Domaine Forget is an international music festival as well as music and dance academy located near La Malbaie

La Malbaie, Quebec

La Malbaie is a municipality in the Charlevoix-Est Regional County Municipality in the province of Quebec, Canada, situated on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River, at the mouth of the Malbaie River...

 in the Charlevoix

Charlevoix

The Charlevoix region, located in Quebec, includes parts of the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River and the Laurentian Mountains region of the Canadian Shield...

 region of Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

.

History

Le Domaine Forget was three separate estates of three eminent Canadians at the turn of the twentieth century. Les Sablons was owned by Joseph Lavergne

Joseph Lavergne

Joseph Lavergne was a lawyer, judge, editor and political figure in Quebec. He represented Drummond—Arthabaska in the Canadian House of Commons from 1887 to 1897 as a Liberal member....

 — a judge, and colleague of Sir Wilfrid Laurier. Hauterive was the property of Adolphe-Basile Routhier

Adolphe-Basile Routhier

Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier was a Canadian judge, author, and lyricist. He wrote the lyrics of the original French version of the Canadian national anthem O Canada. He was born in Saint-Placide, Quebec to Charles Routhier and Angélique Lafleur.Routhier studied law at Université Laval and graduated...

 — a judge and the lyricist of the French language

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 version of O Canada

O Canada

It has been noted that the opening theme of "O Canada" bears a strong resemblance to the "Marsch der Priester" , from the opera Die Zauberflöte , composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and that Lavallée's melody was inspired by Mozart's tune...

. Gil'Mont, which forms the major part of the Domaine Forget was the estate of Rodolphe Forget

Rodolphe Forget

Sir Joseph David Rodolphe Forget was an important Canadian business investor, stockbroker, and politician. He held national directorships and had major investments in energy companies as well as industrial concerns and railway companies in the Provinces of Quebec and Ontario...

 — a Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 and investor and entrepreneur in the Charlevoix region.

In 1945 Les Petites Franciscaines de Marie, a religious order, first purchased Gil'Mont as the school "Institut Familial" (Family Institute) and a year later bought the properties belonging to Judges Laverge and Routhier, in order to protect the privacy of the educational institution. In 1977 the school was converted into what is now known as Le Domaine Forget, a non-profit corporation with a mission of promoting the fine arts.

Festival

The festival features dance

Dance

Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....

, jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

, and — most prominently — classical music on its program. Concerts go from May to September and feature well-known artists in each of the fields of the arts.

The festival events take place almost exclusively at Le Salle Françoys-Bernier, a 600-seat concert hall constructed in 1996 by Le Domaine Forget and known for its remarkable acoustics.

Academy

The academy plays host to number of different sessions: chamber music, brass, woodwinds, guitar, strings, new music/composition, singing, jazz singing, and dance. All occur at different times of the summer and fall and feature faculty from around Quebec, Canada, and the world. Le Domaine features a dormitory for under-18 students and slightly more six three-story studios for its over-18 students. At the end of each session, a public concert is offered featuring student performances.

Notable festival guests and musicians

Past festival performers have included Martin Beaver

Martin Beaver

Martin Beaver is a Canadian violinist. As a part of the Tokyo String Quartet he plays the Paganini-Comte Cozio di Salabue violin circa 1727...

, Oliver Jones, Gabriela Montero

Gabriela Montero

Gabriela Montero is a Venezuelan-American pianist.Born in Caracas, Venezuela, of an American-born mother and a Venezuelan father, Gabriela Montero was barely a seven-month-old infant when her parents, at the insistence of her maternal grandmother, placed a toy piano in her playpen. It had been...

, John Pizzarelli

John Pizzarelli

John Paul Pizzarelli, Jr. is an American jazz guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and bandleader. He has had a lengthy career as a recording artist, performing for a variety of labels that include Telarc Records, RCA Records and Chesky Records, among others...

, François Rabbath

François Rabbath

François Rabbath is a contemporary French double-bass player, soloist, and composer.He was born into a Syrian family of musicians but his only instruction came from a book written by a Parisian bassist Edouard Nanny...

, Benjamin Zander

Benjamin Zander

Benjamin Zander is an American conductor from the United Kingdom.-External links:* *-Interviews:* * * *...

, Pinchas Zukerman

Pinchas Zukerman

Pinchas Zukerman is a world-renowned violinist, violist, and conductor. He is considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th and 21st centuries, and his ongoing 45-year career has seen him perform with the world's best-known orchestras and record over 100 works...

, National Youth Orchestra of Canada, Orchestre Symphonique de Québec

Orchestre Symphonique de Québec

Orchestre symphonique de Québec is a Canadian symphony orchestra based in Quebec City. Founded in 1902 as the Société symphonique de Québec, the OSQ is the oldest active Canadian orchestra. Joseph Vézina was the OSQ's first music director, from 1902 to 1924...

 and the Youth Orchestra of the Americas.

Notable academy faculty

Previous teachers at the academy have included Atar Arad

Atar Arad

Atar Arad is an Israeli American violist, professor of music, essayist and composer.He has performed in top venues around the world both as a featured soloist with orchestras in and as a member of the distinguished Cleveland Quartet from 1980 to 1987, taking the seat previously established by...

, Roger Bobo

Roger Bobo

Roger Bobo b. 1938 is a renowned and critically acclaimed American tuba virtuoso and internationally respected brass pedagogue. He retired from active tuba performance in 2001 in order to devote his time to conducting and teaching. He gave what is reputed to be the first solo tuba recital in the...

, James Box, Larry Combs

Larry Combs

Larry Combs is an American clarinetist. His principal teachers were Stanley Hasty at the Eastman School of Music and Leon Russianoff in New York....

, Daniele Damiano, Elaine Douvas

Elaine Douvas

Elaine Douvas has been Principal Oboe of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York City since 1977. She is also Instructor of Oboe and Chairman of the Woodwind Department at The Juilliard School...

, Tiger Okoshi

Tiger Okoshi

Toru "Tiger" Okoshi is an American jazz fusion trumpeter. He was born in the Year of the Tiger on March 21 1950, just outside of Osaka , Japan. As a child he was, in fact, devoted to painting as he loves today...

, James Dunham, Paul Ellison

Paul Ellison

Paul Ellison is co-principal bass at the Grand Teton Festivals, and is Professor of Double Bass at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music. He was also on the faculty of The Colburn School Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, California.Mr...

, Matt Haimovitz

Matt Haimovitz

Matt Haimovitz is an Israeli-born cellist now based in the United States and Canada. He mainly plays a cello made by Matteo Gofriller in 1710.-Family, musical education and early career:...

, Jeffrey Khaner

Jeffrey Khaner

Jeffrey Khaner is the principal flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has also served as principal flutist with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Symphony. Mr. Khaner teaches at the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School....

, Hans Jorgen Jensen, Jens Lindemann

Jens Lindemann

Jens Lindemann is a Canadian trumpet soloist now based in Los Angeles. As a trumpet player in the Canadian Brass from 1996 to 2001 he played at major concert venues all over the world...

, Darren Lowe, Jean-François Normand, Emmanuel Pahud

Emmanuel Pahud

Emmanuel Pahud is a Swiss flute player.He was born in Geneva, Switzerland. His father is of French and Swiss background and his mother is French. The Berlin-based flutist is most known for his baroque and classical flute repertory....

, Régis Pasquier, François Rabbath

François Rabbath

François Rabbath is a contemporary French double-bass player, soloist, and composer.He was born into a Syrian family of musicians but his only instruction came from a book written by a Parisian bassist Edouard Nanny...

, Hansjörg Schellenberger

Hansjörg Schellenberger

Hansjörg Schellenberger is a German oboist and conductor born in 1948.He won the first prize at the German Jugend musiziert Competition with seventeen, which led to a scholarship enabling him to further his education at Interlochen . He continued his studies in Munich with Manfred Clement and he...

, James Sommerville

James Sommerville

James Sommerville is the current principal hornist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Music Director of the Hamilton Philharmonic, in Hamilton, Canada. Before coming to Boston in 1998, Mr...

, Peter Sullivan, Barry Tuckwell

Barry Tuckwell

Barry Emmanuel Tuckwell AC, OBE , is an Australian horn player who has spent most of his professional life in the United Kingdom and the United States.- Early life and education :...

, Radovan Vlatkovic

Radovan Vlatkovic

Radovan Vlatković is a Croatian born horn player. He is the former principal horn of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra . He left that post in 1990 to devote himself to a solo career and has recorded many of the major works for horn...

, James Watson

James Watson (trumpeter)

Professor James Watson FRAM held principal trumpet posts with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Opera House and London Sinfonietta. His international chamber music work included the Nash Ensemble and leading the world-famous Philip Jones Brass Ensemble...

, Gail Williams

Gail Williams

Gail Ann Williams has been the director of The WELL since 1998. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in the 1970s and got involved in political theater as both a creative and management member of the Plutonium Players troupe...

, Froydis Ree Wekre

Froydis Ree Wekre

Frøydis Ree Wekre is a Norwegian musician. She studied in Oslo, Sweden, Russia, and the United States. Originally a piano and violin player, Wekre did not take up the horn until age 17. After only two years of studying horn with Wilhelm Lanzky-Otto and Vitali Bujanovsky, she was invited to...

 and Fabio Zanon.