Céline Dussault

Dussault, Céline

Céline Dussault. Soprano, b Thetford-Mines, Que, 14 May 1946; B MUS (Montreal) 1968, premier prix voice (CMM) 1973. She studied 1964-8 at the École Vincent-d'Indy, concentrating first on piano under Sister Rachel-Yvonne and Yvonne Hubert, then on singing with Louise André, Bernard Diamant, and Roy Royal and opera with Pierrette Alarie. She continued 1968-73 at the CMM with Heinz Rehfuss, Daniel Ferro, Rose Bampton, and Pierre Héral. Her performance in the 1971 MSO Concours won her a Women's Committee bursary, and the following year she became the first singer to win the International Stepping Stones prize of the Canadian Music Competitions. During the summer of 1972 she attended courses at Aspen Music School in Colorado.

Dussault gave a recital as part of the 1972 Young Canadian Performers series at St Lawrence Centre, Toronto. At the Poudrière Theatre she sang roles 1973-6 in Menotti's The Old Maid and the Thief, Wolf-Ferrari's The Secret of Susanna, Menotti's The Medium and Bizet's Le Docteur Miracle. She toured 1973-4 with the JMC (YMC) production of The Magic Flute, singing the roles of Pamina and Papagena, and was part of the Ensemble Cantabile de Montréal when it was formed in August 1974 (she also recorded an LP with it). In October 1974 she sang in Janáček's Jenu°fa at the Lincoln Center, New York. On CBC radio she premiered Ginette Bertrand's La Fugitive, and the performance was selected for submission to the 1975 Paul-Gilson competition in Brussels. During that season she also sang the Child in Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortilèges with the Vermont Opera Theatre. As part of the Arts and Culture program of the 1976 Olympics she sang Nadia in the Quebec City and Montreal performances of the Quebec Symphony Orchestra's production of The Merry Widow. She was a member 1977-9 of the Centre lyrique de Wallonie in Liège, Belgium where, in the premiere of Paul Francy's Alice au pays des merveilles, she sang the role of Alice; Renée Maheu thought her 'a spirited performer, lively and playful' (Musicanada, March 1979). Between 1980 and 1983 she participated in three tours of the Opéra de chambre du Québec. In 1980 she sang in Roméo et Juliette (Stéphano) and The Barber of Seville (Rosina) with the Société lyrique d'Aubigny. At the Opéra de Montréal, she sang the role of Sophie in Werther (1982), then for the Opéra royal de Wallonie she sang the roles of the Child in L'Enfant et les sortilèges (1983) and Claudine in Donizetti's The Daughter of the Regiment (1984). Dussault also has performed as soloist with the Quebec SO in Carmina burana (1980), with the MSO in Mahler's Symphony No. 8 performed at the Forum (1984), and with the Trois Rivières Symphony Orchestra in Messiah (1984). She also participated in the premiere of Rachel Laurin'sVeni Creator in the CBC series 'Les Grands Concerts' in 1989. In 1979 she began teaching at the UQTR, at the Lionel-Groulx Cegep in Ste-Thérèse, and at the National Theatre School. She is the sister of pianist Michel Dussault.