For over a hundred years before Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was born in Eisenach, there had been Bach family members supplying music in all the courts, organ lofts, and town bands throughout Thuringia in what is now central Germany. His father, Johann Ambrosius, was director of the town band and also played in the local church, and at the duke’s court; a cousin was organist at the court as well as at three of Eisenach’s churches. Johann Sebastian was, like his brothers, raised to be part of the family business. When his mother and father died within a year of each other, ten-year-old Johann Sebastian was sent to live with his older brother Christoph, a church organist in a nearby town, where he continued his musical education. By the time he left his brother’s household, at the age of fifteen, he was an accomplished singer, organist, and violinist, and he used these skills to finance his further education. When he graduated from St. Michael’s School in Luneburg, he was, in the words of cultural historian, James R. Gaines, “a skilled composer, his improvisations were dazzlingly original, and his virtuosity was outrageous”.

When, and for whom, Bach’s Cello Suites were written is not known. The best guess is that they were composed between 1717 and 1723. No autographed manuscript exists; the most authoritative copy is one that was made by his second wife, Anna Magdalena Bach. So there is no way of knowing the order in which they were composed, and, more troubling still, the absence of performance markings such as bowing and dynamics, leads to questions of interpretation. It is interesting to note, as well, that the Cello Suites were not widely performed until the twentieth century.  Pablo Casals discovered an edition of them in a Barcelona thrift shop in 1889; he played them throughout his long and distinguished career as a cellist but did not complete recording them until 1939. In the last eighty years, they have become the most frequently performed pieces in the solo cello repertoire and have been called “among the most profound of all classical music works".

Prelude
Allemande
Courante
Sarabande
Minuet I/II
Gigue

Suite No. 2 has been called a “mourning suite” and speculation is that it was written shortly after the death of Bach’s first wife, Maria Barbara in 1720. The Prelude has a tremendous emotional resonance and the Sarabande is brooding and heartbreakingly beautiful. It was not unusual for Bach to give the Sarabande pride of place in his music, as he does here, making it the emotional heart of the suite. The Minuets which follow are elegant and restrained, and the Gigue, while at a slightly quicker tempo, still carries an element of wistfulness.

Prelude
Allemande
Courante
Sarabande
Bouree I/II
Gigue

The fourth suite is considered the most technically challenging of the six; the E flat key is difficult to play on the cello as it requires many extended left-hand positions. Nevertheless, the effect is moving. The Prelude is wistful, the Allemande is elegant and restrained, and the Courante is jaunty and good-natured. The Sarabande which follows them acquires through contrast with what precedes it, a tragic grandeur. The Bourees provide another change of mood; they are smile-inducing, verging on the happy-go-lucky, while the Gigue brings the suite to a satisfying and energetic close.

Prelude
Allemande
Courante
Sarabande
Gavotte I/II
Gigue

Mstislav Rostropovich called the sixth suite a “symphony for the cello” and characterized its D major tonality as evoking joy and triumph. The range is generally higher than the other five suites, giving it a different feel, especially from those in minor keys, but this does not imply that it lacks complexity or emotional weight. It is also written in much more free form than the others with virtuosic passages that almost make it hard to believe that there is only one instrument playing. It is no surprise, upon hearing the full six Suites for Solo Cello that they are considered among Johann Sebastian Bach’s greatest musical achievements.

In addition to innumerous awards and honours, Stéphane Tétreault is the recipient of the prestigious 2019 Virginia Parker Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts and was a nominee for the Oscar Morawetz Award for Excellence in Music Performance from the Ontario Arts Council. He is also the laureate of the Prix Opus for “Performer of the Year” for the 2020-21 season, awarded by the Conseil québécois de la musique and accompanied by a Canada Council grant. In 2018, he received the Maureen Forrester Next Generation Award in recognition of his sensitivities with music, his enviable technique, and his considerable communication skills. In 2015, he was selected as laureate of the Classe d’Excellence de violoncelle Gautier Capuçon from the Fondation Louis Vuitton, and received the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto Career Development Award. Stéphane was the very first recipient of the $50,000 Fernand-Lindsay Career Award as well as the Choquette-Symcox Award laureate in 2013. First Prize winner at the 2007 Standard Life-Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition, he was named “Révélation” Radio-Canada in classical music, was chosen as Personality of the Week by La Presse newspaper, and awarded the Prix Opus New Artist of the Year.

Chosen as the first-ever Soloist-in-Residence of the Orchestre Métropolitain, he performed alongside Yannick Nézet-Séguin during the 2014-2015 season. In 2016, Stéphane made his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Nézet-Séguin and performed at the prestigious Gstaad Menuhin Festival in Switzerland. During the 2017-2018 season, he took part in the Orchestre Métropolitain’s first European tour with Maestro Nézet-Séguin and made his debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Tétreault was Musician-In-Residence at Cecilia Concerts in 2019/20.

Stéphane has performed with violinist and conductor Maxim Vengerov and pianists Alexandre Tharaud, Jan Lisiecki, Louis Lortie, Roger Vignoles, Marc-André Hamelin, Charles Richard-Hamelin, and John Lenehan and has worked with conductors Michael Tilson Thomas, Paul McCreesh, John Storgårds, Rune Bergmann, Kensho Watanabe and Tung-Chieh Chuang amongst many other. He has participated in a number of masterclasses, notably with cellists Gautier Capuçon and Frans Helmerson.

His debut CD recorded with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra and conductor Fabien Gabel was chosen as “Editor’s Choice” in the March 2013 issue of Gramophone Magazine. His second album with pianist Marie-Ève Scarfone featuring works from Haydn, Schubert, and Brahms was chosen as Gramophone Magazine’s “Critics’ Choice 2016” and recognized as one of the best albums of the year. In 2017, Stéphane partnered with harpist Valérie Milot and violinist Antoine Bareil for a third album dedicated to Trios for Violin, Cello, and Harp. All three of his albums received nominations at the ADISQ Gala.

Stéphane was a student of the late cellist and conductor Yuli Turovsky for more than 10 years. He holds a master’s degree in Music Performance from the University of Montreal.

Stéphane plays the 1707 “Countess of Stainlein, Ex-Paganini” Stradivarius cello, on generous loan by Mrs. Sophie Desmarais.

In 2007, Montréal businessman Pierre Bourgie created Arte Musica, a foundation based out of the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts. Its mission was to develop Bourgie Hall as the heart of the museum.

The restoration and reconversion of the nave of the former Erskine and American Church, designated in 1998 as a historical site of national interest, into a concert hall gave way to a vast site for the study and restoration of the exceptional series of stained glass windows adorning the building. Among the 81 windows of stained glass that were restored, there were 20 Tiffany windows that were commissioned at the turn of the 20th century by the American Presbyterian Church (subsequently reinstalled in the Erskine and American Church between 1937 and 1938). They are now part of the Museum’s collection and form the most important collection of their kind in Canada and one of the rare series of religious windows by Tiffany to survive in North America.

Opened in 2011, this magnificent 462-seat hall is perfectly suited to the performance of chamber music, recitals, and concerts. The hall was named in honour of the Bourgie family.

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This performance took place on unceded Indigenous lands. The Kanien’kehá:ka Nation is recognized as the custodians of the lands and waters on which this performance venue is located. Tiohtià:ke/Montréal is historically known as a gathering place for many First Nations. Today, it is home to a diverse population of Indigenous and other peoples.

En 2007, l'homme d'affaires montréalais Pierre Bourgie a créé Arte Musica, une fondation basée au Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal. Sa mission était de faire de la salle Bourgie le cœur du musée.

La restauration et la reconversion de la nef de l'ancienne église Erskine and American, désignée en 1998 comme site historique d'intérêt national, en salle de concert, ont laissé place à un vaste chantier d'étude et de restauration de l'exceptionnelle série de vitraux qui ornent l'édifice. Parmi les 81 vitraux restaurés, on compte 20 vitraux Tiffany commandés au début du XXe siècle par l'American Presbyterian Church (réinstallés ensuite dans l'Erskine and American Church entre 1937 et 1938). Ils font désormais partie de la collection du musée et constituent la plus importante collection de ce type au Canada et l'une des rares séries de vitraux religieux de Tiffany à subsister en Amérique du Nord.

Inaugurée en 2011, cette magnifique salle de 462 places est parfaitement adaptée à l'exécution de musique de chambre, de récitals et de concerts. La salle a été nommée en l'honneur de la famille Bourgie.

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Ce spectacle a eu lieu sur des terres indigènes non cédées. La nation Kanien'kehá:ka est reconnue comme étant la gardienne des terres et des eaux sur lesquelles se trouve ce lieu de spectacle. Tiohtià:ke/Montréal est historiquement connu comme un lieu de rassemblement pour de nombreuses Premières nations. Aujourd'hui, elle abrite une population diversifiée d'Autochtones et d'autres peuples.