Harpsichordist and organist Olivier Fortin has had a strong impact on the North American early music scene, both as a soloist and as director of Ensemble Masques. He is also a noted educator in both Quebec and Europe. Fortin was born in Quebec City, Quebec, on October 29, 1973. His father, a mathematician, introduced him to the harpsichord, and beginning at age eight, he studied with University of Laval professor Scott Ross. At ten, he entered the Conservatoire de musique de Québec, studying with Anatole Gagnon and continuing at the institution through his undergraduate years. He graduated with distinction in 1995. After further studies on the organ with Dom André Laberge and at the University of Montreal with Réjean Poirier, Fortin traveled to Europe on a scholarship for lessons with Pierre Hantaï in Paris and Bob van Asperen at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. Honors, including a finalist showing at the Concours International Bach de Montréal, second prize at the Festival de musique de Bruge, and the 1997 Capriccio Stravagante Prize, helped his career to grow. Fortin founded Ensemble Masques in Montreal in 1996 and has continued to serve as director of that group, although in performance, it has no conductor. As a soloist and as a member of Ensemble Masques and of other groups, including Toronto's Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, he has performed in cities throughout Canada, the U.S., Europe, and as far afield as East Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Fortin has also performed with Hantaï and Skip Sempé in concerts and recordings of music for two or three harpsichords. In 1999, with Sempé, Fortin made his recording debut on the Astrée label with an album of music by Vivaldi. Often in collaboration with Sempé or with Ensemble Masques, Fortin has released more than 30 albums; in 2022, he was heard on the Ensemble Masques album Bach: Ouvertures-Suites. Fortin taught from 2004 to 2008 at the Conservatoire de musique de Québec. He is now on the faculty of the École Supérieure de Musique de Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in France, and he has also taught and directed ensembles at the Cluny Early Music Summer School. ~ James Manheim, Rovi

Olivier Fortin

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