Marcelle Gagné

Marcelle Gagné

Marcelle Gagné (née Duquette). Mezzo-soprano, administrator (born 27 October 1908 in Montréal, QC; died 10 August 2010 in Montréal, QC). Granddaughter of Ellsworth Duquette and niece of Émile Taranto, she received her voice training from several teachers, including Céline Marier, Sarah Fischer, Pauline Donalda, and Victor Brault. She gave numerous public recitals, primarily of art song, and was heard frequently in recitals, opera, and oratorio on CBC radio. In Tudor Hall, in a performance of Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice, she sang the role of Orphée 'without ever having to force her voice, while entreating the infernal deities with pathos in the well-known aria' (Montreal La Presse, 12 Nov 1941). She was a soloist in 1945 with the Little Symphony of Montreal in a performance of Mozart's Coronation Mass at the Montreal Festivals. Active on numerous committees, she was president 1965-7, 1969-71, and 1973-5 of the Ladies' Morning Musical Club and 1976-8 of the Tudor Singers of Montreal.

See also Hélène Gagné (her daughter).