Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière
A recipient of grants from the Canada and Quebec Arts Council, Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière has a multidiciplinary background in music, acting (specializing in commedia dell’arte) and dancing. She is an associate partner with Toronto Masque Theater, le Nouvel Opéra and she is the artistic director of Les Jardins chorégraphiques in Montréal.
For over 15 years she directed, choregraphed or danced with many groups in Canade, United State and Europe. She was invited in many festivals: Festival of ideas ( Edmonton), Orford Music Festival, the Boston Early Music (Lully’s Psyché), Vancouver Early Music, New Zealand Chamber Music festival, Festival de Lanvellec in France and the Festival Musicale Estense in Modena Italy (with les idées heureuses) and at The International Baroque festival in Lamèque. She has directed and choregraphed, for five years, the closing show of the Festival Montréal Baroque. She has choregraphed all of Purcell stage work for the Toronto Masque Theater. She created Mozart a Milano (2006) and Purcell Fairy Queen (2009) who was both nominated for best show of the year, prix Opus.
She directed many operas : for the Youth and Music Canada, Elisir d’Amore ( Donizetti) and Offenbach’s Hoffmann’s tale. For the Opera-Theâtre in Rimouski, Carmen (Bizet). Dido and AEneas for Appolo’s Fire in Cleaveland. Visibilia (Monteverdi), La Belle Danse and Rameau’s Pygmalion (Nouvel Opéra). At the University of Montréal opera division : Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Strauss’s Zigeuner Baron and Fledermauss, Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, and Campra’s Les fêtes Vévitiennes and L’Europe Galante. And for McGill university, she has directed Il Ritorno d’Ullisse in Patria (Monteverdi) and Les jeux de l’Amour (Lully-Molière) and has choreographed Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes. As well, Ms Lacoursière is a professor of gesture and Baroque dance at Montreal university, and also taught at Université du Québec à Montréal, Stanford University in California, Indianna University, University of Alberta and universtity of Sackville in New Brunswick . She is choreographing Lully’s Le Ballet de l’Impatience that will be premiering at the festival Montreal Baroque in june 2011 and will be directing at Opera of Montreal in mach 2012.
