Angèle Dubeau, (born 24 March 1962) is a retired Canadian classical

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist. She has devoted a large part of her career to making classical music accessible to a wide audience and also frequently played works by contemporary composers. In October 2024, she announced that due to nerve damage in her right hand, she was no longer able to play the violin.

Early life and education

Dubeau was born in

Saint-Norbert, Quebec Saint-Norbert () is a parish municipality in D'Autray Regional County Municipality the Lanaudière region of Quebec, Canada. History The municipality is named after Saint Norbert of Xanten. The parish of Saint-Norbert was detached from that ...

, the seventh of eight children. She first studied the violin with Father Rolland Brunelle at the Joliette music camp, at Jean Cousineau's Les Petits Violons. She went on to graduate as a First-Prize winner from the

Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal The Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal (, CMQM) is a music conservatory located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In addition to the Montreal region, the school takes in students from nearby cities, including Granby, Joliette, St-Jean ...

. She studied at the

Juilliard School of Music The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became the Juilliard School, named afte ...

in New York with

Dorothy DeLay Dorothy DeLay (March 31, 1917 – March 24, 2002) was an American violin teacher, instructor, primarily at the Juilliard School, Sarah Lawrence College, and the University of Cincinnati. Life Dorothy DeLay was born on March 31, 1917, in Medic ...

and later went to Romania to work with Ştefan Gheorghiu from 1981 until 1984.

Career

Angèle Dubeau participated in tours organized by the non-profit Jeunesses musicales du Canada from 1977 to 1981, and then began an international career. In 1985, she recorded her first record on the Radio-Canada International label. She is the first artist to be published on the

Analekta Analekta is Canada's largest independent classical music recording label. The label, which takes its name from the Greek word ''analekta'' ("a collection of the finest works"), was founded in 1988 by the Canadian music industry manager and entrep ...

label, in 1988. Since then, she has recorded an average of two albums a year, and is regularly awarded in the category of classical albums in the

Félix Award The Félix Award ( is an award, given by the ''Association du disque, de l'industrie du spectacle québécois'' (ADISQ) on an annual basis to artists working in the music and humor industry in the Canadian province of Quebec. The award The firs ...

s. From 1994 to 1997, she hosted a series of concert broadcasts and weekly music programs for

Radio-Canada Radio-Canada may refer to: * CBC/Radio-Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation *Ici Radio-Canada Télé, the CBC's main French-language television network *Ici Radio-Canada Première Ici Radio-Canada Première (formerly Première Chaîne) i ...

, featuring young Quebec musicians. These include "Faites vos gammes" and "Angèle Dubeau et la Fête de la Musique". In 1995, she organized, directed, and hosted "Music in the Mountains," an event which attracts 75,000 people every Labour Day weekend. Since that year, she has also been artistic director of the Tremblant Music Festival, a festival she founded. In 1996, she was made a member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

. In 1997, Dubeau created the all-female, all-Canadian string ensemble " La Pietà". This group has performed in many concert halls in Canada, the United States, China, and Japan, receiving positive reviews from local papers and radio stations."Violinist Angèle Dubeau looks beyond the touring life"
''Montreal Gazette'', Arthur Kaptainis, 16 November 2017 In 2004, she was made a Knight of the

National Order of Quebec The National Order of Quebec ( French: ), also known as the Order of Quebec, is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Quebec. Instituted in 1984 when Lieutenant Governor Jean-Pierre Côté granted royal assent to the (Natio ...

. She was elevated to Officer of the Order of Canada (OC) in 2012. In 2019, she continues to perform with La Pietà; she headlined the Tremblant Music Festival in September. Dubeau has performed in concert halls in more than 25 countries and won several international competitions. In addition, she has sold more than 300,000 records as a solo classical recording artist. Some awards that she has won include the Sylva Gelber prize, Public Francophone Radio's "Soloist of the Year 1987", and the Prize of the Americas at the

Viña del Mar International Song Festival The Viña del Mar International Song Festival () is an annual international music festival held every third week of February in Viña del Mar, Chile. Started in 1960 it is the oldest and largest music festival in Latin America, and one of the long ...

. Dubeau plays the "

Des Rosiers Des is a masculine given name, mostly a short form (hypocorism) of Desmond. People named Des include: People * Des Buckingham, English football manager * Des Corcoran, (1928–2004), Australian politician * Des Dillon (disambiguation), sever ...

Stradivarius A Stradivarius is one of the string instruments, such as violins, violas, cellos, and guitars, crafted by members of the Stradivari family, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), in Cremona, Italy, during the late 17th ...

from 1733. She received this violin in 1976 when the violinist and previous owner Arthur Leblanc met Dubeau and heard her play. The violin was classified as a national heritage by former Quebec premier

René Lévesque René Lévesque ( ; August 24, 1922 – November 1, 1987) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 23rd premier of Quebec from 1976 to 1985. He was the first Québécois political leader since Confederation to seek, ...

. She sits on the board of directors of the

Conservatoire de musique et d'art dramatique du Québec The Conservatoire de musique et d'art dramatique du Québec (, CMADQ) is a public network of nine state-subsidised schools offering higher education in music and theatre in Quebec, Canada. The organization was established in 1942 as a branch of th ...

Retirement

In October 2024, Dubeau announced that due to nerve damage to the index finger of her right hand, she was no longer able to play the violin and would thus be retiring.

Personal life

Angèle Dubeau is married to Mario Labbé, founder of the record company Analekta. In February 2013, she had to stop performing in order to get treatment for breast cancer. She returned to the stage on 1 September 2013 and announced that she was in remission.

Discography

* ''Fauré, Contant, Champagne'' (1985) * ''Sibelius, Glazunov - Concertos for Violin'' (1991) * ''Adoration'' - Les Petits chanteurs du Mont-Royal (1992) * ''Œuvres d' Alexander Brott'' : McGill Chamber Orchestra (1993) * ''Telemann - Twelve Fantasias for Violin Without Bass'' (1994) * ''La ronde des berceuses — On Wings of Songs'' (1994) * ''Fauré, Leclair, Debussy - French Sonatas for Violin and Piano'' with Andrew Tunis (1995) * ''Prokofiev, Tchaïkovsky, Kabalevsky'' - Concertos for violin; Kyiv Symphony Orchestra (1995) * ''Schubert - 3 Sonatas for Violin and Piano'' (1995) * ''Martinů - Sonatas, Promenades, Madrigal Stanzas'' (1995) * ''Paganini, De Falla, Piazzolla - Works for Violin and Guitar'' (1995) * ''Telemann - Sonatas for Two violins'' (1995) * ''Mozart - Opera for Two - Late 18th-Century Transcriptions'' (1996) * ''Mendelssohn - Two violin concertos'' (1997) * ''Lullabies and Forbidden Games'' (1998) * ''Opus Québec'' - with Louise-Andrée Baril (piano) (1999) * ''Angèle Dubeau Solo'' (2007) * ''Variations sur le thème de "Happy Birthday"'' (2007) * ''Virtuose'' (2009) * ''Blanc'' (2014)

with La Pietà

* ''Vivaldi Per Archi – Concertos for Strings'' (1998) * ''Let's Dance'' (1999) * ''Once Upon a Time'' (2002) * ''Violins of the World'' (2002) * ''Infernal Violins'' (2003) * ''Passion'' (2004) * ''Fairy Tale'' (2007) * ''Philip Glass – Portrait'' (2008) * ''Joyeux Noël'' (2008) * ''Gypsies'' (2008) * ''Jean Françaix: Gargantua et autres plaisirs'' – Narrator: Albert Millaire (2009) * ''Arvo Pärt – Portrait'' (2010) * ''Noël'' (2010) * ''John Adams – Portrait'' – Louise Bessette on piano (2011) * ''Silence, on joue! – A Time for Us'' (2012) * ''Game Music'' (2012) * ''Ludovico Einaudi – Portrait'' (2015) * ''Silence on joue, Prise 2'' (2016) * ''Max Richter – Portrait'' (2017) * ''Ovation – Live'' (2018) * ''Pulsations'' (2019) * ''Portrait: Alex Baranowski'' (2022) * ''Signature Philip Glass'' (2023)

Awards and recognition

National recognition

* Calixa-Lavallée Award (1996) * Member of the

(1996) * Knight of the

(2004) * Officer of the

(2012) * Companion of the "Ordre des arts et des lettres du Québec" (2018)

Musical awards

* First prize in the

Montreal Symphony Orchestra The Montreal Symphony Orchestra () is a Canadian symphony orchestra based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The orchestra’s home is the Montreal Symphony House at Place des Arts. History Several orchestras were precursor ensembles to the curren ...

contest (1976) * First prize in the "Concours de musique du Canada" (1976) * First prize in the

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

national contest (1979) * Sylva Gelber Prize, awarded annually to the most talented Canadian musician (1982) * "Festival international de musique Tibor Varga" in Switzerland, laureate (1983) * Prize of the Americas as the

in Chile (1985) * Soloist of the year 1987, designated by the

Public Francophone Radios The Public Francophone Radios (French: ''Radios francophones publiques'') is a group of French-speaking radio broadcasters comprising Radio France, Radio Canada, the Radio Télévision Suisse and RTBF. It produces programmes such as ''L'actualit� ...

(1987) * Classical album of the year,

Félix Awards Felix may refer to: * Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name Places * Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen * Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, ...

(1990) * Classical album of the year - Orchestra and ensemble,

(1993) * Classical album of the year - Soloist and chamber music,

(1994) * Classical album of the year - Orchestra and ensemble,

(1995) * Classical album of the year - Soloist and small ensemble,

(1997) * Audience Award, "Prix Opus" of the "Conseil québécois de la musique" (1999) * Classical album of the year - Soloist and small ensemble,

(1999) * Classical album of the year - Soloist and small ensemble,

(2000) * Audience Award, Jean Grimaldi Hall (2002) * Classical album of the year - Soloist and small ensemble,

(2007) * Classical album of the year - Soloist and small ensemble,

(2008) * Classical album of the year - Orchestra and large ensemble,

(2009) * Classical album of the year - Orchestra and large ensemble,

(2010)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dubeau, Angele 1962 births Living people Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal alumni Musicians from Quebec Knights of the National Order of Quebec Officers of the Order of Canada People from Lanaudière Canadian women classical violinists 21st-century Canadian classical violinists 21st-century Canadian women musicians Félix Award winners 20th-century Canadian violinists and fiddlers Canadian women violinists and fiddlers Prix Denise-Pelletier winners