Gabrielle Lavigne

Education

Gabrielle Lavigne graduated from the Montreal School of Fine Arts in 1961 and pursued her musical studies at McGill University with Ria Lenssens (voice) and at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal with Dick Marzollo (repertoire) and Pierre Héral (stage skills) from 1961 to 1969. During these years she taught plastic arts for the Montreal Catholic School Board.

Lavigne was a finalist in the 1967 Concorso internationale de Voci verdiani in Busseto, Italy, a medal winner with distinction at the 1969 International Competition for Musical Performers in Geneva, Switzerland, winner of the first prize in her category in the 1970 CBC Talent Festival, and a finalist in the 1970 Metropolitan Opera regional auditions.

Career Highlights

Gabrielle Lavigne made her stage debut with the Vancouver Opera Association (now Vancouver Opera) as Azucena in Il Trovatore. Sadler's Wells (London, England) engaged her for the role the following year. In the autumn of 1973, Lavigne returned to Vancouver, this time to sing Eboli in Don Carlo. In 1974 she was Federica in Verdi's Luisa Miller and Maria in Rossini's Mosè in Egitto for the Koninklijke Opera, Ghent, and Mistress Page in Verdi’s Falstaff for the Opéra du Québec. That December she sang Marie in L'Enfance du Christ (Berlioz) with the National Arts Centre Orchestra (NACO) in Ottawa and New York City.

For Festival Ottawa, Lavigne portrayed Ragonde (Rossini's Le Comte Ory, 1974, 1976), Berta (The Barber of Seville, 1978), and Dorothée (Massenet's Cendrillon, 1979). According to Claude Gingras (Montreal, La Presse, 23 May 1979), her Marguerite in the Montreal Symphony Orchestra's (MSO) presentation of La Damnation de Faust was “quite striking in vocal beauty, distinction, and expression.”

Gabrielle Lavigne performed as soloist with many orchestras, including the McGill Chamber Orchestra (1971, 1972, 1984), the MSO (L'Enfance du Christ, 1972; La Vida Breve, 1976; Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, 1977, 1982; Mahler's Symphony No. 8, 1984), the Quebec Symphony Orchestra (Verdi's Requiem, 1973), the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (Le Roi David, 1974; Mercure's Cantate pour une joie, 1978; Bach's St. Matthew Passion, 1981; 9th Symphony performed in New York City's Carnegie Hall with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, 1984), the Victoria Symphony Orchestra (1971), the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra (1971, 1972, 1990), and the NACO (1971, 1973, 1984).

“An excellent musician, she brings the greatest artistic care to all she touches,” wrote Gilles Potvin (Montreal, Le Devoir, 11 May 1978), following her performance with the MSO of Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder. Lavigne has given many recitals on the CBC, and in the series Les Grands Concerts she revealed herself as a sensitive interpreter of French art songs and Lieder. She was a member of the Ensemble cantabile de Montréal from 1974 to 1976.

Lavigne performed frequently at the Opéra de Montréal, including the roles of Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte (1981), Charlotte in Werther (1982), Adalgisa in Norma (1982) and Tisbe in La Cenerentola (1987). She also sang Leoncavallo's Zazà at the New Jersey State Opera (1986). In 1985 she took part in the second International Festival des Açores with the New Orchestra of Boston, and in 1990 at the Festival international de Lanaudière. With the pianist Denise Massé, she recorded Rodolphe Mathieu’s “Larmes,” “Un peu d'ombre,” “Les Yeux noirs,” and “Deux Poèmes” (1988).

She began teaching at the Cultural Centre in Joliette in 1985 and also taught privately.