For the Love of Men: an evening of queer art song with Dion Mazerolle and Pierre-André Doucet, July 13 at the Barachois Historic Church.
This week the Barachois Historic Church will host an exceptional musical event featuring renowned Acadian baritone, Dion Mazerolle. Alongside pianist Pierre-André Doucet, Mazerolle will present a unique and moving program titled “For the Love of Men,” a celebration of LGBTQ+ pride on Thursday, July 13 at 7 p.m.
This program, presented in collaboration with Acadie Love and Musique sur mer en Acadie, will showcase remarkable works by composers Reynaldo Hahn, Francis Poulenc, Jeffrey Ryan, and David Del Tredici, as well as the premiere of a work by composer Matthew Ricketts, on poetry by Pierre-André Doucet. From Paul Verlain to Matthew Shepard, this evening will encompass the multiple and diverse experiences of the queer experience.
About the Performers:
Acadian baritone Dion Mazerolle has established a solid reputation in Canada and Europe as an artist of the highest calibre. A former member of the Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, he is acclaimed for his musical finesse and strong stage presence in both opera and concert.
Dion recently debuted at the Opéra National de Lorraine in Nancy, France, as the King of Clubs in Prokofiev’s surreal opera The Love of Three Oranges. In 2023, Dion sang Golaud in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, created by design team Barbe & Doucet at the Teatri di Piacenza in Italy, a co-production of the Teatro Regio di Parma, the Teatro Comunale Pavarotti Freni and the Fondazioni Teatri di Piacenza.
Dion has performed with numerous choirs, ensembles and orchestras across Canada, including the Elmer Iseler Singers, Musica Orbium, Grand Philharmonic Choir, Festival International de Musique Baroque de Lamèque, Newfoundland
Symphony, Ensemble Caprice, Ensemble Boréades de Montréal, Chorus Niagara, Kitchener Waterloo Symphony and Regina Symphony.
A frequent guest artist with Chants Libres, Dion created the role of Soulayed in the world premiere of L’orangeraie (Tremblay/Moultaka), as well as a digital concert of works dedicated to Silvio Palmieri with the Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal.
Dion appears in several OperaBreaks videos, produced by Domoney Artists and directed by François Racine.
Renowned for his vivid soundscapes and inventive texts, pianist and writer Pierre-André Doucet is a leading voice among Canada’s newest generation of artists.
He has been hailed for “the emotion of his playing and his impeccable control” (Audiophilia), and is a former CBC Radio 2 “Hot Canadian Classical Musician Under 30”. In recent years, he has performed in Canada, Europe, South Africa,
and the United States, as well as across Asia, Europe and the South Pacific as one of the inaugural Lincoln Center Stage artists aboard Holland America Line ships. Several of his performances have been broadcast on Radio-Canada, CBC Radio and NPR.
Winner of the Knigge Piano Competition, as well as the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition (with soprano Alexandra Smither), Mr. Doucet has also been awarded top prizes for his performances of contemporary works, namely at the Prix d’Europe, and the Ibiza International Piano Competition. He is also the prize-winning author of two French-language books, both published by Éditions Prise de parole.
Mr. Doucet holds a doctoral degree from l’Université de Montréal, where he studied with Maneli Pirzadeh, and where he has also been a visiting professor. Further, he is a graduate of McGill University’s Schulich School of Music, and he has benefited from masterclasses at the Franz-Schubert-Institut, the Gijón International Piano Festival, Songfest, the Music Academy of the West, and the Tanglewood Music Center, among others. In 2022-2023, he was one of the inaugural fellows of the McGill-UdeM Piano-Vocal Arts Residency in Montréal, and alongside pianist Julien LeBlanc, he has been Co-Artistic Director of Barachois Summer Music since 2012.
Admission: Pay-what-you-can tickets. Suggested prices are $40, $25, or $15. Tickets can be purchased at the door with cash or credit card. Reserve your spot by emailing etemusicalbarachois@gmail.com or by phone at 506.532.2976.
