Marie Leferrière (Mezzo-soprano)

Born: May 21, 1949 - St-Barthélemy, near Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada

The Canadian mezzo-soprano, Marie (Cécile Hélène) Laferrière, studied at the École Vincent-d'Indy from 1966 to 1972 with Louise André and Bernard Diamant, and at the Salzburg Mozarteum in 1971 she was coached by the pianist Erik Werba. She recived B MUS (Montreal) in 1970, and M MUS (Sherbrooke) in 1972. She won the Prix d'Europe in 1972 and resumed study with Werba at the Vienna Academy of Music 1972-1973, as well as with Bernard Turgeon at the Banff SFA (summers of 1972, 1973). She was a pupil of Léopold Simoneau in San Francisco 1974-1976 and placed first in auditions held by that city's opera company.

At the Accademia Chigiana of Siena Marie Laferrière worked in 1975 with the coach Giorgio Favaretto. She won a number of prizes, including a bronze medal and a special prize for performance at the 1975 Geneva International Competition for Musical Performers, a second prize that same year at the Competition of 's Hertogenbosch in Holland, and a prize in 1979 from the Concert Artists Guild of New York. The Guild prize entitled her to a performance at Carnegie Recital Hall November 27, 1979. Raymond Ericson said of her on that occasion: 'The mezzo's direct expressiveness was a constant pleasure, particularly because she understood the nature of the music she was singing, its relationship to the texts and its various stylistic demands. Her voice was attractive, steady, slightly cool in timbre. It moved cleanly and was always on pitch' (New York Times, December 2, 1979).

Marie Laferrière has given numerous recitals in Canada, Europe, and the USA. She has performed frequently on the CBC in recital and she participated in the premiere of Garant's ...chant d'amours in 1975. She sang in the San Francisco Opera's 1975 production of Donizetti's Viva la Mamma. In 1982 she took part in the Victoria International Festival with Canada Opera Piccola in Milhaud's Le Pauvre matelot. In 1984 she toured Quebec singing Fidalma in the Ensemble cantabile de Montréal production of Cimarosa's Il Matrimonio Segreto. She also was a cast member in Opéra de Montréal's 1986 production of The Magic Flute. Between 1985 and 1989, she participated in various performances of Vivier's Kopernikus, produced by the Événements du neuf.

Marie Laferrière began teaching at the École Vincent-d'Indy in 1983. In 1976 she married the USA tenor David Doane.

Source: The Canadian Encyclopedia © 2004 Historica Foundation of Canada (Author: Gilles Potvin, 2004)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (December 2004)

Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

Conductor

As

Works

Jean-François Sénart

Alto

BWV 150

Links to other Sites

Laferrière, Marie (The Canadian Encyclopedia)