Bach/Mozart

Mathieu Lussier
CONDUCTOR

A versatile musician with a commanding grasp of early repertoire, Mathieu Lussier is increasingly in demand as a guest conductor in Canada and abroad. Appointed by Les Violons du Roy as Conductor-in-Residence in 2012, and Associate Conductor in 2014, Lussier has led Arion Baroque Orchestra in numerous programs both in Quebec, and on tour in greater Canada, the United States and Mexico. Previous appointments include Artistic Director of the Lamèque International Baroque Music Festival. In 2014, Lussier was awarded Canada Art Council’s prestigious Jean Marie Beaudet Award in Orchestra Conducting.

Recent conducting engagements include the Festival International de Lanaudière; Orchestre de la Mission Saint-Charles; Arion Baroque Orchestra; Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal; and Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, where he conducted an acclaimed production of Handel’s Acis and Galatea and Grétry’s Zémire et Azor.

As a soloist appearing throughout North America and Europe, Mathieu Lussier has energetically and passionately promoted the modern and baroque bassoon as solo instruments for nearly two decades. He has performed with such ensembles as Arion Baroque Orchestra (Montreal), Les Violons du Roy (Quebec City), Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra (Toronto), the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, and Apollo’s Fire (Cleveland). He also devotes considerable time to chamber music as a member of Ensemble Pentaèdre de Montréal.

His numerous solo recordings include over a dozen bassoon concertos (Vivaldi, Fasch, Graupner, Telemann, and Corrette), a CD of bassoon sonatas by Boismortier, three CDs of music for solo bassoon by François Devienne, and two CDs of wind music by Gossec and Méhul.

Mathieu Lussier is also a respected composer, with a catalogue of over 40 titles heard regularly in the concert halls of North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. In 2009, his composition Bassango, in its version for bassoon and string orchestra, won the third prize in the Contemporary Classical Song category at the Just Plain Folks Awards of Nashville, Tennessee. He has received commissions from artists such as Nadina Mackie Jackson, Guy Few, Lise Beauchamp, and George Zukerman as well as from the American Wind Symphony Orchestra, Oshawa-Durham Symphony Orchestra, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Les Idées Heureuses. Mathieu Lussier’s music has been recorded on numerous occasions and is broadcast all around the world.

Deepa Johnny
MEZZO-SOPRANO

Omani-born Canadian mezzo-soprano Deepa Johnny gained recognition in major competitions while still studying at Indiana University; she was awarded the Andre Bourbeau Best Canadian Artist award and the ICI Musique People’s Choice award at the 2022 Concours Musical International de Montreal competition and won the Western Canada District of the 2020 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She joined LA Opera’s prestigious Domingo-Colburn Stein’s Young Artist Program in the 2022-23 season and made her debut there to considerable acclaim in the role of Owen’s daughter in Omar, a world-premiere by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels.

Johnny has already made several notable debuts in North America, including as Meg Page in Falstaff at the Aspen Music Festival alongside Bryn Terfel in the title role and conductor Patrick Summers, as Cherubino in a new staging of Le Nozze di Figaro at Opera San Jose and at Los Angeles Opera, as well as Mélisande in Impressions de Pelléasat the Ebell of Los Angeles, under James Conlon. She played the title role in Arden Opera’s production of The Tragedy of Carmen, appeared as Suzuki in concert performances of Madama Butterfly with Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra under conductor Jun Märkl and, with IU Opera Theatre during her studies there, as Rosina in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Sivilgia, and as the title role of both Handel’s Xerxes and Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea.

As part of the inaugural cast of The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions, an inspirational ensemble piece created by Ted Huffman and Philip Venables from the seminal LGBTQ+ rights text by Larry Mitchell, Johnny performed at the 2023 editions of the Manchester International Festival, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Bregenzer Festspiele, and was seen in the London premiere at the Southbank Centre in the 2023-24 season. Other recent engagements include joining Opéra de Rouen Normandie in the title role of Bizet’s Carmen, presented in a staging by Romain Gilbert and conducted by Music Director Ben Glassberg, alongside roles in Der Zwerg and La traviata under James Conlon at LA Opera, and a debut with Portland Opera as Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro. Concert appearances included Mozart’s “Mass in C minor” with l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, conducted by Alarcón, and Handel’s Messiah with Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Mathieu Lussier.

Johnny made her Carnegie Hall debut at Renée Fleming’s SongStudio Masterclass, was a fellow of the renowned Ravinia Steans Vocal Institute presenting art song repertoire, and performed with West Virginia Symphony Orchestra as part of their Sounds of the Seasons concerts, guest conducted by Luke Frazier from American Pops Orchestra.