Orchestra in 1977, under Andrew Davis, and made his first solo appearance in 1997 with Charles Dutoit. Since May 1999, he has held the position of principal saxophone and bass clarinet with the OSM.

As well as teaching the clarinet at the University of Montreal since 1989, he has won numerous awards and was nominated four times for the Opus prize as a soloist, a chamber music player and a conductor.

A presenter, guest speaker and accomplished educator, he has conducted the OSM in its Youth Concerts series for ten years, and also led in the Children’s Corner series. Many times a finalist, he won the “Family Concert” Opus Prize in 2003 for a performance in that particular series and was a finalist again in 2007 as a conductor with the OSM.

Additionally, André Moisan conducts a number of other orchestras, teaches and works as a soloist across Canada and abroad. He has recorded more than 50 cd’s, including seven as a soloist for ATMA, all critically acclaimed worldwide. Two new cd’s will be released in the spring of 2017 : l’Orgue dans tous ses états (with Jean-Willy Kunz) and the other dedicated to the Hebraic repertory and Klezmer with the Molinari Quartet.

---

Frédéric Alarie

He has played with Bernard Primeau, Lorraine Desmarais, Jean-Pierre Zanella and Yannick Rieu, to name only a few. Invited to play from Canada to China, by way of France, Belgium, Denmark, Austria, Germany, Poland and the United States, he has left his indelible mark as a top-notch.

Frédéric Alarie amazes by the colour, depth and audacity he puts forward in his work : as a musician, composer or soloist, he constantly pushes the limits of both his own expression and of jazz itself. bassist. He has had the great fortune to play alongside notable artists such as Oliver Jones, Ranee Lee, Sheila Jordan, John Abercrombie, Joe Lovano, Renaud Garcia-Fons, George Benson, Salvator Adamo, Nathalie Dessay, Charles Aznavour and Michel Legrand. And he has formed his own ensembles such as Frédéric Alarie & Basse Section, or more recently the Frédéric Alarie Quartet, Trio and Duo.

Frédéric Alarie is one of the most sought- after stand-up bassists in Canada. He has recorded on 34 albums as an accompanist- soloist, and has played on about sixty other albums as a guest ; several of these albums have received awards, including the FELIX and JUNO AWARD. As a composer, Frédéric Alarie has nine albums under his belt, all of which have been greatly praised by critics. 1997’s Vision album, along with the Basse Section ensemble, was nominated for best jazz album of the year at the ADISQ. That same year, Saison Jazz Montréal named him the Discovery of the Year. In 1998 he won the Trébas Jazz Award.

Since his debut in Montreal’s jazz scene at the end of the 1980s, Frédéric Alarie has incessantly deepened and enriched the art of stand-up bass. Reputed as a great builder, he relishes in deconstructing jazz’s conventional scaffolds in order to erect new ones. His play is fluid, sensitive and audacious indeed.

---

Camil Belisle

Renowned drummer Camil Bélisle has been a key figure on Montreal’s music scene for more than three decades. Trained by such greats as Peter Erskine, Alan Dawson and Jim Blackley, Camil Bélisle boasts an impressive track record. His countless tours have taken him to Africa, South America and Europe. He has also played coast to coast in Canada, as well as in Inuvik, the largest city north of the Arctic Circle.

A Montreal Jazz Festival regular, Camil can be heard on various recordings of Jazz sur le vif and Jazz beat from Radio-Canada. A member of Trio Lorraine Desmarais, he has also worked with Kenny Wheeler, Peter Leitch, Michel Legrand and Oliver Jones, as well as with Yannick Rieu, Michel Cusson, Michel Donato, Dorothée Berryman, Frédéric Alarie and Sonia Johnson. Camil has cut some 20 albums with these musicians, five of which are prizewinners. Le trio Lorraine Desmarais received the Félix Award for the Year’s Best Jazz Album four times, while Sonia Johnson’s Le carré de nos amours snagged the Juno Award for the Best Vocal Jazz Album of 2011.