Francœur: Strings, strife, and the court of the king

ARTISTS

Marie Nadeau-Tremblay, Baroque violin
Tristan Best, viol
Kerry Bursey, voice and lute

Marie Nadeau-Tremblay (Baroque violin), Tristan Best (viol), and Kerry Bursey (voice and lute) invite you to discover François Francœur through the art of French music. From instrumental pieces to sung airs de cour, this expressive trio presents a repertoire where love and betrayal intermingle with Couperin, Marais, and Lambert.

PLANNED TOUR PERIOD
January 28 to March 4, 2025

A FIRST LOOK AT THE REPERTOIRE*
François COUPERIN (1668-1733)
Concerts royaux : Concerto No 1 en sol majeur, I. Prélude  LISTEN

François COUPERIN
Concerts royaux : Concerto No 1 en sol majeur, IV. Gavotte  LISTEN

Michel LAMBERT (1610-1696)
Ma Bergère est tendre et fidèle  LISTEN

Marin MARAIS (1656-1728)
La Sonnerie de Ste-Geneviève du Mont de Paris  LISTEN

BIOGRAPHIES

Marie Nadeau-Tremblay, Baroque violin
Since graduating and receiving a Master’s Degree in Early Music Performance, Marie Nadeau-Tremblay has established herself on the Canadian scene as an up-and-coming young baroque violinist. In 2019, In 2019, she is a four-time honouree at the Mathieu Duguay International Early Music Competition, winning first prize among other honours. Named “CBC’s Classical Revelation 2021–2022” and winner of the 2021 Opus prize for “Discovery of the year,” Marie is also awarded the Choquette Symcox prize by the JM Canada Foundation the same year. Her album La Peste (2020) was named one of the 20 best classical albums of 2020 by the CBC and was nominated for a Juno Award. Her first solo album, Préludes et Solitudes, was released in October 2021 and won in 2023 the Opus of the best album of the year in its category.
Marie plays on an original 1750s Thomas Perry instrument as well as an Amati model violin made by Timothy Johnson and generously lent to her by Mr. Jacques Marchand.
In addition to music, Marie loves to draw, and is studying Mandarin and Japanese.

Tristan Best, viola
Tristan Best is an early string instrument player currently based in Montreal, Quebec. With roots in New York and Nova Scotia, Tristan came to Montreal in 2016 to study viola da gamba and early music performance. Tristan holds a bachelor and a master of music in viola da gamba performance after completing his studies at McGill University in 2021 under the tutelage of Betsy MacMillan and Elin Soderstrom. Tristan frequently performs with Montreal-based ensemble Les Barocudas, has participated in the Montreal Baroque Festival, and was awarded the Founder’s Prize along with second place as a soloist in the Mathieu-Duguay Early Music Competition in 2022. Outside of performance, Tristan is also an educator and has given workshops and lectures about the viola da gamba around Canada and the United States.

Kerry Bursey, lute and
Kerry Bursey is a Canadian tenor and plucked string instrumentalist from Montréal. An early music specialist and a versatile singer, he is acclaimed for his “clear voice, made of dreamy troubadouresque sweetness” (Ôlyrix) and “beneficent tenderness” (Le Temps). He is a sought-after lutenist and guitarist, notably invested in the practice of self-accompaniment, from the lute song repertoire to folk music of northwestern traditions. In 2023, he makes his European debut as a soloist at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, the Manchester International Festival and the Bregenzer Festspieler.
He regularly works as a soloist with early music groups such as l’Harmonie des saisons, Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, les Idées Heureuses, la Nef as well as his own group Ménestrel, co-founded with soprano Janelle Lucyk. He has featured on a dozen albums with labels including ATMA Classique and Deutsche Grammophon. In 2021, he was appointed as the new tenor of Quartom. Kerry is frequently hired as a session musician and creative collaborator because of his broad musical output, from pop to video game music.
Kerry holds a masters’ degree in classical guitar from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and has studied voice performance at McGill University. He was a winner at the 2011 Grand Prix de Guitare de Montréal.

*JM Canada reserves the right to modify the repertoire without prior notice.