Margaret Little and Sylvain Bergeron
Biography Margaret Little and Sylvain Bergeron
Margaret Little
was born and raised in Montreal in a musical family, playing violin, piano, recorder and guitar as a child. She discovered the viola da gamba at the CAMMAC Music Centre at the age of eleven and fell in love instantly with the instrument and early music repertoire. After studying science and then visual arts, she came back to music and the viol in her early twenties.
Margaret has been performing since 1975 as a soloist and a chamber musician on the viola da gamba and baroque viola with various groups including the Studio de Musique ancienne de Montréal, Les Idées Heureuses, Arion, Musica Divina, and she founded the viola da gamba duo "Les Voix humaines" with Susie Napper in 1985. She also loves to perform as a duo with Sylvain Bergeron, lutenist.
She has been invited to play with many early music groups as a gambist and baroque violist (such as Cappricio Stravagante, Fuocco e Cenere, Rebel, Four Nations, Trinity Consort, Aradia, The Publick Musick, Les Boréades, Les Violons du Roy, etc.) and has toured in North America, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. She has recorded over 90 CDs and her first solo CD “Senza Continuo” was nominated for an Opus Award.
Margaret Little teaches the viola da gamba and baroque ensembles at the Université de Montréal since 1992 and has taught many young talented professional viol players.
Sylvain Bergeron
Accomplished performer on the lute and theorbo, Sylvain Bergeron is in high demand on the North American music scene. He gives nearly one hundred concerts each season in and alongside many internationally renowned soloists. Among these include Emma Kirkby, James Bowman, Jordi Savall, David Daniels, Magdalena Kozena, Michael Chance, Charles Daniels, Daniel Taylor, Karina Gauvin, Suzie LeBlanc, Vivica Genaux, Matthew White, Agnes Anne Azema and Agnes Melon. He works regularly with Les Violons du Roy, L’Ensemble Arion, Les Idées Heureuses, Les Boréades, Les Voix Humaines, Les Voix Baroques, Apollo's Fire, Clavecin en concert, etc.
He made several tours through the five continents and played under the direction of renowned conductors. He played in the most prestigious halls in the world, including Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Salle Gaveau in Paris and Lincoln Center in New York. He participated in seventy CD recordings on the Atma label, Dorian, Analekta, CBC PGM and several have won prizes and awards. His most recent solo album "The Balcarres Lute Book" (Atma) has received praise from the critics.
Sylvain Bergeron teaches the lute and baroque guitar at McGill University and the University of Montreal. He has given numerous lectures, workshops and master classes, including Lute Society of America, Berkeley, Vancouver, Rabat (Morocco). He participated in panels and tables is often consulted as a specialist in ancient plucked instruments, for various recording projects and publishing.
