Olivier Laquerre working with composer
Louis Dominique Roy in 2017
Quebec-born pianist and composer Louis Dominique Roy studied piano in Montreal with Helmut Blume and in Vienna with Harald Ossberger, going on to perform in Canada and Europe. For twelve years until 2006 he was a vocal coach at McGill University, where he became aware of a lack in the province's contemporary repertoire. Feeling inspired to fill that gap, and with a love for verse and music, he has so far produced 60 songs, most of them in the form of Quebecois poems.
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According to Cammac.ca, “During the same period, Roy was the pianist for the St. Lawrence Choir and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Chorus for 12 years, and worked under internationally renowned conductors such as Kent Nagano, Charles Dutoit, Zubin Metha, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Michel Plasson, Jacques Lacombe and Eliahu Inbal.”
It seemed Roy was destined to one day work with Olivier, as he also had a chamber music repertoire and had played with various ensembles. Apart from being active in the microtonal Montreal scene, Roy currently teaches piano at Cegep St-Laurent.
Olivier relates that, “Louis Dominique Roy and I have been working together since our days at McGill University where he was my regular accompanist. We've had some very interesting collaborations, when we performed most of his music for baritone, adding a cello player in the mix. More recently, my last two recitals with Roy and cellist Sébastien Lépine in 2017 and 2019 are my favourite. Roy and I originally did an extensive Jeunesses Musicales Tour in 2000; that was a lot of fun and probably solidified our friendship and working relationship.”
Promo poster for Festivoix 2017 featuring the trio of Lépine, Laquerre and Roy
Interview with composer-accompanist Louis Dominique Roy in December 2019
Lorraine:
How did your professional association come about? When did you first hear Olivier sing, and what was it about his voice, vocal delivery, etc., that appealed to you, that would be an ideal fit for your music and inspire you to compose works for him to sing?
Louis Dominique Roy:
I was the rehearsal pianist for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra when I first made the acquaintance of Olivier. The MSO chorus were holding auditions and I still remember Olivier showing up with a piece from Bach's Magnificat, the ''Quia fecit'' aria. If my memory serves me correctly, he had just started taking voice lessons not too long before and he did the audition ''for fun''. His beautiful voice was noticed, he was accepted into the chorus and he started working right away. Olivier's musicianship was obvious, I must say, since he had played horn for many years and already had choral experience. The audition was a no-brainer, really.
Lorraine:
You recorded more than ten songs together, specifically the “Cinq poèmes d'Émile Nelligan” and the “Cinq poèmes de Gilles Vigneault.” Did you write these first and then recognize that these compositions would perfectly suit Olivier, or did you write these poem-songs specifically with Olivier in mind?
Louis Dominique Roy:
Back then, I also worked as an accompanist and eventually coach at McGill University. At the time, Olivier's teacher, Jan Simons, had asked me to accompany his masterclasses which took place in his home on occasional Sunday evenings. As Olivier became a member of the class, (he had enrolled at McGill), we got to see each other more frequently and our friendship developed. Aside from the music, I must say that we shared the same sense of humour. That was going to be a major element when, a few years later, we went on a Jeunesses Musicales tour together. Not only did we laugh a lot in the car, we also made a very special appearance on a local radio station in Matane. I don't know what sort of mood we were in that day, but people came to see me after the concert that night and told me that they were surprised that the concert was about “serious” classical music; they thought it was going to be a comedy show with music!
The peak of our association together came when Olivier won the Jeunesses Musicales competition. And he hadn't been singing for that long before winning; it was remarkable. I don't think a lot of people thought that he had a chance to win so early in his career. He sure had the talent but the competition was fierce and I guess a lot of people didn't think he could manage the strain of having to deliver round after round. But he pulled it off beautifully and simply, I must say. He never made a fuss about anything and always kept his head straight, no matter how much success he had. And when we happen to see each other again, it's always as if he had never left town and we pick up where we left off.
As for my compositions, I did not write pieces specially for him. I was in my 20's when I started composing and my main drive was that there was a lot of amazingly musical Quebécois poetry that had never been set to music and, working in schools, I thought it was a shame that students always sang poetry/music from other countries and never from here. It still blows my mind today. I started writing purely for fun and found the drive to continue writing more afterwards. Where Olivier comes into the picture is that I had his voice in mind when I wrote for barytone...and it helped greatly. He was also the first to sing most of my songs, which is why I dedicated my Nelligan Songs to him. He “created” them so to speak, gave them life, and I must say that he turned out to be the perfect vehicle for those songs.
Lorraine:
In 2017 and 2019 when you, Olivier and now also with cellist Sébastien Lépine performed at recitals, did you update your original songs and compose/transpose the music for cello? Were some songs more or less easy to incorporate a cello? How do you feel this influences or even improves the feel and sound of your songs? It makes them more – what? for example.
Louis Dominique Roy:
Sébastien Lépine is a friend of Olivier from the years he spent in Trois-Rivières. Sébastien conducts an orchestra there and has asked Olivier to perform with them on occasions. One time, Olivier suggested that the three of us perform a recital including my songs in Trois-Rivières. I was thrilled but very busy at the time and Sébastien, who is also an amazing cellist/arranger, suggested to write a cello part that could be added to some of my songs. He did a beautiful job, especially on the Vigneault Songs. It's not just a voice added to fill in, it actually adds to the texture and the atmosphere of the Songs. I was very pleased with his work.
A collection of Louis Dominique Roy's songs for barytone, as well as two piano pieces, will be recorded on CD in the summer of 2020 with the composer at the piano. The vocal material consists of 5 song cycles as well as two individual songs. Two of those cycles will feature French horn and cello.
Mr. Roy has previously set to music Québécois poems by Émile Nelligan, Hector de Saint-Denys-Garneau, Alfred Desrochers, Arthur de Bussières and Gilles Vigneault, and a group of Danish poems.
The composer will be joined by Olivier Laquerre (barytone), Louis-Philippe Marsolais (French horn) and Sébastien Lépine (cello). As yet untitled, the CD awaits a tentative release date, with Roy stating “hopefully for Christmas 2020.”
Tsarsounds Studio XP
Chansons de Louis Dominique Roy (2008)
Ten songs Olivier previously recorded with Louis Dominique Roy:
https://soundcloud.com/olivierlaquerre/sets/louis-dominique-roy
“Berceuse” - Cinq poèmes d'Émile Nelligan
https://soundcloud.com/olivierlaquerre/4berceuse?in=olivierlaquerre/sets/louis-dominique-roy
“Embarcadères” - Cinq poèmes de Gilles Vigneault
https://soundcloud.com/olivierlaquerre/3-embarcaderes?in=olivierlaquerre/sets/louis-dominique-roy
“Amour Immaculé” - Cinq poèmes d'Émile Nelligan
https://soundcloud.com/olivierlaquerre/3amour-immacule?in=olivierlaquerre/sets/louis-dominique-roy