Biography
An Innu from the community of Pessamit and originally from Saguenay, Elisabeth places great importance on sharing her culture through her mission as an artist.
An Indigenous opera singer, Elisabeth St-Gelais has won several first prizes at major classical music competitions in Canada. Recipient of the First Prize and Audience Choice Award at the Canadian Opera Company Centrestage Competition in 2023, the prestigious Premier Prix d’Europe 2023, the First Prize Wirth Vocal Prize from McGill University in 2022, and the Grand Prix 19-30 years old at the Canimex Canadian Music Competition in 2022, she was named to the prestigious #CBC30under30 list in 2022 and was Radio-Canada Classique’s Revelation of the Year in 2023-2024.
In January 2025, she won the Washington District at the MET LAFFONT OPERA COMPETITION. She is one of 32 candidates in the Geneva International Music Competition VOIX in the summer of 2024. In December 2024, Elisabeth received the 3rd prize from the prestigious Père Lindsay Foundation, which helps promising young artists develop their international careers.
Also involved in her Montreal music community, the soprano is Vice-President of the Board of Directors of the Conseil Québécois de la Musique. The soprano has performed throughout Canada, with invitations from the Orchestre Métropolitain, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the Canadian Opera Company, the Orchestre de l’Agora, the Orchestre national de Bretagne, the Orchestre symphonique de Québec, the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Symphonique de la Côte-Nord, the Orchestre Classique de Montréal, the Orchestre symphonique du Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, the Toronto Summer Music Festival, the Festival d’opéra de Québec, and more.
Elisabeth is an Indigenous artist committed to the reconciliation of Canada’s Indigenous peoples and is a proud representative of her nation, the Innu of the North Shore. The soprano champions the cause of reconciliation among Canada’s First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples by including Indigenous works in her repertoire and working closely with creators from the First Peoples of Canada and the United States.
Her first EP, “INFINI,” released in 2024 on the ATMA CLASSIQUE label, is available on all platforms and features a varied selection of French melodies, which have been warmly received by critics.
Biography
Nicolas Ellis is Artistic Director and Conductor of the Orchestre de l’Agora in Montreal and Music Director of the Orchestre National de Bretagne. Since 2023, he is also the Principal Guest Conductor of Les Violons du Roy.
He currently stands out as one of the most active conductors on the Canadian musical scene, as well as for his artistic and social commitment within the Montreal community. Known for his versatility in a vast repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to contemporary music, Nicolas also distinguishes himself as a thoughtful programmer with a concern for the dramaturgical line that unites the works programmed. In recent years, he has acted as assistant conductor to Raphaël Pichon and his Ensemble Pygmalion in opera productions at the Opéra comique and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and has also held the position of Artistic Collaborator to the Orchestre Métropolitain and Yannick Nézet-Séguin from 2018 to 2023.
As a guest conductor, Nicolas has conducted the Vancouver Symphony, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the I Musici de Montréal Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre symphonique de Québec, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. More recently, he has appeared with the Graz Opera and the San Diego Symphony and the 2024-2025 season will take him to conduct in Finland, Germany, Luxembourg and France.
In 2023, he won a JUNO award in the Classical Album of the Year – large ensemble category, with the Orchestre de l’Agora and violist Marina Thibeault for the album Viola Borealis. Agora also won the Prix Opus for Musical Event of the Year for its Gala de la Terre featuring Mahler’s 3rd Symphony. At the heart of Agora’s mission, Nicolas has set up projects with teenagers struggling with mental health problems, educational workshops and a series of monthly concerts at the Bordeaux Prison in Montreal.
Nicolas Ellis is the recipient of the 2017 Fernand Lindsay Career Grant and was also awarded the Prix Goyer Mécénat Musica 2021.
