Pulsations, violinist
Angèle Dubeau’s new album

Works that evoke strong images and possess a profound emotional intensity

With a career spanning over four decades and an impressive discography of more than forty albums, Angèle Dubeau continues to leave her mark in today’s music world. Her virtuosity brings her on the most prestigious stages and she continues to be awarded international prizes for her recordings and to receive honours for her career.

A pulsation marks time, it infuses its rhythm in it and also evokes the heart.

Pulsations, the violinist’s new album, brings together works that evoke strong images and possess a profound emotional intensity. In addition to the excellence of her playing, she has a flair for finding and recording the works of remarkable composers, thus placing her at the center of the post-minimalist movement, one of the most relevant musical genres of our time. The public’s increasing interest for some of these composers whose works are featured on Pulsations tells us that we are witnessing the emergence of a golden age for this contemporary music.

Angèle Dubeau: “A pulsation marks time, it infuses its rhythm in it and also evokes the heart. Just like those composers whose music calls out to me and who, with their unique signatures, mark time, our time; Olafur Arnalds, Jean-Michel Blais, Ludovico Einaudi, Alex Baranowski, Craig Armstrong, Peter Gregson, Yann Tiersen, Abel Korzeniowski, Johan Johannsson, Max Richter and Dalal.”

Once again, Angèle Dubeau is accompanied by the excellent musicians of her all-female string ensemble La Pietà, with whom she has been playing for over 20 years. Together with these musicians, she premiered several pieces from this new album at La Fête de la Musique de Tremblant at the beginning of September.

‘Once again, Angèle Dubeau is accompanied by the excellent musicians of her all-female string ensemble La Pietà’

Her previous album, Ovation, released last year, was chosen as Album of the Week by important radio stations like Classic FM in London, KDFC in San Francisco and KUSC in Los Angeles. Angèle Dubeau is also one of the rare classical musicians in the world to have received Gold Records. In her career, she has sold more than 600,000 albums and her recordings have been streamed 80 million times, in a total of more than 100 countries.

ANGÈLE DUBEAU, O.C., C.Q., O.M.

One of the most prominent violin virtuosos of her generation, Angèle Dubeau has been leading an exceptional career for over 40 years in the great concert halls of the world. While her virtuosity and musicality have seduced critics, the public has adopted Angèle Dubeau for her captivating music, her uncommon gift as a communicator, her generosity and her outstanding ability to connect with her audience. She has garnered many awards over the years, and she is one of the rare classical violinists in the world to have been awarded gold records.

‘One of the most prominent violin virtuosos of her generation, Angèle Dubeau has been leading an exceptional career for over 40 years in the great concert halls of the world.’

She has sold over 600,000 albums in her career and the works from the violinist’s discography have been streamed over 75 million times across more than 100 countries. Angèle Dubeau’s musical trajectory remains exceptional. At the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal, she received a Premier Prix in violin at age 15, studying with Raymond Dessaints (Master’s Degree in Music), and a Premier Prix in Chamber Music at age 16.

She then moved to New York to study with Dorothy DeLay at the prestigious Juilliard School of Music and, from 1981 to 1984, she studied in Romania with the eminent pedagogue Stefan Gheorghiu. She has won several national and international competitions. Convinced of the need to introduce classical music to a wider audience, Angèle Dubeau has been a pioneer in programming and hosting gala concerts and weekly music television shows such as the famous Radio-Canada show “Faites vos gammes”. Since 1995, she is the artistic director of the popular La Fête de la Musique de Tremblant, a music festival in Mont-Tremblant which attracts over 35,000 music lovers annually.

ANGÈLE DUBEAU & LA PIETÀ

Transformed by the desire to innovate, Angèle Dubeau founded La Pietà in 1997, an all-female string ensemble featuring some of Canada’s best musicians. What she could not have known at the time was that this experiment, originally conceived for periodic recordings, would gradually become a full-time occupation.

‘Convinced of the need to introduce classical music to a wider audience, Angèle Dubeau has been a pioneer in programming and hosting gala concerts and weekly music television shows’

From early on, the ensemble gained a solid reputation, playing Canada’s most prestigious venues and on television. Known for their exceptional virtuosity and impeccable precision, their rich interpretations, and above all the contagious happiness that enlivens their stage presence, Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà have crisscrossed the world for over 20 years.

The Los Angeles Times noted that “ Dubeau is an exciting, dynamic fiddler… The performances were consistently robust and inquiring, taking nothing for granted… Dubeau’s well-drilled band played with agility, power, a nicely weighted sound and a fierce joy in the doing.”

Soloist, conductor: Angèle Dubeau
Violins I: Julie Triquet, Josiane Breault
Violins II: Amélie Lamontagne, Mana Shiraishi, Veronika Cherniak
Violas: Madeleine Messier, Anne Beaudry, ChungHan Hsiao
Cellos: Laurence Leclerc, Caroline Richard
Double bass: Geneviève Bigonesse
Piano: Amélie Fortin
Harp: Valérie Milot

Recorded in May 2019 at St-Mathieu-de-Beloeil Church, Quebec, Canada
Released October 4, 2019

Images : courtesy of Analekta

Read also: Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà present the album Ovation

Analekta, founded in 1987 by François Mario Labbé, is the largest independent classical music record company in Canada. It has produced more than 500 albums and recorded more than 200 of the country’s most prominent musicians, winning multiple awards in the process. In 2019, Analekta achieved the impressive feat of having the works from its catalogue streamed 130 million times on international streaming platforms.