≈ 1 hour and 50 minutes · With intermission
Last updated: March 14, 2024
Program
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
Zadok the Priest, HWV 258 (Coronation Anthem No. 1)
La Chapelle de Québec
Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened, HWV 259 (Coronation Anthem No. 2)
La Chapelle de Québec
Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351
I. Overture
II. Bourrée
III. La paix
IV. La réjouissance
V. Menuets I & II
My Heart Is Inditing, HWV 261 (Coronation Anthem No. 4)
La Chapelle de Québec
INTERMISSION
Suite in G major from Water Music
I. [Untitled]
II. Rigaudons I & II
III. Minuets I & II
IV. [Untitled] I & II
Laudate pueri Dominum, HWV 237
Laudate pueri
Sit nomen Domini
A solis ortu
Excelsus super omnes
Quis sicut Dominus
Suscitans a terra
Qui habitare facit
Gloria Patri
Joélle Harvey, soprano
La Chapelle de Québec
The King Shall Rejoice, HWV 260 (Coronation Anthem No. 3)
La Chapelle de Québec
TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS
Zadok the Priest, HWV 258 (Coronation Anthem No. 1)
Zadok the Priest and Nathan the Prophet anointed Solomon King.
And all the people rejoic’d, and said:
God save the King, long live the King,
may the King live for ever,
Amen! Alleluia!
« Le prêtre Zadok », HWV 258 (Hymne du couronnement no 1)
Le prêtre Zadok et le prophète Nathan oignirent Salomon et le sacrèrent roi.
Et tout le peuple se réjouit et dit :
Vive le roi, longue vie au roi!
Qu’il soit éternel!
Amen ! Alléluia!
Traduction française : Traductions Crescendo
Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened, HWV 259 (Coronation Anthem No. 2)
Let thy hand be strengthened
and thy right hand be exalted.
Let justice and judgment be
the preparation of thy seat!
Let mercy and truth
go before thy face.
Let justice, judgment, mercy
and truth go before thy face.
Alleluia!
« Ta main est puissante », HWV 259 (Hymne du couronnement no 2)
Ta main est puissante,
et ta main droite élevée;
Que la justice et l’équité
soient le socle de ton trône!
Que la miséricorde et la vérité
règnent devant toi;
Que justice, équité, miséricorde
et vérité règnent devant toi!
Alléluia!
Traduction française : Traductions Crescendo
My Heart Is Inditing, HWV 261 (Coronation Anthem No. 4)
My heart is inditing of a good matter:
I speak of the things which
I have made unto the King.
Kings’ daughters were among
thy honourable women.
Upon thy right hand did stand
the Queen in vesture of gold
And the King shall have pleasure
in thy beauty.
Kings shall be thy nursing fathers
and queens thy nursing mothers.
« Mon cœur bouillonne », HWV 261 (Hymne du couronnement no 4)
Mon cœur bouillonne
de nobles sentiments
Et mon inspiration est pour le roi!
Des filles de rois figurent
parmi tes dames d’honneur;
À ta droite se tient la reine,
parée d’or,
Et le roi tire plaisir
de ta beauté.
Les rois seront tes nourriciers,
Et les reines tes nourrices.
Traduction française : Traductions Crescendo
Laudate pueri Dominum, HWV 237
CORO
Laudate pueri Dominum,
laudate nomen Domini.
SOPRANO
Sit nomen Domini benedictum
ex hoc nunc et usque in saeculum.
SOPRANO E CORO
A solis ortu usqye ad occasum,
Laudabile nomen Domini.
SOPRANO
Excelsus super omnes gentes Dominus,
et super coelos gloria eius.
CORO
Quis sicut Dominus Deus noster,
qui in altis habitat et humilia respicit
in coelo et in terra ?
SOPRANO
Suscitans a terra in opem
et de steroore erigens pauperem,
ut collocet eum cum principibus populi sui.
SOPRANO
Qui habitare facit sterilem in domo,
matrem filiorum laetantem.
SOPRANO E CORO
Gloria Patri, gloria Filio et Spiritui Sancto,
Sicut erat in principio,
et nunc et semper
et in saecula saeculorum.
Amen.
Laudate pueri Dominum, HWV 237
CHORUS
Praise ye the Lord. Praise, O ye servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord.
SOPRANO
Blessed be the name of the Lord
from this time forth and for evermore.
SOPRANO AND CHORUS
From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same
the Lord's name is to be praised.
SOPRANO
The Lord is high above all nations,
and his glory above the heavens.
CHORUS
Who is like unto the Lord our God,
who dwelleth on high, who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!
SOPRANO
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust,
and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;
that he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.
SOPRANO
He maketh the barren woman to keep house,
and to be a joyful mother of children.
SOPRANO AND CHORUS
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen.
The King Shall Rejoice, HWV 260 (Coronation Anthem No. 3)
The King shall rejoice in thy strength,
O Lord.
Exceeding glad shall he be
of thy salvation.
Glory and great worship
hast thou laid upon him.
Thou hast prevented him
with the blessings of goodness
And hast set a crown of pure gold
upon his head.
Alleluia!
« Le roi se réjouit », HWV 260 (Hymne du couronnement no 3)
Le roi se réjouit de ta puissance,
ô Seigneur!
Ton œuvre de salut le comble
d’allégresse!
Tu lui as apporté la gloire
et l’adoration;
Car tu lui as accordé
ta grâce divine
Et as posé sur sa tête
une couronne d’or pur.
Alléluia!
Traduction française : Traductions Crescendo
Repertoire
Coronation Anthems Nos. 1–4
Zadok the Priest, HWV 258 (Coronation Anthem No. 1)
Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened, HWV 259 (Coronation Anthem No. 2)
My Heart Is Inditing, HWV 261 (Coronation Anthem No. 4)
The King Shall Rejoice, HWV 260 (Coronation Anthem No. 3)
Born in Halle, George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) was active in multiple cities in Europe, originally establishing his reputation as a composer of operas, while also writing in every other musical genre of his time. His compositional style is an eclectic combination of various aspects of European music of his day: beautiful, inventive melodies à là the Italians, the stately qualities of French overtures and dances, and a Germanic foundation in harmony and counterpoint. This cosmopolitan blend plus his gift for amassing vocal and orchestral forces for dramatic effect are among the reasons why his music continues to appeal to performers and audiences today.
In 1711, Handel found great success in London with his opera Rinaldo, and over the next two decades, he gradually settled in the English city, continuing to compose Italian operas while also working as an impresario, notably, at London’s Royal Academy of Music. In 1723, he was made honorary composer of music for His Majesty’s Chapel Royal, for which his duties included supplying occasional music. Following the unexpected death of George I in June 1727, Handel, now a naturalized British citizen, had the unprecedented opportunity to provide ceremonial music for the coronation of George II and his consort Queen Caroline at Westminster Abbey on October 11. He wrote four splendid new anthems for the occasion, which you’ll hear throughout tonight’s concert.
Each anthem is based on a biblical text, with either single lines or groups of lines treated as separate “movements”. These “movements” are characterized by a single musical “affect”, ranging from light and cheerful, to graceful and elegant, to solemn and reflective, to grand and majestic. Handel clearly relished the chance to use the substantial forces available to him, which included the Chapel Royal Choir augmented to 47 singers, and an orchestra of around 160 players. At times, he divides the chorus into as many as six or seven parts, which, in combination with a large body of strings, give the chordal and contrapuntal textures in his anthems a sublime opulence.
Among the most magnificent moments is the opening of Zadok the Priest, which has since been sung at every coronation of a British monarch. In the long orchestral introduction, steadily pulsing chords in the lower strings and woodwinds over which the violins quietly play rising arpeggios build a sense of expectation that leads to a glorious climax when the voices enter in seven parts with the trumpets and drums. The sense of majesty is sustained throughout the rest of the anthem with the chorus singing mostly in homophonic texture (that is, not in counterpoint), so the text, adapted from the first chapter of the First Book of Kings, is clearly heard.
Imitative textures are more prevalent in Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened, in its cheerful outer panels, as well its more solemn middle section, “Let justice and judgment”. Set in the minor mode, the text here, from Psalm 89, is set to a melody of pleading, prayerful quality, which is repeated in turn amongst the voices.
The anthem My Heart Is Inditing was, as noted in the Aylesbury Choral Society’s description, in 1727 “sung late in the service when Queen Caroline was crowned,” with “the music characterized by a more refined and genteel air than the other anthems,” and thus, more fitting for the queen’s coronation. Adapting verses from Psalm 45 and Isaiah 49, Handel provides music that is elegant and graceful for the first three parts of the text, reserving ceremonial pomp (including trumpets) for the final movement (“Kings shall be thy nursing fathers”).
The King Shall Rejoice, using a text from Psalm 21, exhibits the full range of Handel’s inventive writing for chorus and orchestra. After a brilliant orchestral introduction, the voices (in five parts) enter mightily all together. In the lilting second section, listen for the exquisite chains of suspensions that the choir, now in four parts, sings on “of thy salvation”. The third movement, which begins with a triumphant outburst, leads into the fourth by way of a remarkable harmonic shift. Fugal counterpoint ensues between the voices; as they continue to exchange phrases in imitation, Handel builds up the instrumental texture through the strings, then adds woodwinds and lastly trumpets and drums. The final section is a lively double fugue, with two melodic subjects introduced at the beginning (by second altos and tenors together and first altos, respectively). As the Aylesbury Choral Society’s description points out, this part closes the anthem with “a magnificently grand and elaborate conclusion which, as it was performed at the actual crowning section of the coronation service, matches the occasion perfectly.”
Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351
I. Overture
II. Bourrée
III. La paix
IV. La réjouissance
V. Menuets I & II
In 1748, Britain signed the Peace Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle to end the War of the Austrian Succession—a colonial power struggle between itself and France. To deflect public attention and scrutiny away from the unpopular concessions that had been made as well as to reassure his people of Britain’s stature as a military power, King George decided to mount an event of nationalist propaganda. He commissioned Handel to compose the music for the proceedings, the main feature of which would be a huge fireworks display.
The grandeur of the occasion called for extraordinary instrumental forces which Handel was keen to exploit for his orchestral suite. He had originally intended it to be played by a huge wind band of 24 oboes, 9 horns, 9 trumpets, 12 bassoons, and three sets of timpani, but as he completed the score, he reduced the woodwinds’ numbers to doubles and added strings. King George apparently wanted only “martial musick”, without “fidles” at all, but Handel managed to get his way. An open rehearsal in Vauxhall Gardens on April 21, 1749, was viewed by a massive crowd (of over 12,000, according to one report) who had paid to attend; the official performance was given six days later, after which the fireworks display was launched. Handel later arranged the music to be performed by a more conventionally sized orchestra at a benefit concert for the Foundling Hospital.
The overture is the crown jewel of the work; lasting for nearly half the duration of the entire suite, it really is the piece, and not merely a preface to what will come after, as conductor and musicologist Christopher Hogwood has explained. Using the French form, the first section of the overture features the signature stately dotted rhythms, which are then inventively incorporated into a hymn-like melody. The ensuing Allegro has a militaristic atmosphere, with alternating fanfares between the horns and trumpets, after which the opening grandeur returns to round off the movement.
The remaining numbers of Handel’s suite are all short and “simply extend the occasion,” notes Hogwood. After a lively bourrée, “La paix”, set in the rhythm of a sicilienne, evokes a peaceful pastoral scene, complete with trills alluding to bird song. The ensuing “La réjouissance” is a “glorified fanfare and bustle”, as described by Hogwood, while the concluding Menuets, which would have been viewed as timeless and classless, are stately affairs. Throughout, varied instrumentation keeps the repeated forms of these dances interesting, while trumpets, drums, and other martial instruments are judiciously employed to maximize the grand effect.
Suite in G major from Water Music
I. [Untitled]
II. Rigaudons I & II
III. Minuets I & II
IV. [Untitled] I & II
Water Music is a large-scale orchestral suite that Handel specially wrote to accompany King George I and his entourage as a barge conveyed them on the Thames River from Whitehall to Chelsea and back. The trip, which took place on July 17, 1717, was one of several publicity stunts to boost the king’s visibility among his people and to enhance his image at a time when he and his son, the Prince of Wales, were in increasing conflict. The request for music came from George himself who was a genuine Handel enthusiast, being an active supporter of the composer’s operas, as well as having hired him as Royal Music Master to the Princesses. By fulfilling the commission, the composer was demonstrating his support of the king.
Handel’s music was a huge success, receiving special mention in the Daily Courant’s report of the event two days later:
On Wednesday Evening, at about 8, the King took Water at Whitehall in an open Barge… And went up the River towards Chelsea. Many other Barges with Persons of Quality attended, and so great a Number of Boats, that the whole River in a manner was cover’d; a City Company’s barge was employ’d for the Musick, wherein were 50 Instruments of all sorts, who played all the way from Lambeth (while the Barges drove with the Tide without Rowing, as far as Chelsea) the finest Symphonies, compos’d express for this Occasion, by Mr. Hendel; which his Majesty liked so well, that he caus’d it to be plaid over three times going and returning. At Eleven his Majesty went a-shore at Chelsea, where a Supper was prepar’d, and then there was another very fine Consort of Musick, which lasted till 2; after which his Majesty came again into his Barge, and return’d the same Way, the Musick continuing to play until he landed.”
Handel evidently took advantage of the considerable orchestral forces the court had to offer, with the “50 Instruments of all sorts” consisting of “trumpets, horns, hautboys [oboes], bassoons, German flutes, French flutes [recorders], violins, and basses” as confirmed by the representative of the Prussian court in London. Remarkably, no autograph source of Water Music has survived so the exact order in which its 20 or so movements were performed remains unknown. Nowadays, they tend to be grouped by key—F, D, and G (major and minor)—to create three separate suites. Tonight’s concert features the third suite, which is for an orchestra consisting of flute, recorder, bassoon, strings, and continuo (bass instruments and harpsichord). As music scholar Robert Philip has observed, this quieter ensemble would have been barely audible on the water (compared to the other suites which have trumpets and horns), so perhaps it was part of the “very fine Consort of Music” that played during the king’s supper.
The elegant first movement is untitled but conductor and musicologist Christopher Hogwood notes that the French may have called it a “Menuet à la sarabande”, with the accent usually landing on the second beat of three. It’s followed by two energetic rigaudons—the first in G major, the second in G minor, after which the first is reprised. Two menuets in G minor then proceed, with the second featuring a melodic line with leaps, and a high descant for “flauto piccolo” or recorder. The final movements are brisk country dances, alternating in minor and major modes; in the first, the recorder pipes high up, while the second is obviously an English jig, its inclusion no doubt a nationalistic gesture.
Laudate pueri Dominum , HWV 237
Laudate pueri
Sit nomen Domini
A solis ortu
Excelsus super omnes
Quis sicut Dominus
Suscitans a terra
Qui habitare facit
Gloria Patri
Handel, not yet 20, was at the start of his career as a theatre composer at Hamburg’s opera house, when, according to his biographer John Mainwaring, he was visited by the Prince of Tuscany, Gian’ Gastone de Medici. The prince wanted Handel to come to Italy, so he could show him examples of the latest Italian music. At the time, Handel refused an invitation to return with Gian’ Gastone, but resolved to go to Italy on his own dime as soon as he could afford it. He made the journey in the latter half of 1706; by the beginning of 1707, he reached Rome. While there, Handel’s earliest patrons included the cardinals Carlo Colonna and Benedetto Pamphili. Among his significant compositions from 1707 were three works for the church, likely commissioned by Colonna: the large-scale setting of the psalm Dixit Dominus, and two other Vesper psalms, Laudate pueri and Nisi Dominus. These latter two works were performed in the services for the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on July 15 and 16 that year.
Handel’s Lutheran faith and staunch Protestant upbringing did not stop him from seizing this opportunity to compose music that displayed the full range of his composition technique. Laudate pueri is an impressive mix of solemnity and brilliance, and in each of its various sections, as conductor Jeffrey Thomas has noted, the composer shows his mastery of various Italian musical forms and textures. The first movement (Laudate pueri Dominum), for example, features a substantial orchestral tutti, the main motive of which returns in between episodes for the soprano soloist, then with choir. A similar “ritornello” form is employed for the fourth movement (Excelsus super omnes). By comparison, the second movement (Sit nomen Domini) is in the more intimate trio sonata genre, scored for soprano, oboe, and solo cello (plus continuo), while the sixth movement (Suscitans a terra) is an aria for the soprano with cello and continuo accompaniment (with organ).
“A solis ortu usque” highlights Handel’s deft handling of imitative polyphony with bustling contrapuntal lines for the choir and orchestra, as well as his flair for vivid word painting—listen to how the melody’s striking rise and fall matches the text. This contrasts the homophonic, i.e., chordal, writing of “Quis sicut Dominus”, with its dramatic harmonic shifts giving the movement a powerful grandeur. In the aria “Qui habitare facit”, the soprano’s florid line and the turns and leaps in the violins complement each to evoke the “joyful mother”. For the final “Gloria Patri”, Handel draws together multiple styles and textures. Listen for the reprise of the music from the opening movement at the words “Sicut erat in principio” (as it was in the beginning). Here, the soprano continues with elaborate passages on “Amen” (often doubled by the oboe and imitated by the violins), supported by chordal exclamations in the choir and the rest of the orchestra to draw this psalm setting to a magnificent close.
Program notes by Hannah Chan-Hartley, PhD
Artists
Bernard Labadie has established himself worldwide as one of the preeminent conductors of the Baroque and Classical repertoire, a reputation closely tied to his work with Les Violons du Roy (for which he served as Music Director from its inception until 2014) and La Chapelle de Québec. With these two ensembles, he has regularly toured Canada, the U.S., and Europe in major venues and festivals such as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Kennedy Center, the Barbican, the Concertgebouw, and the Salzburg Festival, among others. He began a four-year term as Principal Conductor of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in the 2018–19 season.
Labadie has become a regular presence on the podiums of the major North American orchestras, including the Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, Boston, Colorado, Houston, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco symphony orchestras, the Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras, the Los Angeles and New York philharmonics, the Handel & Haydn Society, and Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. International audiences in past seasons have seen and heard him conduct the Bayerischen Rundfunks Symphony Orchestra, the Academy of Ancient Music, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the BBC Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Collegium Vocale Ghent, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, WDR Sinfonieorchester (Cologne), and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra.
His extensive discography includes many critically acclaimed recordings on the Dorian, ATMA, and Virgin Classics labels, including Handel’s Apollo e Dafne and a collaborative recording of Mozart’s Requiem with Les Violons du Roy and La Chapelle de Québec, both of which received a Canadian Juno Award. Other recordings include C.P.E. Bach’s complete cello concertos with Truls Mørk and Les Violons du Roy, and J.S. Bach’s complete piano concertos with Alexandre Tharaud, both on Virgin Classics, and Haydn’s piano concertos with Marc-Andre Hamelin as soloist, released by Hyperion. Bernard Labadie has received Paris’s Samuel de Champlain award, the Canadian government’s Officer of the Order of Canada, and his home province has named him Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Québec.
A native of Bolivar, New York, soprano Joélle Harvey received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in vocal performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). She began her career training at Glimmerglass Opera (now The Glimmerglass Festival) and the Merola Opera Program.
An in-demand vocal soloist, the soprano regularly appears with the United States’ great orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. On the operatic stage, Harvey appears regularly at the Glyndebourne Festival, made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Pamina in The Magic Flute, and her Royal Opera, Covent Garden debut as Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro.
The soprano began the 2023–2024 season with an appearance at London’s Wigmore Hall, singing the role of Tirsi in Handel’s Clori, Tirsi e Fileno, with The English Concert. Season debuts include the Houston Symphony, for Orff’s Carmina Burana, and the New World Symphony, for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
Joélle Harvey is closely associated with Boston’s Handel & Haydn Society, as well as London’s The English Concert. A celebrated chamber musician, she has appeared with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Music@Menlo, Tafelmusik, Les Violons du Roy, and Cappella Mediterranea. She made her solo Carnegie Hall recital debut in 2019 with pianist Allen Perriello, and has appeared at the BBC Proms as the Mater Gloriosa in Mahler’s Eighth Symphony.
Joélle Harvey was the recipient of a First Prize Award from the Gerda Lissner Foundation and a Sara Tucker Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation. She is a recipient of the Shoshana Foundation’s Richard F. Gold Career Grant, and was also presented with the John Alexander Memorial Award and the coveted Sam Adams Award for Achievement in Acting from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM).
La Chapelle de Québec, founded by Bernard Labadie in 1985, is a nationally based chamber choir of professional singers recruited mainly in Québec City, but also throughout Québec and Canada. It assembles for two or three concerts each season to join Les Violons du Roy in major works from the repertory for choir and orchestra, especially from the 18th century. Its performances of cantatas, oratorios, and masses by J.S. Bach, Handel, Mozart, and Haydn have been acclaimed throughout Canada and the United States, thanks to many broadcasts by Radio-Canada, the CBC, and NPR in the United States.
La Chapelle de Québec has performed regularly on tour with Les Violons du Roy, notably in Handel’s Messiah and J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in Toronto, in an all-Vivaldi program in France, and in Mozart’s Requiem in Toronto and the United States. The choir is often asked to appear with Bernard Labadie in the concerts he conducts with U.S. orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with which it performed Handel’s Messiah in 2004 and J.S. Bach’s Magnificat in 2006.
La Chapelle de Québec won a Juno Award for its recording of Mozart’s Requiem, released by Dorian in 2002.
Canada’s National Arts Centre (NAC) Orchestra is praised for the passion and clarity of its performances, its visionary learning and engagement programs, and its unwavering support of Canadian creativity. The NAC Orchestra is based in Ottawa, Canada’s national capital, and has grown into one of the country’s most acclaimed and dynamic ensembles since its founding in 1969. Under the leadership of Music Director Alexander Shelley, the NAC Orchestra reflects the fabric and values of Canada, engaging communities from coast to coast to coast through inclusive programming, compelling storytelling, and innovative partnerships.
Since taking the helm in 2015, Shelley has shaped the Orchestra’s artistic vision, building on the legacy of his predecessor, Pinchas Zukerman, who led the ensemble for 16 seasons. Shelley’s influence extends beyond the NAC. He serves as Principal Associate Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the U.K. and Artistic and Music Director of Artis—Naples and the Naples Philharmonic in the U.S. Shelley’s leadership is complemented by Principal Guest Conductor John Storgårds and Principal Youth Conductor Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser. In 2024, the Orchestra marked a new chapter with the appointment of Henry Kennedy as its first-ever Resident Conductor.
The Orchestra has a rich history of partnerships with renowned artists such as James Ehnes, Angela Hewitt, Renée Fleming, Hilary Hahn, Jeremy Dutcher, Jan Lisiecki, Ray Chen, and Yeol Eum Son, underscoring its reputation as a destination for world-class talent. As one of the most accessible, inclusive and collaborative orchestras in the world, the NAC Orchestra uses music as a universal language to communicate the deepest of human emotions and connect people through shared experiences.
A hallmark of the NAC Orchestra is its national and international tours. The Orchestra has performed concerts in every Canadian province and territory and earned frequent invitations to perform abroad. These tours spotlight Canadian composers and artists, bringing their voices to stages across North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Asia.
Tobi Hunt McCoy is enjoying another year as season Stage Manager with the National Arts Centre Orchestra. In past seasons, she stage-managed Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Christopher Plummer in 2001 and Colm Feore in 2014. She co-produced the 1940s Pops show On the Air with Jack Everly for the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, a show they co-produced in 2007 for the NAC Orchestra.
In 2018, McCoy made her Southam Hall acting debut in the role of Stage Manager in the Magic Circle Mime Co.’s production of Orchestra from Planet X. Additional professional duties have included aiding Susanna and the Countess in schooling the Count and Figaro on the finer points of marital love during The Marriage of Figaro, keeping her eyes open (for the first time ever) during the flying monkey scene in The Wizard of Oz, mistakenly asking Patrick Watson for proof of identity backstage, holding her breath while marvelling at the athletic ability of the cast during Cirque Goes Broadway, continuing to implement feedback on her British-Columbian French with the choruses of Ottawa, and cheering on Luke and Princess Leia with Charlie Ross, Émilie Fournier, and Eric Osner during the Star Wars Pops concert.
In her spare time, McCoy is the Head of Arts, Drama, English, and Library at Lisgar Collegiate Institute.
Credits
La Chapelle de Québec
Soprano
Anne-Marie Beaudette
Odéi Bilodeau-Bergeron
Megan Chartrand
Sheila Dietrich
Marie Magistry
Stephanie Manias
Dorothéa Ventura
Emily Wall
Alto
Charlotte Cumberbirch
Jean-François Gagné
Marie-Josée Goyette
Josée Lalonde
Claudia Lemcke
Marie-Andrée Mathieu
Rachèle Pelletier-Tremblay
Maddie Studt
Gena Van Oosten
Tenor
Richard Duguay
Dominique Gagné
Aldéo Jean
Joé Lampron-Dandonneau
Patrick McGill
David Menzies
Bud Roach
Arthur Tanguay-Labrosse
Bass
Martin Auclair
Robert Huard
Emanuel Lebel
Bernard Levasseur
Philippe Martel
Julien Patenaude
Nathaniel Watson
Josh Whelan
NAC Orchestra
First Violins
Yosuke Kawasaki (concertmaster)
Jessica Linnebach (associate concertmaster)
Noémi Racine Gaudreault (assistant concertmaster)
Emily Kruspe
Marjolaine Lambert
Emily Westell
Manuela Milani
Carissa Klopoushak
Second Violins
*John Marcus (guest principal)
Jeremy Mastrangelo
Frédéric Moisan
Leah Roseman
Zhengdong Liang
Winston Webber
Edvard Skerjanc
Mark Friedman
Karoly Sziladi
Violas
Jethro Marks (principal)
David Marks (associate principal)
David Goldblatt (assistant principal)
Tovin Allers
Paul Casey
David Thies-Thompson
Cellos
Rachel Mercer (principal)
Julia MacLaine (assistant principal)
Timothy McCoy
Marc-André Riberdy
Leah Wyber
Double Basses
Max Cardilli (assistant principal)
Vincent Gendron
Marjolaine Fournier
Flutes
Joanna G’froerer (principal)
Stephanie Morin
Recorder
*Francis Colpron
Oboes
Charles Hamann (principal)
Anna Petersen
*Anna Hendrickson
English Horn
Anna Petersen
Clarinets
Kimball Sykes (principal)
Sean Rice
Bassoons
Darren Hicks (principal)
Vincent Parizeau
Horns
Julie Fauteux (associate principal)
Lawrence Vine
Lauren Anker
Louis-Pierre Bergeron
Trumpets
**Karen Donnelly (principal)
*Benjamin Raymond (guest principal)
Steven van Gulik
*Taz Eddy
Trombones
Colin Traquair
Bass Trombone
Zachary Bond
Tuba
Chris Lee (principal)
Timpani
*Andrei Malashenko (guest principal)
Percussion
Jonathan Wade
Harpsichord
*Mélisande McNabney
Organ
*Thomas Annand
Lute
*Sylvain Bergeron
Principal Librarian
Nancy Elbeck
Assistant Librarian
Corey Rempel
Personnel Manager
Meiko Lydall
Orchestra Personnel Coordinator
Laurie Shannon
*Additional musicians
**On leave
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees