Trio de guitares de Québec

Trio de guitares de Québec

Trio de guitares de Québec. Ensemble founded (1982) in Quebec City by Jacques Chandonnet, Claude Gagnon, and François Leclerc, all teachers at the Ste-Foy Cegep. Several years beforehand, Chandonnet and Gagnon, along with Paul Gerrits, had formed the Trio de guitares Laval (1975-80) which had given its first concert in October 1975 in Cleveland, for the American Guitar Foundation. This trio appeared in many Quebec towns, mainly on JMC (YMC) tours (1977-9) and on the CBC. On the Doberman label, it recorded with Francine Déry the LP Musique pour trois et quatre guitares (1977, DO-13D) and an LP of works by Alain Gagnon and Claude Gagnon (1978, DO-17D).

Like its predecessor, the Trio de guitares de Québec uses such instruments as the cittern, the lute, and the orpharion. Its repertoire consists chiefly of Renaissance and baroque pieces adapted by trio members; it also contains arrangements of Canadian folksongs, and contemporary works such as those by Claude Gagnon. The trio has performed in several Quebec towns, at the Guitar Society of Toronto's 1984 International Guitar Festival, and on CBC radio. In 1989, it recorded works by various composers, including Gagnon's Alice au pays des merveilles (Atma ATM-301). One of the works on this recording (the Concerto in A minor by Weiss) was made into a video-clip (Archer 1989).

With Sylvain Bergeron and Guy Ross (Renaissance lutes), Gagnon (cittern) and Chandonnet (orpharion) founded the ensemble Luthissimo in Quebec City in 1988.