Marie-Josée Lord’s love of music was reignited by discovering voice. The soprano will give the city the chance to fall in love with voice just like she did on April 11.
Born in Haiti, Lord came to Canada after being adopted by a couple in Quebec. She says that they were great parents, and they’re the reason that she discovered music.
Lord began studying music as a pianist at seven years old, and picked up the violin at 11. But she was ready to give up music entirely and go on to study other things as she got older, until she found voice in her early 20s.
“The fact that I discovered voice made me keep going in music. I was fed up, I was tired and I didn’t see a reason why I should pursue music for I didn’t like it anymore. But discovering singing was a new world.”
Lord describes the discovery as being like a lightning strike, and says that once she found it she knew that was going to be her life.
“It was discovering a new thing and discovering there is an art that exists that has every aspect that I love, every aspect that speaks to me. The communication, the music, the theatre... I didn’t know this art existed, but when I discovered it I discovered it exactly fit my personality.”
It was a difficult choice to switch to voice, Lord admits, because it meant that she would have to start training all over again. While the skills from previous instruments could be applied to voice, it was still a big change.
“It was a big decision because it meant that I would have to spend another ten years at school. But it helped me to focus, it was my last chance to do music, so I gave 150 per cent.”
That work ethic has lead to Lord’s success, recording three albums, performing sold out shows at l’Opéra de Montréal and winning award, including the Prix d’Excellence de la Culture, awarded by the Fondation de l’Opéra de Québec.
“When you really want to do something, it’s like breathing, you have to do it. You want to have challenge, so year after year, you’re working, you fix goals, and goals by goals you’re going higher and higher. It’s very satisfying for me, and I have fun doing it.”
Discovery also defines the tour with Prairie Debut. The tour goes to places which do not necessarily see a large number of classical performers, with many smaller communities on the tour. While she admits that it is a lot of travel for her, she believes in the idea of bringing music to different communities.
“We want people to know about classical music. When you live in a little town, very far from a big city, it’s more difficult to have access to music other than the music of your area. For us, it’s really doing that, bringing classical to people. To bring music to people because they can’t go and get it, we are going to them.”
Prairie Debut presents Marie-Josée Lord as part of the Stars for Saskatchewan Series on April 11 at 7:30 p.m. at the Anne Portnuff theatre. Tickets are available at www.yorktonarts.ca.
