Simon rivard

Simon Rivard is one of the most sought-after conductors on the Canadian music scene, as evidenced by his appointment as Music Director of the Edmonton Opera, the first in the company’s history.  

This upcoming season sees Rivard on the podium for reengagements with Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (Respighi’s Pines of Rome), Orchestre symphonique de Québec, and Orchestre classique de Montréal (Menotti’s The Medium), as well as débuts with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, and Opéra de Montréal (Puccini’s La bohème). Simon returns to his position at Edmonton Opera, conducting Strauss’ Die Fledermaus and Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle. He continues to share his love of new music through collaborations with The Happenstancers (Canada), performing world premieres and masterpieces by Arnold Schoenberg, Unsuk Chin, Elliott Carter, and Luciano Berio. 

Rivard has conducted orchestras across North America and Europe, such as Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Orchestre Métropolitain, Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Toronto Summer Music Festival Orchestra, Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra (Switzerland), and the Göteborgs Symfoniker (Sweden). He has collaborated with artists such as Barbara Hannigan, Kerson Leong, Daniel Lozakovich, Matt Haimovitz, Charles Richard-Hamelin, and Julie Boulianne, among others. Other recent highlights include a complete cycle of Beethoven’s symphonies with Orchestre de la francophonie and an homage to Maria Callas with Orchestre symphonique de Laval. In 2022, he was also a finalist of the Princess Astrid International Music Competition of the Trondheim Symfoniorkester (Norway). 

Since 2023, he has been acting as Rafael Payare’s assistant at Orchestre symphonique de Montréal in various projects. From 2018 to 2022, he was the Resident Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, where he was mentored by Gustavo Gimeno and Sir Andrew Davis. From 2018 through 2024, he was the Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra. Between 2020 and 2022, he served as the Associate Conductor of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir.

Between 2019 and 2023, he has been an Equilibrium Young Artist, as part of Canadian soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan's mentorship program for early-career professional musicians. In 2018, he was invited to participate in the first Conducting Mentorship Program at the Verbier Festival Academy (Switzerland). In addition to receiving a Special Prize, he was subsequently reinvited to coach the 2022 Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra. 

Born in Montréal, Rivard studied violin performance and orchestral conducting at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and McGill University. He has been mentored by Raffi Armenian, Alexis Hauser, Guillaume Bourgogne, Jean-Sébastien Vallée, Harold Farberman, and Ken Kiesler, among others. In addition to his conducting career, he holds a monthly radio feature at ICI Radio-Canada Toronto where he shares his love for music to a large number of people. 

August 2024

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