Sylvain Bergeron

Sylvain Bergeron has always been fascinated by the historical context of the things around him. His childhood ambition of becoming an archeologist was eventually replaced by his interest in music, which like most teenage boys, started with the guitar. He listened to British bands like Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant, and Genesis, learning entire albums such as Thick as a Brick and Fox Trot by heart.
Bergeron still remembers the precise day he decided to switch from guitar to lute: listening to recordings in his older brother Alain’s collection, which included music by Bartok, Bach and Stravinsky, he chanced upon a recording of Troubadour music by Thomas Binkley. “This was a revelation!”, says Bergeron. “Discovering the sound of the medieval instruments, their nuances, languages, the creativity of the performers, the freedom of interpretation. Clearly, that was the «real» stuff I was looking for, and I became totally convinced this was what I wanted to do.” He soon learned to read music and began formal lessons, and eventually devoted himself completely to the lute and its family of instruments. Bergeron went on to study with Paul O’Dette and Eugène Dombois, and became a member of the period group Ensemble Anonymus. In 1991 he co-founded the ensemble La Nef and directed many of their productions, including Perceval, The Quest for the Holy Grail, Montsegur, The Garden of Delights and Music for Joan the Mad.
Described as “a supremely refined, elegant, cerebral musician who … seems to find a spiritual home in these haunting, restrained-yet-achingly lyrical pieces” (Ottawa Citizen), Bergeron is a master of many other plucked-string instruments including theorbo, oud, and baroque guitar. He is in constant demand both as a soloist and ensemble player, and has accompanied such giants as viol player Jordi Savall in concert halls around the world including Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Paris’s Salle Gaveau and New York’s Lincoln Center. Naturally, as a lutenist he has accompanied many singers and has performed and recorded with such stars as Dame Emma Kirkby, David Daniels, Daniel Taylor, Suzie LeBlanc, Vivica Genaux, Agnès Mellon, and Charles Daniels.