Baroque Bassoon 
 

A bassoonist since the age of 12, Mathieu has cultivated a taste for the baroque repertoire, reminiscent of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Empire. A man of many talents, he regularly performs in America, Europe, Asia and Australia, as well as composes, a skill which earned him a prize at the Just Plain Folks Awards of Nashville. He even composed some of the music for the films La chute de l’empire américain and Testament by Denys Arcand.
Whether conducting for the Arion Baroque Orchestra, or reconnecting with the chamber orchestra Les violons du roi, he leads with baton and beauty, gift and grace! This same joyful and inspiring influence is evident in the next generation of musicians that he has been helping to train for a decade now, through his position at the Université de Montréal. And now, since 2022, Mathieu Lussier, driven by a deep love for classical music, has taken on the role of Artistic Director of Domaine Forget de Charlevoix and its International Festival.

While he is bursting with ambitions for this festival, which allows him to satisfy certain programming fantasies, the artistic director also juggles with the reality of an event in a rural region; it takes a lot of convincing to get an urban audience to make the trek to join the local public. In 2023, for the first edition under his care, Mathieu Lussier chose to view the experience as a laboratory! Placing Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the program and his good friend Marc Hervieux as spokesperson, he made sure to surround himself with other enthusiasts dedicated to putting the regional festival on the map; a festival that goes beyond the exceptional concert hall, that is just as impressive by virtue of its dream location facing the river,  in the shade of the garden’s larger-than-life contemporary sculptures… a festival at the heart of a creative living environment that has only been made better thanks to the passion and know-how of Mathieu Lussier!

Domaine Forget de Charlevoix

Or where art and nature come together…

«You are here» seems to say the monumental arrow recently erected at one of the entrances to Domaine Forget de Charlevoix. A friendly reminder to leave the distractions of everyday life behind for the duration of your visit, a call to live fully in the present moment! Time to breathe in the fresh air blowing across the river and through Saint-Irénée . . . as well as envelope yourself with the breeze of renewal blowing over the International Festival.
During the summer, the concert hall vibrates to the sound of symphony orchestras, opera and talented soloists during the Festival International du Domaine Forget de Charlevoix. It also takes over the village church, which has recently become a place of creation and dissemination, as well as several improvised outdoor stages throughout the region with the series Le Domaine sur la route. And let’s not forget the master classes calling out to academics, whom you’ll see, practicing at the bend of one of the paths criss-crossing the estate and its Harmonic Sculpture Garden...
Outside the festival, the variety program takes over with its popular artists, dancers, plays, making room for wonder, laughter and applause.
Or where art and nature come together…