Internationally renowned Montreal violinist Angèle Dubeau recently released her new album, Angèle Dubeau Solo to mark her 30th anniversary of dedicated and passionate music making. One of the few Canadians in classical music to have a certified Gold record, Dubeau will celebrate her anniversary with a concert at Place des Arts on March 2. The concert will feature Anton Kuerti, Yuli Turovsky and Oliver Jones as well as her musical ensemble, La Pieta. The Concordian sat down with Dubeau to discuss her beginnings, her motivations and some advice of how to stay fresh even after 30 years in the business.
Why did you start to play the violin?
I started to play the violin at the age of four. I am number seven of eight children in the family. Neither my mother or father played music, but they were music lovers. They thought that it would be a good discipline and experience for the kids to learn music. At the age of four I was very happy to finally play my own instrument like my brothers and sisters were already doing. At that time I asked my mother to play the ‘weloncel’.
I was not able to pronounce the instruments’ name correctly but I wanted to play the cello because I had seen the instrument on TV. My parents explained to me that it was too big an instrument, so I started with a baby cello which is of course a violin. It was a ‘coup de foudre’ right from the start.
Have you ever thought of playing any other instruments?
I was obliged to play the piano for my studies at the conservatory and at the Julie Arts School. I was concentrating so much of my time on the violin that it was too much to ask of myself to start with another instrument. The violin for me is my own voice.
When you first started playing did you ever think that you would make it to this level?
Its funny but I never asked myself what I was going to be when I was young. The music came so naturally in my life. I started at the age of four, and at five I gave my first little concert and then it started with some local competitions, followed by provincial, national and international concerts. I played with soloists with the Montreal symphony Orchestra when I was 12. When I started to win competitions, I thought I might be able to do this for a living. I thought that if I kept working hard maybe I could have my place under the sun. The adrenaline push from the public helped me make it happen. It gave me my ‘raison d’
