THE ORCHESTRA | Galileo | Artistic Direction and Musicians | Board of Directors
Galileo
Directed by Daniel Constantineau, Galileo (formerly known as the Orchestre symphonique de la Vallée-du-Haut-Saint-Laurent) is the only professional classical-music ensemble in the Montérégie-Ouest region, south west of Greater Montréal.
Galileo is a chamber orchestra comprising 15 to 45 musicians depending on the works they are performing. Its main goal is to offer live symphonic music to a region where this is rare. Galileo’s use of period instruments harmonizes perfectly with the historic character of the region. What’s more, Galileo is a registered charity non-profit organization. As such, it promotes the musical training and development of the general public and of young people in particular.
Since beginning its activities in October 2010, Galileo has performed 23 concerts in various locations across Montérégie-Ouest, Dorval and Saint-Jérôme. Galileo’s productions demonstrate both the quality its artistry and its connection with this region, which has led to the recording of Baroque-inspired works by André Gagnon on the prestigious ATMA label in July 2015, to Galileo’s participation in the annual history festival Seigneuriales de Vaudreuil-Dorion since June 2016, and to its nominations at Gala de l’ADISQ 2016, Gala Opus 2017,2020 and 2021 - where he won its first Prix Opus in the category Meilleur concert - Répertoires multiples, for «Opéras !», a concert produced with the Atelier lyrique de l'opéra de Montréal (photo). Galileo is awarded grants from Musicaction, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Conseil des arts et de la culture de Vaudreuil-Soulanges and the MRC Vaudreuil-Soulanges since 2015.
AN ORCHESTRA UNIQUE IN CANADA
The idea of performing Baroque, Romantic and Classical music on period instruments using historically informed interpretation appeared some sixty years ago as a fresh way to perform symphonic music. The most striking characteristics of this “new” style can be described as being softer, more velvety, yet more expressive, while using musical instruments built with respect to those of centuries past. This facilitates balancing the sound masses from the various sections of the orchestra.
Galileo stands out as a symphonic ensemble at the cutting edge of this global trend in performing classical music. In fact, Galileo is the only Canadian orchestra to take on all of the repertoires that lend themselves to historically informed performance practices, specifically late Baroque (1730-1750) right through to the roaring twenties (around 1930).
Artistic direction
Conductor Daniel Constantineau and Galileo deliver captivating, dynamic interpretations of the programed works, giving special attention to respecting of the composers’ intentions and musical clarity,
He has earned praise from critics who have followed his work (see page danielconstantineau.com/temoignages), Mr. Constantineau is noted for precision and sensitivity to the rich subtleties of Galileo’s symphonic repertoirer. He constantly researches fresh solutions to fine tune the concerts.
Mr. Constantineau is inspired and guided by the work of the great conductors of period music, such as Harnoncourt, Norrington, Gardiner, and Herreweghe (to name just a few), as well as the historic treatises concerning period music that he studies, and, above all, the teachings of Olivier Messiaen concerning Midaeval music and the agagic of the works of Mozart, as was transmitted by the outstanding composer and teacher, Gilles Tremblay, who Daniel Constantineau had the opportunity to study under.
Musicians
Since it began in 2010, many talented musicians have lent their artistry to Galileo. Listed below are those who collaborated with Galileo for the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 concert seasons.
Individual information capsules will soon be available. In the meantime, we invite you to visit their personal websites, or their Linkedin or Facebook pages for more information.
VIOLINS
Guillaume Villeneuve | principal
Julie Triquet | associate principal
Natalie Cadotte | section leader
Simon Alexandre
Sallynee Amawat
Diane Bayard
Émilie Brulé
Mélanie De Bonville
Noémy Gagnon-Lafrenais
Samuel Hogue
Tanya Laperrière
Lucie Ringuette
ALTOS
Pemi Paull | section leader
Jacques-André Houle | section leader
Benjamin Rota
Sari Tsuji
CELLOS
Elinor Frey | principal
Marie-Michel Beauparlant
Amanda Keesmaat
DOUBLE BASS / VIOLONE
Francis Palma-Pelletier | section leader
Dominic Girard
TRAVERSOS and PICCOLOS
Grégoire Jeay | principal
Mika Puttermann
Alexa Raine-Wright
BAROQUE / CLASSICAL OBOE
Karim Nasr | section leader
Joël Verkaïk | section leader
Andrew Maruzella
CLASSICAL CLARINET
Mark Simons | section leader
Maryse Legault
Ludovik Lesage-Hinse
BAROQUE / CLASSICAL BASSOON
François Viault | section leader
Mary Chalk
Karim Nasr
NATURAL HORNS
Marjolaine Goulet | section leader
Gabriel Trottier
Xavier Fortin
Vincent Rancourt
NATURAL TRUMPETS
Alexis Basque | section leader
Vincent Pigeon
TIMPANI
Vincent Dhavernas
Matthias Soly-Letarte
BAROQUE / CLASSICAL HARP
Antoine Mallette-Chénier
PIANOFORTE / HARPSICHORD
Gili Loftus
Holly Krœker
LUTE / THEORBO
Michel Angers
Daniel Constantineau, MMEC HEC Montreal, Executive and Artistic director
Board of Directors
Denis Ellefsen, Engineer MBA – President
Jean-Pierre Gaboury, Lawyer – Vice president
Martin Leboeuf, Ph.D, Vice president PrimaMedic Group – Treasurer
Marie Trudeau, Music Librarian, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation – Secretary
Michael Clermont, IT specialist, Banque National – Trustee
Daniel Constantineau, MMEC, General manager and Artistic director of Galileo – Trustee
Jean Guy Lewis - Trustee
Jean-Pierre Leduc, Honorary founding member
Office
Volunteers
Marie-Claude Masson
Marthe Saint-Louis