Fauré, Debussy and Chausson for strings and piano ^{Summer 2024}

Marianne Dugal played in the first-violin section of the OSM for over a decade before being named Second Associate Concertmaster in 2008. She was also a soloist with the Orchestra, under Charles Dutoit and Kent Nagano. In 2008, she participated in a historic tour of Nunavik with six of her colleagues and Maestro Nagano; she was also on the tour in 2018. She is very active as a chamber player throughout Quebec, Canada and the United States. She studied under Sergiu Schwartz at the Harid Conservatory of Music in Boca Raton, Florida, where she won First Prize in the National Society of Arts and Letters’ Violin Competition. Marianne Dugal has the great privilege of playing a violin made by Stradivarius in 1716 with a Sartory bow, both generously on loan from Canimex.

Associate principal cellist of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal since 2011, Anna Burden has performed throughout the United States, Canada, and abroad as a soloist, chamber player, and orchestral musician. Solo appearances include performances with the Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra, the Washington Chamber Symphony, the Juilliard Orchestra, the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra, the Oak Park Symphony Orchestra, and with musicians of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. A native of Chicago, Anna Burden studied with Hans Jensen, Joel Krosnick, Alan Stepansky, Richard Aaron, Darrett Adkins, and Nell Novak. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University, a Master’s degree from The Juilliard School, and a Professional Studies diploma from the Manhattan School of Music. She plays a cello made in 1929 by Carl Becker of Chicago. 

Alexander Read had the privilege of being introduced to music by his parents, who have always greatly encouraged him. Music was a strong presence at home: he remembers hearing the OSM and recognizing its highly distinctive sound on radio broadcasts. Alexander studied the violin with Ani Kavafian and Robert Mealy at the Yale School of Music, with Thomas Williams and Denise Lupien at McGill University, as well as with Sharon Jones on a private basis. His favourite musical memory is his first experience as an ensemble player, at 15, when he performed with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. His first rehearsal with them confirmed that music would become an integral part of his life. Alexander Read serves as a frequent guest Concertmaster with Les Violons du Roy, Ensemble Caprice and the Bach Festival Orchestra. He loves playing on period or rare instruments such as the violin d’amore.

The versatile violinist and violist Victor Fournelle-Blain leads an active career as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player. Associate Principal Viola of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, he also teaches viola at McGill University and orchestral studies at Université de Montréal. After studying violin at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal under Johanne Arel, he went on to work with Ani Kavafian at the Yale School of Music, and subsequently joined the class of André Roy as a viola student at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University. Winner of McGill’s 2014 Golden Violin Award, the 2012 Prix d’Europe, and Second Prize winner of the 2010 OSM Competition, Victor Fournelle-Blain has performed as a guest soloist with various orchestras including the Orchestre Métropolitain and the Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil. As violinist of the Grand-Duc Trio, he regularly collaborates with renowned musicians including Charles Richard-Hamelin, Andrew Wan and Brian Manker. Victor Fournelle-Blain currently plays a violin by Carlo Tononi and a viola by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, both generously loaned to him by Canimex.