Scorrete lagrime mie: Can a Trombone Weep as Well as a Voice?

Scorrete lagrime mie; flow, my tears. Tears of sorrow, of joy, of penance, of self-pity; pious tears, passionate tears, tears of longing, of betrayal; tears shed for God; because “faith is dead” or “the stars have no pity”; tears as one's only sustenance, or as a sole refuge of solace. Tears of death, and of life. In their treatment of these themes, Barbara Strozzi, Francesca Caccini, Sigismondo d'India, and Giovanni Battista Bovicelli use extremely colourful word-painting, and encourage and require an extreme level of subtlety and variation in sound colours, articulations, and shading. Their music thus constitutes a perfect conduit to explore the vocal virtuosity of the trombone, in line with the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century instructions for instrumentalists to learn from and imitate the human voice. In this lecture-recital, Maximilien Brisson presents the practical implications of this imitation, in terms of phrasing, ornamentation, articulation and shaping, and shading of individual notes and musical gestures, and how this exploration is both within the technical means of most players, and susceptible to unlock untold and powerful means of expression.

This event is open to the general public and does not require registration (but please note that our seating is limited). Co-organized with Early Music Vancouver.

A leading specialist of historical trombones, Maximilien Brisson is a member of I Fedeli, ¡Sacabuche!, and the Consort laurentien, and he is the artistic director of The Viadana Collective. He has performed with the Freiburger Barockorchester, Akamus, Concerto Palatino, Collegium Vocale Gent, Les Cornets Noirs, and the Zürich Opera, among others. He teaches baroque trombone at the University of the Arts Bremen and at various masterclasses and workshops in North America and Europe. His first solo album with Christophe Gauthier and Luc Beauséjour was released in 2024, and he was featured as a solo artist at the International Trombone Festival in 2025.

Christophe Gauthier studied harpsichord at the Conservatoire de Montréal and the Université de Montréal. A talented chamber musician, he has founded such ensembles as Les Rendez-vous baroque français, La Frontera, and Le Consort laurentien. He regularly plays organ with the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, Arion orchestre baroque, I Musici de Montréal, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Orchestre Métropolitain with Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Christophe teaches harpsichord, organ, ear training, and music history at Cégep de Saint-Laurent. As an ensemble leader, he has conducted Dido and Eneas (Purcell), Hercules (Handel) and David et Jonathas (Charpentier). Christophe hosts a weekly classical music programme on Radio Ville-Marie.