Pascal Valois
-Resume-
-Romantic and Baroque Guitar Performance
-18th and 19th Performing Practices
-Schola Cantorum Basiliensis Alumni
-Pedagogue
GUITAR TEACHING
Classical Guitar Professor at the Conservatoire de musique de Saguenay (Quebec) since 2022
Classical Guitar teacher at the Alma College (Quebec) since 2018
Classical Guitar teacher and session coordinator at the Camp musical du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean since 2020
Classical Guitar teacher at the Coopérative des professeurs de musique de Montréal since 2011
UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE COURSES READY TO GIVE
Romantic and baroque guitar lessons
18th and 19th performing practices
Early music chamber music coaching
CDs
Napoleonian Guitar Sonatas, Centaur Records: January 2020
Works for guitar by Victor Magnien (1804-1885): Centaur Records: May 2016
Scholarships and Prizes
Canada Art Council Grants: 2008, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023
Conseil des arts et lettres du Québec: 2021
Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture Grants: 2006 and 2009 to 2011
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Grant: 2006 to 2008
First prize of AELIÉS science communication competition: 2004
Montreal Conservatory Special Prize: 2004
Scholarship of the Dean from Indiana School of Music: 2004
Desjardins Foundation Grant: 2003
Wilfrid-Pelletier Foundation Grant (Montreal Conservatory): 2003
Excellence Grant from Laval University Foundation: 2001
l’Université LavalPierre J. Jeanniot Grant From the Universit du Québec à Montréal Fondation: 2001
Langages
French and English
EDUCATION
Advanced Performance Studies in Early Romantic Guitar at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Basel, Switzerland) with Professor Hopkinson Smith: 2005-2008
Ph.D. in Musicology at the Laval University (Quebec) - Specialization: 18th and 19th performing practice: 2004-2010
Advanced Performance Studies in Early Romantic Guitar at the Montreal Conservatory of Music with Professor Jean Vallières: 2003-2004
Performance Diploma in Classical Guitar at the Montreal Conservatory of Music - Montreal Conservatory Prize in Guitar with Professor Jean Vallières: 2001-2003
B.A. in Music Performance (classical guitar) at the Université du Québec à Montréal with Professor Alvaro Pierri: 1999-2001
B.A. in Music Education at the Laval University: 1996-1999
Concerts
Numerous solo recitals, solo with orchestras, chamber music concert and masterclasses in North America and Europe
Complete list available upon request
EXPERIENCE IN RESEARCH
Post-Doctoral researcher at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Switzerland): 2009-2011
Project Coordinator at the Palazetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique romantique française: 2009-2014
Associate researcher at the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles: 2007
CONFERENCES and COLLOQUIUM
Lecture recitals at the American Musicology Society Meeting (2011), the Schola Cantorum Basel (2007 and 2011), the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles (2008 and 2009) and in Canada
Organization of the Colloquium “Et cependant, ma guitare n’a que cinq cordes” Die Gitarre in Frankreich um 1800, January 2011, Schola Cantorum Basilensis,
Critics and quotes
Seeing a new release by Pascal Valois is enough to make a classical-guitar fan giddy; his elegant fingerpicking is a beautiful sound to behold. If anything, this album [Paris 1790 is a blessing.
— La Scena Musicale, Canada, 2023 - link.
An imperial album! [Vienna 1840]
— Magazine Guitare Classique, France, 2022
“The romantic guitar in all its splendour.
— Magazine Guitare Classique, France, 2017
Valois played with grace, elegance, and élan. His phrasing was similarly remarkable, as he imbued each melody with a beautiful vocal quality. It was light, effortless, and full of spirit.
— Giacomo Fiore, Classicalguitar.org, 2012 - link
Pascal is an engaging musician with clear lyric inspiration and a sense of poetry that can bring the logic and expression of the romantic music he plays to perfection.
— Hopkinson Smith, 2015
The Québecois Valois is an exceptionally fine soloist who plays with a romantic temperament, coaxing many colors from a small instrument and shaping his phrases with such skill that one hears a whole narrative in his wordless playing. He plays with dimension, passion, and elegance (...).
— Seen and Heard International, New York, 2018 - link
Guitarist Pascal Valois tackles Mertz’s Barden-Klänge, Op. 13 in a series of five highly expressive and technically demanding tempo rubato works. The only problem with this album is that it ends.
— La Scena Musicale, Canada, 2022 - link
Pascal Valois and his instrument are united in an absolutely masterful and rigorous delivery.
— Metropolitain Journal of Toronto, 2012
Valois’ playing is accomplished, clean and sensitive throughout music that offers a fascinating insignt into the 19th-century clasical guitar world.
— The WholeNote, Toronto, 2020 - link