Les Concerts Couperin

Les Concerts Couperin

Les Concerts Couperin. Established in 1956 in Quebec City on the initiative of Gérard Morisset (at that time curator of the Musée du Québec), Judge Thomas Tremblay, and the musicians Victor Bouchard and Sylvio Lacharité. Sponsored by the MACQ and affiliated with the Musée du Québec, the Concerts Couperin have presented between four and eight free recitals and chamber music concerts each year. These activities are held at the Musée and in various historic sites such as Notre-Dame-des-Victoires Church, the chapel of the Ursulines' convent, and the chapel of the Petit séminaire de Québec. The society, whose chamber orchestra has been conducted by Sylvio Lacharité 1956-77 and Edwin Bélanger 1977-82, succeeded by Jean-Michel Boulay in 1982, encouraged from the outset numerous Quebec musicians, among them Pierre Boutet, Jean-Louis Rousseau, Jacques Simard, and Donald Thomson, as well as the Ensemble instrumental du Québec and the Ensemble polyphonique de Québec. The repertoire of the Concerts Couperin, originally based on the French baroque as the name indicates, gradually began to include modern works, some by Quebec composers such as Denys Bouliane, Serge Garant, Jacques Hétu, Pierick Houdy, and Gilles Tremblay. Judge Tremblay was president 1956-67 and Jacques Boulay succeeded him in 1968. The Concerts Couperin have presented over 160 performances in 34 years of existence. A collection is held at the ANQin Quebec City.