Valérie completed her master’s degree in viola performance at the Université de Montréal, in Jutta Puchhammer’s class. During her studies, she had the opportunity to perfect her skills at the CNSMD in Lyon, in Jean-Philippe Vasseur’s class.
A fast-rising professional, she has performed with numerous Quebec, Canadian and international ensembles and orchestras. In addition to two seasons with the chamber orchestra La Piétà and Angèle Dubeau as principal viola, she has appeared with such orchestras as Les Violons du Roy, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the New Köln Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra and the orchestra of the Opéra National de Lyon. As a soloist, she was invited to perform a viola concerto with the French chamber orchestra Archangelo in Napluse, Palestine.
In recent years, she has also taken part in a number of festivals and academies, including the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, the Amercian Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, and the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland. She has had the opportunity to play under such prestigious conductors as Valery Gergiev, Charles Dutoit and Neeme Järvi, and to accompany such internationally renowned soloists as Martha Argerich, Mischa Maïsky, Joshua Bell, Maxim Vengerov and Nelson Freire.
She also took part in numerous master classes with Tabea Zimmermann in Germany, Thomas Selditz in Austria and Gérard Caussé in France, as well as James Dunham, Atar Arad, David Rose, Heidi Castleman and Neal Gripp in the USA.
Her interest in Baroque music played on period instruments began in her early years of training, when she first came into contact with historicist interpretation by participating in the Université de Montréal’s Atelier lyrique production of Monteverdi’s opera The Coronation of Poppea, with Margaret Little.
She then took part in a workshop on French Baroque music with Tafelmusik’s summer academy in Toronto, under the direction of Jeanne Lamon.
Following her university studies, Valérie began a year of advanced training in the interpretation of the classical and romantic repertoire on period instruments at the Abbaye aux Dames in Saintes, France. During this training, she will take part in a chamber music festival in Brno, Czech Republic, as well as a research and editing course at the Abbaye de Royaumont. She will also play principal viola with the Jeune Orchestre Atlantique, under the direction of David Stern, Alessandro Moccia and Florence Malgoire.
During her stay in Verbier, she will have the honor of taking a master class with David Suzuki on Bach cantatas in a small chamber music ensemble.
Recently, with the Fuoco opera in Paris, directed by David Stern, she took part in the production of a recording of French Romantic cantatas with soloist Karine Deshayes.
Back in Montreal, she performs regularly with the baroque ensemble Arion.
