October 17th to November 2nd, 2014

Trio Lajoie features three friends — violinist Ariane Lajoie, cellist Julie Hereish and pianist Akiko Tominaga — with a shared passion for chamber music.

Since 2008, the young piano trio has performed in many venues across the country. In 2011, they were invited to perform in High River, Alberta and also completed a Banff Centre residency under Anton Kuerti and Henk Guittart. A mainstay of the Quebec music scene, Trio Lajoie has performed in Sainte-Pétronille, Pointe-Claire, Gatineau, Hudson, Joliette, Prévost, Quebec City, and at the Orford Arts Centre. In Montreal, the trio has appeared at the Maison de la culture Frontenac and in the Pro Musica series, Les Mélodînes, at the Place des Arts. In 2010, they received a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. In addition, their debut recording, Mozart & Mendelssohn, was nominated for the 2012-2013 Prix Opus in the romantic disc category.

« La formation a ouvert avec un Mozart généralement affirmé, bien rythmé, ample et brillant. L’exécution du premier mouvement est apparue vivante, nette, comme en pleine lumière. (The group opened with a Mozart that was generously affirmed, rhythmic, ample and brilliant. The execution of the first movement appeared lively, clear, as in full light) » (Richard Boisvert, Le Soleil, August 7, 2009)

Ariane Lajoie (violin) completed her undergraduate studies under Jean-François Rivest before obtaining her doctorate from the Université de Montréal under Vladimir Landsman. She also studied at the Salzburg Mozarteum Sommerakademie, Holland Music Sessions and Moscow Conservatory with such masters as Igor Oistrakh. Ariane has since performed as a chamber musician in Bergen (Holland), Ottawa, Toronto and Potsdam (New York).

Julie Hereish (cello) studied with Denis Brott at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, with Johanne Perron and Carole Sirois at the Université de Montréal, as well as with Stefan Kropfitsch at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (Vienna, Austria). An active chamber musician, she formed the Duo Arietis, with whom she went on the tour Grand Public with the Jeunesses Musicales du Canada in the Fall of 2013.

Akiko Tominaga (piano) is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, the Glenn Gould School in Toronto and the Université de Montréal, where she obtained a doctorate under Marc Durand. She has performed as a soloist with the Greater Bridgeport Symphony, the Young Artist Philharmonic and the Reading Symphony as well as at the Lincoln Center with the Interschool Orchestra of New York. She teaches at the Mount Royal Conservatory in Calgary.

Get to know the artists through these fun videos!