Montreal, November 25, 2019 – The board of directors of Ensemble Musica Orbium is pleased to
announce the appointment of Roseline Blain as the new artistic director of Musica Orbium.
She succeeds the ensemble’s cherished founding artistic director, Patrick Wedd, whose passing we
mourned earlier this year and to whom we dedicated our tribute concert on November 23. Patrick Wedd
had repeatedly expressed his wish to see Musica Orbium continue its audacious mission of performing a
distinct and diverse choral repertoire for Montreal audiences.
The members of Musica Orbium have enthusiastically endorsed the appointment of Roseline Blain, which
ensures the ensemble’s continuity in a spirit of renewal.
Montreal choral conductor and pianist Roseline Blain is known for her expressive qualities, her passionate
spirit and the emotion she conveys through inspired interpretations. She has worked in the choral music
field for more than 20 years and is the artistic director and founder of several choirs. Highly active in major
events in Montreal, her ensemble the Chœur du Plateau won second prize in its category twice at the
National Competition for Canadian Amateur Choirs (NCCAC). It also received a “Best Eastern Region Choir”
mention from Choral Canada in 2017 and, in 2019, the title of “Chœur fleuron ambassadeur,” the highest
distinction awarded by the Alliance des chorales du Québec. Roseline Blain also directs the equal-voice
ensembles Gaïa and Phœbus, the latter of which twice won first prize in its category at the NCCAC in 2015
and 2019. As for Ensemble Gaïa, it recently garnered second prize at the 2019 edition. Also at this national
competition, Les Petites Voix du Plateau was hailed as the most “Promising New Children’s Ensemble” last
spring. In June 2015, Ms. Blain replaced the artistic director of Les Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal on short
notice during their tour of about ten concerts that took them to Denmark and Germany. She also served
as assistant to the artistic director while completing her master’s degree in choral conducting.
Roseline Blain was the general manager of the Chœur de chambre du Québec, in which she sang for five
years. In addition to working with conductors Robert Ingari, Jon Washburn and Andrew Megill, she has
collaborated with several ensembles in Montreal, including the McGill Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre
des Jeunes de Montréal, the Orchestre de la Francophonie, the OPMEM, the Ensemble Pallade Musica and
the Orchestre métropolitain.
A veritable jack-of-all-trades, Roseline Blain also performed on stage with Renaud Paradis in Féérique ! Ma
mère l’Oye, a show for young audiences that she co-wrote, which was nominated for a 2013 Opus Award
and presented at the Salle André-Mathieu with the Orchestre symphonique de Laval. She puts her talent as a communicator to use in a number of music-themed broadcasts on Radio-Canada, CIBL and Radio Ville-
Marie.
In addition to her past duties as a lecturer at the Université de Sherbrooke, Roseline Blain has, for several
years, penned the program notes for the Orchestre symphonique de Sherbrooke. In addition, she is
regularly sought after for piano performance coaching and choral singing workshops, which she offers to
a diverse clientele.
About Musica Orbium
The ensemble’s mission is to present a distinct and diverse choral repertoire to an audience interested in
more than traditional programming. Under the direction of founder Patrick Wedd, Musica Orbium gave its
first concert in November 1992. From Renaissance to jazz, Orbium has covered a wide variety of genres
and spanned many eras over the years, performing more than 400 works reflecting a broad range of
musical and cultural heritages. The ensemble produces its own concerts twice a year in the Montreal
region, frequently collaborates with local orchestras and organizations and has been heard on CBC radio,
both locally and nationally.
