Bernard Labadie
conductor
Bernard Labadie has established himself worldwide as one of the preeminent conductors of the Baroque and Classical repertoire. He is known for his work with Les Violons du Roy (for which he served as Music Director from its inception until 2014) and La Chapelle de Québec. With these two ensembles, he has regularly toured Canada, the US and Europe, in major venues and festivals such as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Kennedy Center, The Barbican, The Concertgebouw, and the Salzburg Festival, among others. He begins a four-year term as Principal Conductor of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in the 2018-19 season.
Internationally, his season includes conducting the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de Lyon, the Finnish Radio Orchestra, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin (in Hamburg), the Academy of Ancient Music (London), and Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. Labadie has become a regular presence on the podiums of the major North American orchestras, including the Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, and Toronto symphony orchestras; the Boston, Colorado, Houston, St. Louis, and San Francisco symphonies; the Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras; the Los Angeles and New York philharmonics; the Handel & Haydn Society; and L’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. His extensive discography includes many critically acclaimed recordings on Dorian, ATMA and Virgin Classics labels, including Handel’s Apollo e Dafne and a collaborative recording of Mozart’s Requiem with Les Violons du Roy and La Chapelle de Québec, both of which received Canada’s Juno Award. Other recordings include C.P.E. Bach’s complete cello concertos with Truls Mørk and Les Violons du Roy; J.S. Bach’s complete piano concertos with Alexandre Tharaud, both on Virgin Classics; and Haydn’s piano concertos with Marc-Andre Hamelin as soloist, released by Hyperion. He has received Paris’ Samuel de Champlain award, the Canadian government’s “Officer of the Order of Canada”, and his home province has named him “Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Québec”.