Hommage to Piazzolla

About

Musique Royale presents cellist Dominique Beauséjour-Ostiguy and guitarist Christ Habib at Cecilia’s Retreat on Saturday February 6 with a program inspired by the world of Astor Piazzolla. Join us for an intimate morning of tango, classical music, jazz and folk influences, performed by two compelling Canadian musicians.

Tracing the musical influences surrounding Piazzolla and his revolutionary tango nuevo, the program travels from Bach and Fauré to Bartók, Ginastera, Duke Ellington and Carlos Gardel, before arriving in Buenos Aires with Piazzolla’s Four Seasons and selections from L’histoire du tango. The concert culminates in Hommage à Piazzolla, an original work by Beauséjour-Ostiguy and Renaud Côté-Giguère written especially for cello and guitar.

About the Artists

Dominique Beauséjour-Ostiguy – cello

Grand Prize winner of the 2018 Prix d’Europe, the 2021 Choquette-Symcox Prize, and the 2017 Peter Mendell Award, cellist Dominique Beauséjour-Ostiguy was named one of CBC Music’s “30 hot Canadian classical musicians under 30” in 2018. A two-time First Prize winner at the Canadian Music Competition, Dominique has appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Orchestre Métropolitain, Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Orchestre symphonique de Laval, Orchestre symphonique de Drummondville, Orchestre symphonique de l’Estuaire, and Orchestre symphonique de Lévis.

A sought-after and dedicated chamber musician, Dominique is a founding member of Trio de l’Île and the Andara Quartet. He joined Trio Hochelaga in 2018 and Quatuor Vox Populi in 2024. He also performs in duo with pianist Jean-Michel Dubé, guitarist Christ Habib, and violinist Marie Bégin. Dominique has collaborated on numerous occasions with Les Violons du Roy as principal cellist. Despite his young age, he already has 11 recordings to his credit.

Also a composer, Dominique received the Third Grand Artistic Prize in the Domicile Adoré composition competition in 2020. Two of his compositions have been performed by the Orchestre symphonique de Laval under the direction of Alain Trudel. He is a founding member of BOA expérience, an instrumental music project with a cinematic flavour that presents exclusively original compositions and develops numerous multimedia projects. Dominique released the album Aux deux hémisphères in 2023 and Triade in 2026, both featuring his chamber music compositions. His work as a composer is supported by the arts councils of Longueuil, Quebec, and Canada. Dominique performs on a 1704 David Tecchler cello with a Pierre Simon bow (c. 1855), both generously made available to him by Canimex Inc. of Drummondville, Quebec, Canada.

Christ Habib – guitar

Christ Habib started playing classical guitar when he was 6 years old and at 10 years old, he was accepted at the Conservatory of Music in Gatineau. He was named one of Canada’s Top 30 Classical Musicians Under 30 in their 2020 Edition and has made his debut with the NAC Orchestra with renowned conductor Alexander Shelley by playing Canadian composer Jacques Hétu’s Concerto for guitar and strings Op. 56.

In the following year, he was also recruited as a new member of the Canadian Guitar Quartet, which is one of the top classical guitar ensembles internationally. During his musical studies, Christ had the chance to go to the Domaine Forget Academy on numerous occasions, where he had masterclasses with internationally renowned artists such as Pepe Romero, Judicael Perroy, Odair and Sergio Assad, Matteo Mela, Lorenzo Micheli, Ana Vidovic, Marcin Dylla and many others.

Christ has distinguished himself in many competitions, including the National Music Festival in Saskatoon (2019) where he won first place, the music competition of Pierre-de-Saurel, where he won the first prize in classical guitar as well as the chamber music category with his guitar duo partner Félix Dallaire.

He has also been a finalist in international competitions such as the international competition of the Guitar Academy of Boston where he was awarded the 3rd place and at the international guitar competition of the Domaine Forget in 2016 and 2019 where he received the 2nd place. He finished his Master’s Degree (2019) in music with Patrick Roux at the Conservatory of Music in Gatineau and has received a prize in chamber music and graduated with honours.