Biography
“The romantic guitar in all its splendour.”
Pascal Valois is dedicated to reviving enthusiasm for the guitar scene during the Romantic era. He performs music from the nineteenth-century repertoire by using various period instruments, ornamentation, stylistic practices of the period, as well as improvisation, which was customary in that era.
After graduating with honours at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal under Jean Vallières, and receiving the award Pierre J. Jeanniot during his studies at Université du Québec à Montréal with Alvaro Pierri, Valois studied romantic guitar with Hopkinson Smith at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and with David Starobin in New York. He has also received a doctorate in Performance Practice from Université Laval. Recently, he has played in Basel, Paris, Riga, San Francisco, New York, Ottawa, and Toronto. He has been a soloist with many ensembles, among them Rigas’s Ensemble Samsara and Montreal’s Les Idées Heureuses. He has also given master-classes in many institutions, including the Manhattan School of music, the San Francisco Conservatory, and the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal.
Pascal Valois has received the most renowned bursaries in Canada for guitar performance (Canada Council for the Arts) as well as Musicology (FQRSC and SSHRC). He has also been awarded scholarships from the Desjardins Foundation, the Wilfrid-Pelletier Foundation, the Laval University Foundation, and the Université du Québec à Montréal Foundation. Pascal Valois recorded for the Centaur Records and Analekta labels.
Pascal Valois is a professor of classical guitar at the Alma College and Conservatoire de Saguenay. His students have won national music competitions and were awarded gold medals in national guitar exams. You can contact him for private lessons: pascalvalois@hotmail.com.
“The Québecois Valois is an exceptionally fine soloist who plays with a romantic temperament, coaxing many colors from a small instrument and shaping his phrases with such skill that one hears a whole narrative in his wordless playing. He plays with dimension, passion, and elegance (...).”
“Pascal is an engaging musician with clear lyric inspiration and a sense of poetry that can bring the logic and expression of the romantic music he plays to perfection.”
“Pascal Valois and his instrument are united in an absolutely masterful and rigorous delivery.”
“Valois played with grace, elegance, and élan. His phrasing was similarly remarkable, as he imbued each melody with a beautiful vocal quality. It was light, effortless, and full of spirit.”
Albums
Concert Programs
Trios and Quintets with Guitar
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Franz Schubert (1797-1828) and Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840) were both guitarists. Accompanied by Jessy Dubé (violin) and Marie-Michel Beauparlant (cello), Pascal Valois invites you to hear the most beautiful works with guitar by these two masters of romanticism.
Program (70 minutes with comments)
- Arpeggione Sonata (Allegro moderato, Adagio and Allegretto) by Schubert
-Terzetto Concertante Ms. 5629-114 (Allegro, Adagio and minuet) by Paganini
- Notturno op. 21 (Lento et patetico and Zingara) Schubert/Matiegka
- Romance from the Grand Sonata by Paganini
- Capricio no. 24 by Paganini
- Ständchen by Schubert
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Presented in trio or quintet format, this magnificent program of gallant works featuring the gallant guitar. From Boccherini's exhilarating Fandango to Vivaldi's brilliant guitar concerto, including Monsieur Vidal's new concerto, the ensemble offers musical gems from gallant Europe.
Trio : Pascal Valois (guita), Marie-Michel Beauparlant (cello) et Jacques-André Houle (violin)
Quintet : Same musicians with Jessy Dubé (violin) and Sari Tsuji (viola)
Program (70 minutes with comments)
- Prélude général by Monsieur Vidal (?-1803)
- Variations on the Folia by Monsieur Vidal, Marin Marais (1656-1728) and Jean-Pierre Guignon (1702-1774)
- Sonata op.1, no. 2 by Pierre Gaviniès (1728-1800)
(Adagio and Allegretto)- Guitar Concerto RV 93 by Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) (Allegro giusto, Largo and Allegro)
- Quintet op.30, no. 6 by Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805) (Ave Maria, Minuetto Dei Ciechi, Rosario, Los Manolos)
- Guitar Concerto by Monsieur Vidal (Allegretto and Rondo-Allegretto)
- Grave and Fandango G.448 by Luigi Boccherini
Solo Guitar Recitals
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The Guitaromanie concert brings to life the frenzy and wonder of a musical performance where spontaneity is combined with virtuos- ity. It features a set of masterpieces that drew crowds and rocked music salons across Europe. Some- times imbued with clarity and rigour, sometimes strewn with dazzling drama, romantic guitar music always charms, thanks to its richness and diversity.
Program (70 minutes with comments)
- Rêverie Nocturne op. 19 by Giulio Regondi (1822-1872)- Ständchen by Franz Sschubert (1797-1828) / arranged for guitar by Johann Kaspar Mertz (1806-1856)
- Sonata op. 15 by Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829)
- Grand Sonata M.S.3 by Niccolo Paganini(1782-1840)
- Prélude no 1 and 3, op. 46 by Emilia Giuliani Guglielmi (1813-1850)
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During the first half of the 19th century, the “Guitaromanie” was at its height in the French capital. With its clarity and rigour, its dramatic turn of events, its richness and diversity, Parisian music still charms us today.
Program (70 minutes with comments)
- Overture from Barbier de Séville by Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) / arranged for guitare by Louis-Ange Carpentras (1786-1854)
- Sonate Brillante, op. 1 by Louis-Ange Carpentras
- Variations on a theme by Mozart op. 9 by Fernando Sor (1778-1839)
- Five Andantes for guitar, from op. 17 by Victor Magnien (1804-1885)
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Today we are discovering all the richness and diversity of the guitar repertoire in the 18th century. Equipped with his baroque guitar, Pascal Valois makes you discover the hidden treasures of this repertoire
Program (70 minutes with comments)
- Prélude Général by Monsieur Vidal (?-1803)
- Prélude and Gigue by Robert de Visée (1655-1725)
- Caprice de chaconne by Francesco Corbetta (1615-1681)
- Guitar Concerto RV 93 by Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) *arr. for solo guitar by Pascal Valois
- Variations on the Folia by Monsieur Vidal
- Romance from Joseph by Haydn, variations by Barthélemy Trille Labarre (1758–1797)
Guitar Concertos
with Orchestra or String Quartet
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Baroque guitar accompanied by two violins and cello (optional basso continuo).
Duration: 12 minutes.
- Allegro
- Largo
- Allegro
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Baroque guitar accompanied by two violins, viola and cello.
Duration: 13 minutes
- Allegretto
- Rondo - Allegretto
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Romantic guitar with string quartet, with string orchestra or with full orchestra (winds and strings).
Duration: 31 minutes
- Allegro maestoso
- Siciliana andantino
- Polonaise allegretto
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Romantic accompanied guitar accompanied by two violins, viola and cello.
Duration: 15 minutes
- Allegro
- Largo
-Allegro
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Romantic guitar accompanied by two violins, viola and cello.
Duration: 30 minutes
-Moderato
- Adagio
- Presto ma non troppo