Guitarist Christ Habib and cellist Dominique Beauséjour-Ostiguy will be performing in Toronto on January 18. The duo’s concert is part of the International Performing Artist Series of the Guitar Society of Toronto.
The Québec artists will perform a Tribute to Piazzolla, the Argentinian artist who’s credited with rejuvenating the tango and creating the orchestral form we know today.
The Music
Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla was a musician and arranger as well as a composer. He studied with noted teacher Nadia Boulanger at the Fontainebleau conservatory, and is credited with revolutionizing the tango as an art form, from its origins in tradition to the Nuevo tango that fused the rhythms with jazz and classical music. While controversial at first in his native Argentina, the Nuevo tango became popular in Europe and North America.
He was a virtuoso on the bandoneon, and performed his own music with a number of different ensembles, including his own Orquesta de Cuerdas or String Orchestra.
The duo will interpret his works, along with pieces by composers who were influential during Piazzolla’s formation as an artist, including French-Argentine singer-songwriter and composer Carlos Gardel and fellow Argentinian Alberto Ginastera, known for his fusion of Argentinian and classical music, jazz great Duke Ellington, and giants of the classical music world like J.S. Bach, Gabriel Fauré, and Béla Bartok.
A highlight of the program is Hommage à Piazzolla, an original piece by Dominique that will serve as the grand finale of the concert.
The Musicians
Christ Habib began studying the classical guitar at the age of six, and began formal studies at the Conservatoire de musique de Gatineau at the age of ten. In 2019, he earned a Master’s Degree and the Prize in Chamber Music after 12 year of study at the Conservatoire, and made his debut with the National Arts Centre Orchestra the following year in a performance of Canadian composer Jacques Hétu’s Concerto for Guitar and Strings, Op.56.
Along with his performances with Dominique, Christ is a member of the Canadian Guitar Quartet, along with Renaud C. Giguère, Jérôme Ducharme, and Louis Trépanier. The CGQ was formed in 1999, and has recorded several albums as well as performing on three continents. As a touring ensemble, they’ve developed an international reputation for performing both original music and works in the traditional classical repertoire.
Cellist and composer Dominique Beauséjour-Ostiguy earned a Master’s degree in performance from the University of Montréal, and subsequently attended master classes with artists that include Alisa Weilerstein, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Hans Jørgen Jensen, and Richard Aaron, among others.
He has performed as a soloist in Québec as well as across North America and in Europe, and is a multi-award winner. His wins include the 2017 Peter Mendell Award, the 2018 Prix d’Europe, and the 2021 Choquette-Symcox Award. Dominique was a semi-finalist of the 2020 Bader & Overton Canadian Cello Competition.
He is also a dedicated chamber musician, and is a member of a number of ensembles, including the Trio de l’Île, the Andara String Quartet and Hochelaga Trio. His performances appear on several recordings of chamber music.
Dominique performs with a David Tecchler cello (1704), using a Pierre Simon bow (c. 1855), provided to him by Canimex Inc., a manufacturing company located in Drummondville.
- Find more information and tickets to the concert on January 18 [HERE].
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